MikeyMK

People are w*****s when in a car, and don't think or care about what's going on out side.

Daniel4

Another option is to replace all parallel parking with angled parking. The only dooring would be if one parked car dinged another parked car. Motorists are always forced to look backwards when leaving the parking space and therefore will lookout for pedestrians, cyclists and other cars.

JoeyBike

When I am "forced" to ride in the door zone, which does happen occasionally, i handle it by SLOWING DOWN and looking inside each car if the windows aren't tinted. If I see what looks like a head on the left side of the car, front or rear, i SLOW DOWN even more with my fingers already pulling the brake levers slightly.

KraneXL

Of course "slow down". A bike on the road should go slower? Thing is, does the rest of the world slow down to match you? Motorist would love bikes on the road to go slower.

BTW, what about road hazards, debris, pedestrians, signals, signs and all the motorist doing wacky, illegal and unpredictable, unsafe things. Do you get to look ahead into every car you're approaching and watch all of that other stuff that's happening at the same time? Of course you could slow down even further until you're basically at walking speed, but then that would defeat the purpose wouldn't it?

At that point you can just dismount and walk. Then again, people still collide even when they're waking? Maybe they're walking too fast and need to slow down as well? Now that you mention it, the world should slow down. Why do we need to travel at 500 mph anyways? Your logic fails. Please try again later.

Leisesturm

Just when I thought this thread could not get any sillier ...

Paul Barnard

When my buddy got doored in VA in 2014 IIRC, VA did not have a law on the books that burdened motorists with making sure it was safe to open their door. Cycling advocacy groups had been pushing for it for a few years, but the legislature had repeatedly rejected it. A few years later VA finally passed the law.

https://www.waba.org/blog/2016/04/do...w-in-virginia/

Paul Barnard

That's the crux of it right there. Sometimes we have to choose between the lesser of evils. I can't tell you that the strategy you choose is right or wrong. I can tell you that riding in the door zone is a choice. It's a choice I avoid at almost all costs.

mr_bill

I can tell you that opening a door without looking is a choice.

-mr. bill

JoeyBike

Slowing down in the door zone does three things: 1. Gives me more time to peer through back glass or side mirrors for occupants, 2. Gives me more time to react to a door starting to crack open, and 3. Minimizes the damage to me if everything goes wrong.

The relative speed between passing motorists and cyclists is great. Slowing down a few miles an hour on a bike is irrelevant to the speed differential. To motorists, we are "non-moving" objects like mail boxes and fire hydrants. Which is why we get right-hooked. Because motorists see us as standing still anyway. The rest of the world does not need to slow down because I slow down. In fact, they can go faster because I have more time to react.

Now if you are keeping up with traffic doing 20+mph as I do much of the time, why would you be in the freaking door zone anyways?

Who's the Logic now???

PatrickGSR94

Of course it's a choice. What's your point? I refuse to rely on motorists to make the right choice, therefore I do not ride in the door zone.

adablduya

your buddy got doored because he was riding in the door zone. it's on him, and the law would not have done him any good. he'd still be flopping on the street like a fish on the beach.
don't ride in the door zone and you won't get clocked. simple.

I-Like-To-Bike

Even more simple, never ride in a traffic lane and never get hit in a traffic lane; never ride in traffic and never get in a traffic accident. Very "simple" indeed.

Paul Barnard

I am of the same school of thought you are about avoiding the door zone. From a legal standpoint he had no recourse. His bicep suffered a near full thickness cut, and were it not for a miraculous recovery, he would have lost his career. As it was the idiot who flung the door open in front of him suffered no legal or financial penalty. Under the new law, they would.

Rollfast

It doesn't really work when your town was laid out between 1880 and 1940something.

jon c. 

It's hard to see much of anything backing out of an angled spot. We have a newly rebuilt street where they added angled parking, but to improve visibility you're supposed to back into the angled space. It does make if safer when exiting the space, but cars behind you often don't stop far enough back to all you to back into the spot.

Paul Barnard

You make a very good point. When you park a little Mazda CX3 next to a Suburban, you have to commit a good bit of your car to the lane before you can see around it. Even if you did the gymnastics to back in, you still have to nose out before you can see around it.

KraneXL

Backing in might seem like it makes perfect sense at first glance however, it ends up being more dangerous. Unfortunately backing into angled parking is prohibited in most locations.

Trsnrtr

My town has a few downtown streets where back-in angled parking is mandatory. I never thought about whether it's safer for cyclists or not but I bet a car driver can still leave one without looking.

mr_bill

Back in angle parking

BTW, in Boston there are many door zone traffic lanes.
Not unusual for such a road to have parallel parking at both curbs and a single narrow traffic lane in the middle.

People driving Smart Cars, people riding motorcycles, and people riding bicycles can avoid the door zone on such streets.
Otherwise....

But of course if you don't drive on these streets and you won't get clocked. Simple.

-mr. bill

adablduya

all that matters in that context is who pays for the medical bills. sure, the driver MIGHT take it as a lesson learned to be more aware, and for the cyclist to not ride in the door zone, which is/was always under his control. BUT, do you really think that matters at the time to the cyclist who is laying on the ground after crashing into a door (in the zone) ?

KraneXL

It not always an easy call:

Why reverse parking is illegal for some stalls, but encouraged in others

tyrion

Yes.

adablduya

with all due respect to your opinion, i call BS on that one. there's a guy laying on the ground, (presumably) quite injured after a crash at speed into an unexpected opening car door, (presumably) in great pain. honestly, you think his predominant thoughts at that time are "am i responsible / liable for my predicament, or is the driver who opened his door into the path i could (and should) have been avoiding ?" i doubt that laying there injured is NOT the time to be evaluating who was at fault ....

tyrion

No. Why do you ask?

KraneXL

Being in the door zone does not relive you of responsibility or liability. Especially when there is no legally defined "door zone" space. Even if there is a "lined" defined space you still need to look before flinging your door open, since you can be outside the line but still within the departure space. Just like your butt crosses the line whey you step out of your car.