Originally Posted by B. Carfree

I simply refuse to ride in the door zone. My state is a mandatory use state, which means that cyclists have to use bike lanes if they are present. However, one of the reasons one is allowed to not ride in the bike lane is if there is a hazardous condition. Door zones are a fairly obvious hazardous condition, so I don't ride in door-zone bike lanes. Over the many decades and hundreds of thousands of miles I have ridden, hundreds of doors have swung open as I passed them. If I had made a habit of riding within range, some of them would have certainly rung me up.

Admittedly, this does annoy some motorists. I figure that if someone is strung so tightly that they would out and out murder me for riding in a travel lane next to a DZBL, they are almost as likely to run me down no matter where I ride; they simply not sane.

I did have an interesting encounter with a motorist a few years ago over this issue. He honked his horn as I took the lane next to a DZBL. When I finally cleared all the parked cars, I happily moved over to the bike lane. He pulled alongside me and rolled down his window to ask what I was doing. I explained the door zone issue to him. He nodded agreement, thanked me and drove on. His young son was sitting in the passenger seat, so I was glad that when he honked I didn't make any rude gestures.