There's a behavourial campaign at the moment with car doors placed around town and the message "Catch the cyclist with your eyes, not your door".
Pretty straightforward campaign. No real fear-mongering at play. Just a good reminder for both motorists and cyclists alike. Nevermind the fact that I have never heard of anybody getting smacked by a car door. Most of the bike lanes are wide enough to avoid this. But hey. At least the campaign helps motorists [most of whom are cyclists, too] remember the bicycles.
Thanks to Kristoffer for the photo.
12 thinking out louds:
I am sure they have these elsewhere, but here in SF, you can get little stickers that look like the 'Objects in mirror are closer than they appear' stickers on passenger side mirrors. You can stick them on the driver side mirror to remind people to look.
word verification- 'bershn'
A beautiful new line of Danish inspired clinical furniture; specially designed for your gynecological practice of recycled bicycle parts reclaimed from the waterways of the North.
addendumsay
the stickers say 'Watch for Bicycles'
In Ljubljana we're just reading about a trial regarding an accident like this that resulted with a death of a cyclist.
So..it's a real threat.
That's why you should always open your car door with your right arm (speaking for LHD) which kind of forces you to look also in the side mirror at the same time and check for others comming from behind.
The City of Toronto says that dooring is the most frequent type of car/bike collisions in the downtown.
See:
http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/pdf/doormap.pdf
Oh, yeah - been doored, and had the marvellous experience of shutting the door in the face of an oblivious driver as I rode by - several times, each. It happens far too easily in the rest of the world; you Copenhagen types have it lucky (but you knew that). Val
i'm a Copenhagen type, and i've had the very unpleasant experience twice - but I'm also one of these fast riding messenger types as well, so that might explain it - all though actually the worst one was in my free time, riding home a Friday night when a drunk decided to get out of the cab just when I passed.
It really puts a physical fear of doors in your body for some time.
and coincidentally the captcha is: Crophali, the old Greek word for the rational fear that closed doors might open just now.
- fred
We could do with some of these in London, but I'd bet if they did the big concrete block would end up ... blocking the cycle lane
Never had the experience, but then again, I do live in The Netherlands... But really, I was ashtonished to find out that there is actually a verb describing a kind of accident that I knew was possible, but never experienced, or heard of others who had.
Anyway, I am in danger of repeating myself, but drivers have had lessons (a lot of them) and one of the things they learn is to always look in all mirrors before opening a door.
I've only gotten doored once, but then i live in a small town, anw when it happened the window was up on an SUV so i just crumpled down on the ground, and the driver then proceeded to get out of his car and bitch me out for hitting his car and threatened to call the cops on me although it was his fault for not even looking in his mirror.
I do feel some fear for "getting doored" and do my best to avoid it.
Don't know if this is relevant here but this was something I was taught as a kid in the eighties, when safe cycling wasn't all about helmets.
Here in Cambridge the Local Authority Director of Highways & Access Mark Kemp places cycle lanes right next to parking spaces for maximum dooring effectiveness. See:
http://www.camcycle.org.uk/newsletters/74/all.html#article5
So while such effective signage would be most welcome to cyclists, Cambridge Highway Engineers really haven't a clue what they are doing anyway:
http://www.polaine.com/matt/2008/11/28/a-worthwhile-cambridge-street-sign/
Washington, DC area here - I was doored a few years ago - fortunately, I was going up a slight incline, so I wasn't going that fast. But the lady who opened her door, did it so fast, I had NO chance to hit my brakes or veer. The corner of the door jammed into my left shoulder area and I was thrown to the ground in the middle of the street. While I tried to gather my wits, the lady is over there opening and shutting her car door several times - I said "Is your DOOR okay??!" (Don't mind me, who you have just thrown off my bike and into the road! Let alone, if I'm even hurt or anything?!). She said "Well, it doesn't shut as good as it did before." And then she turns to me and says "Why do you have to ride right next to the cars when you have the whole road to ride in?!" Well, I happened to be riding where I SHOULD be, Ms. Driver. I asked her to help me get my bike out of the road, since I was hurting a bit. I told her that she REALLY needed to CHECK her MIRRORs before she opened her door. Ugh. Fortunately, I was alright, though my shoulder was smarting, and I got on my bike to continue to work. I thought I rode alongside cars with enough room, but I've since heard the term "Give Four for the Door" (give four feet for the car doors") - even though this puts you out in the street a bit more. So, we both hopefully learned a lesson that morning!
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