livedarklions

In the case of the bus, this wasn't even a stopped vehicle, the car situations generally involve someone stopping and hopping out almost instantaneously. So far there's been time to scream, but it was really close.

Daniel4

Anybody who blames the cyclists for being in the door-zone is absolving all drivers of their responsibility to look before opening the doorm

Furthermore, such logic is what bad drivers use to argue that bicyclist don't belong on the road in the same lane with them.

So it's the driver's fault. A cyclist can take all the precautions he can but it's all negated by a driver who isn't paying attention as he should when he accepted his drivers licence.

Gresp15C

I'm not a lawyer, but this law firm says it's the driver's fault in Wisconsin.

https://www.griessmeyerlaw.com/wisconsin-bicycle-laws

Leisesturm

Maybe. But cyclists were being run down when forced to share lanes with 4,000lb. passenger cars. Bike lanes are now a thing. A big thing. They aren't going away. As I understand it, the QWERTY layout of your computer keyboard is not the best way to lay out keys on a keyboard. It was done to slow typists down so that the primitive mechanisms of the day could keep up. Now that we have better mechanicals in our keyboards we 'could' move to more efficient keyboard layouts. Not happening. People adapt. The majority adapt.

mr_bill

Well AFTER the Wisconson statute 346.94(20) took effect, rather than ticketing the driver, my friend was ticketed for violating 346.07(2) - failure to pass with a safe distance.

Luckily his injuries were minor, though the seat tube of the bike of all things did not fair well.

-mr. bill

Sandstrom

Watch out for parked '73 Impala Sport Coupes, the doors are larger & heaver than some modern cars.

mr_bill

Watch out for Unicorns too. I hear their rainbows temporarily blind.

-mr. bill

spdntrxi

Driver...

I got doored when I was 18... the door zone on a 1980s Camaro belinetta is the other side of the street. We made eye contact, I watched him get in the car and close his door ...only to open it again. The rest is history and permanent damage to my right hand middle finger.

grizzly59

If the other guy has a better lawyer, then it's your fault.

Gresp15C

Yes, my google search located an article about this too. This web page pretty much says: Take the lane.

https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/safet...ike/rules.aspx

Miele Man

If a bicyclist took "all the precautions he can" then the bicyclist would NOT be riding in the door zone. Expect the unexpected? That means expecting a door to be opened if you are in the door zone. Seeing what the consequences can be for getting doored = serious injury or death, I just stay out of the door zone. It doesn't matter to me if the driver is at fault or not for not looking before opening the door. If I get doored and knocked down into a traffic lane and a vehicle then drives over my head killing me (as happened not too long ago to a bicyclist) the driver being at fault is not going to bring me back to life or cure my injuries.

Ride in the door zone if you want to but please do realize that doing so near stopped or parked vehicles is quite dangerous the the bicyclist doing so.

Cheers

Miele Man

You mean like these bicyclists?

https://www.nsnews.com/news/north-va...ath-1.23882978

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...laid-1.5209489

https://wakefordlaw.com/accident-new...pens-car-door/

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...ticle-1.191836

https://abc7news.com/tess-rothstein-...treet/5187451/

Many in this list too.

https://bicyclesafe.com/doorprize.html

It's why I refuse to ride in the door zone.

You can search YouTube with: bicyclist killed by opening car door

Cheers

AlmostTrick

I'd consider a dooring incident my fault, whether I was exiting my car or riding my bike. It's not difficult to avoid either.

njkayaker

The driver is at fault.

​​​​​​But your real concern is (should be) to avoid being doored in the first place.

Since you have no control over what door openers do, you have to position yourself out of the space that doors can be opened into.

If you are doored, you've already lost. Maybe, even dead.

Finding fault is a minor way to improve a bad situation. It's kind-of too late.
​​​​​

Gresp15C

The problem with "fault" is that it's either a legal or moral distinction applied after the damage has been done. And safety involves what you do before the damage can be done. So they are unrelated to one another. I take heed of my mom's advice when she taught me to ride a bike, and later, to drive: "Always assume the other drivers are blind idiots."

Clyde1820

Ah, well. That's a horse of a different color.

Two lanes, and vehicles in the one lane decide to "squeeze by" anyway, failing in their duty as vehicles on that roadway. Whether a bike or skateboard or car, you're right, shouldn't matter: attempt to squeeze two vehicles into a single lane, where anyone in that single lane is thinking there's zero chance of an in-lane attempt at a pass ... well, that pretty much puts the owness on the one attempting the squeeze. In that case, the cyclist.

mr_bill

Do you refuse to ride near other cyclists?

In your your rushed distasteful zeal to google that stuff....

“Police say a driver was parked in the curb lane on the north side of of West Esplanade on Jan. 27, when he is alleged to have opened his door into the adjacent bike lane, which set off a chain reaction crash, hitting one westbound cyclist who then crashed into McIntosh.”

-mr. bill

JonnyHK 

It's always the other scenarios that are more legally interesting...

- passenger getting out of a car
- passenger getting out of a cab or Uber
- passenger opening kerbside door of a stationary car that is in a traffic lane (ie not parked, just held up by traffic)

and so on.

mr_bill

(In case not available in your jurisdiction, trailer to Lady Bird Movie.)

Slightly more likely than a Close Encounter of the 1973 Chevy Impala Kind.

-mr. bill

jack pot 

I ride fixed in urban areas ... bike lanes are "advisory" to most cars ... getting doored is on me but there are some things that you just can't expect

Daniel4

Of course he should not be riding in the door zone to begin with. However, how far out should he be riding and then getting side-swiped on the left by an inattentive bad driver? To avoid that, take the lane and then get other types of drivers annoyed and try to bully you out of the way. It goes on and on and it all depends upon the driver you encounter.

So again, it's the drivers' fault.

Miele Man

First, even if it's the driver's fault it does NOT help a bicyclist who gets doored, knocked down into the traffic lane, and t hen run over and seriously injured or killed. That bicyclist is still seriously injured or dead.

Second. The videos I posted links to upthread show how far out fro a stopped/parked vehicle a bicyclist needs t o be in order to avoid the door zone.

Third. From what I can find, it seems t hat there are a LOT more bicyclists who get doored (injured or killed) than there are bicyclists who get side-swiped because the bicyclist is out of the door zone.

Cheers

blue192

Generally the driver because the bicycle is moving on the street whilst the car is parked. It would be the driver's responsibility to make sure if it is safe to open the door. Now if the bicycle is on a sidewalk then I would say it would be the bicyclist's fault as the bike is not allowed to be ridden there.

indyfabz

You claim to be living in a former British colony in Asia. Look up the local law.

dennis336