ParkingTheBus

I was riding to pick up a package at the post office, when some stupid woman driver opens her door in the middle of traffic without even looking! I nearly missed it, as my hand just edged the door. I gave her a nice variation of swear words and advice until she told me to get on the sidewalk! lol! I rode back to her, told her off (in a nice reasonable manner this time) and rode off. She was silent. Toronto, Canada has a long way to go for cyclists

What is the best way to avoid getting doored? I could have gotten smushed today as there was a bus not to far behind me.

Ray R

Don't ride in the door zone.

BridgeNotTunnel

Yep. I learned this the hard way. I got doored in my first month of cycling to work.

I feel it was sort of a rite of passage in this town.

Since then, I try to imagine the furthest point at which the door could be flung open and ride out side that area, and if that means I need to take the lane. So be it.

When in between tightly packed traffic where space does not allow for a buffer, I reduce my speed greatly so I may be better prepared in the event that someone flings their door open.

ParkingTheBus

Traffic and the lanes are packed so tightly on this portion of Toronto that cyclists have no room on this street; no one does! I was trying my best to ride out as far to the left as possible.

DrJerry

I got quite an education as to the way things should be done when I was in Netherlands (Holland) They have bikes separated from auto traffic as much as possible. "Red pavement for bikes" I would like to see other cities/ countries adopt similar things. Many times if you get out of the door zone you are in the heavy truck zone.

Glottis

If you're not able to ride at least 1.5 meter from parked cars, just go with the flow - ride behind a car. If traffic is too slow, overtake on the left of the first lane to avoid the door zone. Overtake, don't undertake. Or pick a different route.

canyoneagle

Yikes - glad you didn't get doored or pushed in front to a bus.

It sounds lie the street you're describing is a bad choice for a bike - most urban cores have streets that are better than others for biking. Is there a better street 1-2 blocks away?

Bob J

I do my best to take the door out with me.

I_like_cereal

Best way to not get doored is to take the lane and forget the bike lane. I have to do that here on a couple of streets cause the cars do not care. We also have a law that allows the bike to take the whole lane when necessary.

mynameistaken

glad you missed it.

If you had hit the door and damaged your bike and her car... who is at fault?

weshigh

I don't know about Canada, but am pretty sure that in most if not all states its the person who opens the door. They are required to open the door safely into the traffic lane. The cyclist will be the one injured or killed though.

rex_kramer

A friend of mine learned about this the hard way when he flung his door open into traffic and a city bus removed it for him. He'd had it in his head (like a lot of people do) that it's the responsibility of others to watch out for his opening door.