How to avoid getting doored
07-27-20, 01:10 PM
#51
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Stay away
I don’t know why everyone’s ripping this dude so hard, but I’ll admit you can’t always see into a car. I just stay away from car doors. Shouldn’t be hard in traffic, you can just take up the car lane and no one will care because you’ll be going as fast as they are. And if your able to consistently crank 15 plus mph in a city etc, you should be fine in a car lane anyway. I stay out of most bike lanes for the same fear as I do parked cars...an idiot will emerge...
07-27-20, 01:37 PM
#52
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Have any of you been the victim of some thoughtless person who opened the car door into you while you are doing 20 miles per hour?
Here is how to avoid getting doored in heavy traffic.
Watch the head of the motorist that is next to you on your right. Invariably, right before opening their door into you their head position will change.
Typically they will look left seconds prior to opening their door into you. Follow the head, if you see them turning left than chances are good they are going to open their door into you.
So, always keep their head in your peripheral vision. If it turns left you need to be on your brakes prior to them opening the door. Also, stay aware of what is on your left, so that if you need an out and were not on the brakes you can escape. The problem in heavy traffic is you will often have a car a couple of inches away from you on your left, so you can't take evasive action. If you are on your brakes as soon as you see the head turn you should be OK.
Here is how to avoid getting doored in heavy traffic.
Watch the head of the motorist that is next to you on your right. Invariably, right before opening their door into you their head position will change.
Typically they will look left seconds prior to opening their door into you. Follow the head, if you see them turning left than chances are good they are going to open their door into you.
So, always keep their head in your peripheral vision. If it turns left you need to be on your brakes prior to them opening the door. Also, stay aware of what is on your left, so that if you need an out and were not on the brakes you can escape. The problem in heavy traffic is you will often have a car a couple of inches away from you on your left, so you can't take evasive action. If you are on your brakes as soon as you see the head turn you should be OK.
07-27-20, 08:10 PM
#53
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A friend was riding his Motorcycle when a car way ahead opened his door right into a large truck. Instantaneous door removal.
07-27-20, 08:21 PM
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Around here, if you ride in the bike lane, you'll get doored. If you widen out of the door zone into traffic, the cars (probably the bus) will hit you, or the driver will have a meltdown and go after you. And either way the cops couldn't care less. YOYO
07-27-20, 09:09 PM
#55
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To stay out of the door zone, use a mirror. If you know what's behind you, you can swerve out when necessary. It's saved my butt a few times.
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07-30-20, 09:50 AM
#56
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I have thot about mounting one of those 150 decibel horns on my trike. When a driver pops open the door, and I blow that horn it would be fun watching them scramble out the passenger side window!!! 
07-30-20, 02:39 PM
#57
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I don’t know why everyone’s ripping this dude so hard, but I’ll admit you can’t always see into a car. I just stay away from car doors. Shouldn’t be hard in traffic, you can just take up the car lane and no one will care because you’ll be going as fast as they are. And if your able to consistently crank 15 plus mph in a city etc, you should be fine in a car lane anyway. I stay out of most bike lanes for the same fear as I do parked cars...an idiot will emerge...
07-30-20, 03:37 PM
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Cheers
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07-30-20, 04:50 PM
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07-31-20, 09:41 AM
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Ha, I wouldn't trust antsy drivers behind me at 15mph, but that part of Queens is a little different to my area (Astoria/LIC) and Manhattan, so I can imagine that 15mph is fine for the side streets.
07-31-20, 11:34 AM
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Its the old "dont give them too much, don't take up too much" road battle. Yeah neighborhoods like yours with tons of tight one ways don't give you many options but to get close to parked cars, so i see what you mean. I try to just stay on big streets with room for everyone if possible and when I cant I either go slow next to parked cars or hold up a middle finger at 13mph lol. Cheers, see you out there!
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07-31-20, 01:13 PM
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Its the old "dont give them too much, don't take up too much" road battle. Yeah neighborhoods like yours with tons of tight one ways don't give you many options but to get close to parked cars, so i see what you mean. I try to just stay on big streets with room for everyone if possible and when I cant I either go slow next to parked cars or hold up a middle finger at 13mph lol. Cheers, see you out there!
So what's with the Yankees stuff? Aren't you in the heart of Mets country?
08-01-20, 10:40 AM
#64
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There was a video posted somewhere on one of these forums that showed a bicyclist in the door zone get hit by an opening car door, get thrown under a truck and then run over by said truck. The truck driver had no way of knowing a bicyclist had been knocked under his truck. the result? One very dead bicyclist! Stay OUT of the door zone if you want the best chance of NOT being doored.
Cheers
Cheers
Might as well, just ride o the sidewslk, with that kind of thinking. You must love. Riding in the door zone.
08-01-20, 02:23 PM
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Imagine that?
Why Bill, how is that possible?
Because the “door zone“ is NOT fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, even SEVENTEEN feet from the curb.
Isn’t there a Cycling Scarry subforum here?
-mr. bill
08-03-20, 11:51 AM
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Born into it...wish yankee stadium was more bike accommodating...
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08-03-20, 12:59 PM
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08-06-20, 07:32 PM
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08-06-20, 07:51 PM
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But, but, but ... the two times I was doored I was completely unable to see that there was even anybody in the car. One was parked under a streetlight and no lights were on, inside or out. The second, the driver had been looking for something on the passenger side floor and never raised her had above the seatback before opening. Your advice would have made zero difference.
Ben
Ben
08-19-20, 02:16 PM
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Rode past seven in a row auto-folding mirror vehicles this afternoon.
Why Bill, how does that help?
Well, when a driver LOCKS their car from the outside, the mirrors on SOME vehicles auto-fold. These started at the high end of "luxury" brands, worked their way through the luxury brands, and are now rolling out over the next few years to more and more vehicles. They're about to hit critical mass.
(For those of you who don't know why to fold your outside mirrors, you've never returned to your parked car equiped with FIXED outside mirrors to find your driver's outside rear view mirror torn off by someone from New Jersey who clipped said mirror with their Monte Carlo's fixed mirror. How do I know the driver was from New Jersey driving a Monte Carlo? Because.)
For those few who worry that someone might have an accomplice who locked the door from the outside, and then the evil genious is lying in wait for minutes, hours, even days, while ducking down, patient, so patient, waiting, waiting, waiting, for the perfect moment to HURL their door open just as you are passing by! Bwahaha!
You must lose sleep over 2020-QG. You have my pity.
-mr. bill
Why Bill, how does that help?
Well, when a driver LOCKS their car from the outside, the mirrors on SOME vehicles auto-fold. These started at the high end of "luxury" brands, worked their way through the luxury brands, and are now rolling out over the next few years to more and more vehicles. They're about to hit critical mass.
(For those of you who don't know why to fold your outside mirrors, you've never returned to your parked car equiped with FIXED outside mirrors to find your driver's outside rear view mirror torn off by someone from New Jersey who clipped said mirror with their Monte Carlo's fixed mirror. How do I know the driver was from New Jersey driving a Monte Carlo? Because.)
For those few who worry that someone might have an accomplice who locked the door from the outside, and then the evil genious is lying in wait for minutes, hours, even days, while ducking down, patient, so patient, waiting, waiting, waiting, for the perfect moment to HURL their door open just as you are passing by! Bwahaha!
You must lose sleep over 2020-QG. You have my pity.
-mr. bill
Last edited by mr_bill; 08-19-20 at 03:14 PM.
08-20-20, 02:31 AM
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Ouch. The one-eyed beast.
Stock photo from internet. Not quite as ugly as I remembered.
Seriously, thanks for pointing out the folding function. A good clue I hadn’t considered.
Stock photo from internet. Not quite as ugly as I remembered.
Seriously, thanks for pointing out the folding function. A good clue I hadn’t considered.
Last edited by flangehead; 08-20-20 at 02:58 AM.
08-20-20, 04:36 AM
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if you're riding in the door (on either side of the car) zone, you need to be going less than 10 mph to reduce your potential "interaction" probability.
if you've gotten away worth it so far, congrats. it's only a matter of time before your luck runs out. drivers and their passengers do crazy bleep but
guessing you already knew that. if you don't, just you wait...
if you've gotten away worth it so far, congrats. it's only a matter of time before your luck runs out. drivers and their passengers do crazy bleep but
guessing you already knew that. if you don't, just you wait...
Last edited by diphthong; 08-20-20 at 04:41 AM.
08-20-20, 07:45 AM
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08-21-20, 07:13 PM
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if you're riding in the door (on either side of the car) zone, you need to be going less than 10 mph to reduce your potential "interaction" probability.
if you've gotten away worth it so far, congrats. it's only a matter of time before your luck runs out. drivers and their passengers do crazy bleep but
guessing you already knew that. if you don't, just you wait...
if you've gotten away worth it so far, congrats. it's only a matter of time before your luck runs out. drivers and their passengers do crazy bleep but
guessing you already knew that. if you don't, just you wait...
Made up number, check! Gross misstatement of probability approaching certitude, check!
Somehow managed to avoid being doored in 50+ years of riding, if I go another 50 years I'm sure my luck is certain to run out.