The Chainlink

"Watch for bikes" warnings in cabs?

I think it's a good idea (as I've been doored by a cab).

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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on March 20, 2013 at 2:50pm

Rich! Glad you didn't get too injured. Let me know if you need ANYTHING.  Even if its just a beer.

Rich S said:

Just got doored for the first time yesterday by a lady exiting a taxi on Clark just south of Fullerton. Traffic was backed up and the door flung open right as I was passing. The driver was stopped in traffic and didn't pull over. Thankfully my pannier took the worst of it and I think I can fix the broken hook. It could've been much worse so I'm thankful I didn't get hurt. I gave them both an earful and took a pic of the taxi driver and cab number. 

I didn't see one of those stickers in the window but then I didn't go looking for it either! 

Permalink Reply by Rich S on March 20, 2013 at 4:09pm

Thanks Julie!

Permalink Reply by Barry on April 15, 2013 at 7:48pm

I was just doored by a passenger exiting a taxi on the curb side. This happened on the Lincoln Ave. bike lane.

I just want to thank everybody who has added useful info here. I will definitely consult this thread for guidance in my damage and injury claims.

Permalink Reply by David P. on April 15, 2013 at 8:53pm

Barry,

I'm sorry this happened and I hope you're OK. This happened to me once - it's the only time I've been doored - so I know that it can be a bit unexpected. What I did not know at the time, as I was upbraiding the startled bro that hit me - is that even as the passenger has fault, the driver is legally at fault, as cabbies are required to pull as far right as possible before letting off passengers. 

Permalink Reply by Sue Clark on April 15, 2013 at 11:55pm

I was thinking the same thing...put the sticker right in front of the driver's face.

I may be a bit crabby on this topic as a cab ran a red light on Division and almost ran into me tonight when I was on my way home.

Permalink Reply by Sarah Lewert on April 16, 2013 at 9:03am

What if there was some sort of audible warning that a cab makes when someone is exiting? Similar to how large trucks have the "I'm backing up" sound? Maybe a flashing light too?

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on April 16, 2013 at 9:37am

I'd prefer a motorized face-slapper.

Sarah Lewert said:

What if there was some sort of audible warning that a cab makes when someone is exiting? Similar to how large trucks have the "I'm backing up" sound? Maybe a flashing light too?

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on April 16, 2013 at 9:54am

How would this work?  Just wire a buzzer/beeper to go off whenever the door of a cab was opened?  It wouldn't give you any more warning than the visual clue of the taxi door opening and wouldn't be much good unless you were riding with your eyes closed.   No advance warning would be forthcoming, and it would just be one more traffic noise among the millions of other traffic noises and cars beeping at each other mixing into the din and confusion of city traffic.

If it were to give some advance warning it would either need to be electronically hooked up to a psychic network similar to the one in Minority Report to predict when a cab rider might decide to throw open a door to jump out, or the door would need to be locked so they couldn't get out on their own without the cabbie first unlocking it, setting off the buzzer/beeper and also giving a couple of seconds warning first on a time-delay relay until the door actually did unlock to let them out.

hmmm...   That sounds like an idea!

Sarah Lewert said:

What if there was some sort of audible warning that a cab makes when someone is exiting? Similar to how large trucks have the "I'm backing up" sound? Maybe a flashing light too?

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on April 16, 2013 at 10:06am

BTW, this will happen in Chicago but the presser keeps getting pushed back. There was something "ready to go [last week, April 11], but it was postponed" according to CDOT. 

Permalink Reply by David P. on April 16, 2013 at 10:06am

Every car with electrically-operated door locks has a switch on the driver's door that disables the inside  rear door handles - this has always been intended to prevent children in the back seat from opening car doors. This kind of thing is not much more than a programming issue on most modern cars.

James BlackHeron said:

How would this work?  Just wire a buzzer/beeper to go off whenever the door of a cab was opened?  It wouldn't give you any more warning than the visual clue of the taxi door opening and wouldn't be much good unless you were riding with your eyes closed.   No advance warning would be forthcoming, and it would just be one more traffic noise among the millions of other traffic noises and cars beeping at each other mixing into the din and confusion of city traffic.

If it were to give some advance warning it would either need to be electronically hooked up to a psychic network similar to the one in Minority Report to predict when a cab rider might decide to throw open a door to jump out, or the door would need to be locked so they couldn't get out on their own without the cabbie first unlocking it, setting off the buzzer/beeper and also giving a couple of seconds warning first on a time-delay relay until the door actually did unlock to let them out.

hmmm...   That sounds like an idea!

Sarah Lewert said:

What if there was some sort of audible warning that a cab makes when someone is exiting? Similar to how large trucks have the "I'm backing up" sound? Maybe a flashing light too?

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on April 16, 2013 at 10:26am

Perhaps newer cars are different, but typically these child-locked doors can only be opened from the outside when engaged, and are not something that can be electrically switched by locking/unlocking the doors from the driver master door locking console. The child-lock mechanism is a physical switch on the inner portion of the door that mechanically uncouples the inner handle.  I haven't purchased a newer car in a long time so maybe this has changed somewhat.

The point is that I don't think that cab riders are going to take well to being "locked in" by the driver and unable to escape the cab on their own without being "released" from the front seat driver/cabbie. 

I like Cameron's idea of having a warning light come on whenever the meter is stopped and the driver is being paid.  That would help LOADS I think.  But other than people ditching I think that people do tend to jump out while someone else is paying to run to the trunk and get luggage and things like that.  It wouldn't hurt to have any kind of advanced warning though.

I'll have to do some more reading in Steven's link.  It sounds like it might help too. 



David P. said:

Every car with electrically-operated door locks has a switch on the driver's door that disables the inside  rear door handles - this has always been intended to prevent children in the back seat from opening car doors. This kind of thing is not much more than a programming issue on most modern cars.

James BlackHeron said:

How would this work?  Just wire a buzzer/beeper to go off whenever the door of a cab was opened?  It wouldn't give you any more warning than the visual clue of the taxi door opening and wouldn't be much good unless you were riding with your eyes closed.   No advance warning would be forthcoming, and it would just be one more traffic noise among the millions of other traffic noises and cars beeping at each other mixing into the din and confusion of city traffic.

If it were to give some advance warning it would either need to be electronically hooked up to a psychic network similar to the one in Minority Report to predict when a cab rider might decide to throw open a door to jump out, or the door would need to be locked so they couldn't get out on their own without the cabbie first unlocking it, setting off the buzzer/beeper and also giving a couple of seconds warning first on a time-delay relay until the door actually did unlock to let them out.

hmmm...   That sounds like an idea!

Sarah Lewert said:

What if there was some sort of audible warning that a cab makes when someone is exiting? Similar to how large trucks have the "I'm backing up" sound? Maybe a flashing light too?

Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on April 16, 2013 at 1:02pm

Sarah, that's a brilliant idea!  Couple the alert sound with the cab's taillights blinking rapidly, the rooftop taxi sign blinking and swing doors swapped out for sliding doors--you'd have a thousand times safer situation for everyone.

Sarah Lewert said:

What if there was some sort of audible warning that a cab makes when someone is exiting? Similar to how large trucks have the "I'm backing up" sound? Maybe a flashing light too?

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