Originally Posted by
kap 7
I rarely use them because they aren't in my usual direction of going somewhere but when I do the bike lanes give me little space between cars traveling and parked cars which make me nervous if one of these parked cars would throw their door open on me. Anyway, just curious if this has happened to anyone. I try my best to look but many cars have factory tinted windows dark to the point its hard to see whats going on in the car.
I am lucky that on the few lengths of street of my commute routes, where I must ride in the door zone, the sight lines go for blocks and it is easy to see in advance if a car has just pulled in, making an opening door a possibility, and also seeing if people have entered a car, making a "pull-out" more imminent.
Originally Posted by
Daniel4
Regardless if I'm in a bike lane or a regular traffic lane when there are no bike lanes, I keep clear of the door zone and my finger on my horn.
That's what I do. And when I do honk, it's usually effective...but not always. (AirZound Airhorn)
Originally Posted by
IndianaRecRider
Or they may have sat there a few minutes finishing up a phone call. That's what happened on my one close call with a door.
That happened to me a few years ago on a long, slow uphill I had the van in my site for at least 2 minutes. A car came up behind me, just as a car came from the opposite direction which forced me a little closer to the line of parked cars than I like. When I came up even with the rear tire, the driver door opened. Luckily I was going only 3-4 mph as it was a steep, uphill. The driver, a 30-something mom on her way into the church across the street, was more upset over not looking than I was.