If you have been a bike messenger for any time, you know the score. Someone opens their car door without looking, you hit it, and you go flying. Hopefully, you don't get hurt too bad and your bike survives. I have had a few minor doorings, and one pretty solid one from a passenger getting out of a black-cab in the middle of the street, which left me with bent handlebars, scars on my knuckles and a big scar on my forearm. As is often the case, the passenger jumped back into the cab, and they drove of before I had a chance to get up off the ground and collect myself.
But dooring is a serious issue for cyclists. You may have seen this sticker around town:
It refers to Clinton Miceli, who was killed last summer after he was doored and thrown off his bike into traffic. It seems as though the city is taking this issue seriously. There has been a law on the books in Illinois for some time which states that it is illegal to open a vehicle door into traffic (bicycles are legally considered traffic). This issue was also covered in the Chicago bicycle safety ordinance, passed last summer, less than a month after Clinton Miceli's fatal dooring. The City of Chicago has also produced a video to teach police officers how to enforce the new laws which apply to car-bike accidents. I attended a meeting at the CDOT where we viewed this video shortly after it was launched, and was really excited about it as a cyclist. It is very well done. Dooring was a really hot issue last summer and it seemed as though all of the pieces were in place to reduce doorings, or at least have police officers and the public treat doorings as a serious issue, rather than a case of bad luck for bikers.
A 2008 Chicago City-sticker for vehicles,
the image promotes bike safety and reminds drivers
to look before opening their doors.
How far have we come in a year? Not very far, it seems. Within the last week, I have heard two alarming stories of messengers being doored. This morning, I got a phone call from a messenger who had just been doored, and was dealing with the police while he was talking to me. The officer on the scene wasn't aware of any law which covered dooring, so I looked up 625 ILCS 5/11-1407 and read it off to him. The messenger cited the law to the officer, who then responded that since the officer didn't actually witness the accident, he wouldn't be able to write any citations for it. Now, I'm not a lawyer, but I am pretty sure that statement was not true. I didn't actually find out how the whole thing turned out, but it didn't sound good at the time. I gave the biker Lawyer Jim's phone number and wished him luck.
The other dooring incident is a more serious one. Last weekend Blake, one of our fellow Chicago messengers, was very badly doored, and is going to be out of commission for a while. I don't know the exact medical name for his injury, but basically he broke his kneecap in half on someones car door. The situation with the police was very difficult in this case also. I wasn't actually there, but people who were said that the officer who showed up refused to file a police report. Now, once again I am not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure that under Illinois law, every time there is a traffic accident with an injury, the responding officer is required to file a report. The officer as far as I know didn't write a ticket to the person who doored Blake.
Hopefully the lack of a promptly filed police report and citation won't adversely affect Blake's case. He is in a bad spot right now. Last I heard Blake is staying with his parents outside the city because he is unable to go up the stairs to get into his apartment. It will be a while before he is able to ride a bike again, and considering that he bikes for a living, that is not good. If you would like to help Blake out in any way, you can email chicagocouriersunion@gmail.com, or you can call his roommate Arturbo at (773) 801-8887.
Everybody take it easy out there, and be careful.
The other dooring incident is a more serious one. Last weekend Blake, one of our fellow Chicago messengers, was very badly doored, and is going to be out of commission for a while. I don't know the exact medical name for his injury, but basically he broke his kneecap in half on someones car door. The situation with the police was very difficult in this case also. I wasn't actually there, but people who were said that the officer who showed up refused to file a police report. Now, once again I am not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure that under Illinois law, every time there is a traffic accident with an injury, the responding officer is required to file a report. The officer as far as I know didn't write a ticket to the person who doored Blake.
Hopefully the lack of a promptly filed police report and citation won't adversely affect Blake's case. He is in a bad spot right now. Last I heard Blake is staying with his parents outside the city because he is unable to go up the stairs to get into his apartment. It will be a while before he is able to ride a bike again, and considering that he bikes for a living, that is not good. If you would like to help Blake out in any way, you can email chicagocouriersunion@gmail.com, or you can call his roommate Arturbo at (773) 801-8887.Everybody take it easy out there, and be careful.
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8 comments:
Hey thanks for thinking of me! I trully appreciate it.
Of course, man. An injury to one is an injury to all!
I do not wish to see anyone hurt, but this "dooring" law is absolutely ridiculous. The bicyclist is at fault as often as the person opening the door is, but the law says it's the driver's fault every time. That's just not right especially since a cyclist is not held to any standard of behavior at all. Watch where you're going...
Hey Watcher, Thanks for reading the blog. Your comment is a bit off base though. The dooring law states that you must look before you open your car door and not open it in front of any vehicle, whether it be a bicycle or car. For what it is worth, I have seen a taxi cab's door ripped off because the passenger opened it into traffic right in front of a truck. The truck had no time to react at all, and if it had, the truck driver would have been faced with the choice of locking up his brakes and skidding through the door, or veering into the other lane of trtaffic and hitting the car which was driving next to him.
You mention "fault" in your comment. Let's look at the most common dooring scenario and try to assign fault. A biker is riding with the flow of traffic in the bike lane at about 15mph. There are parked cars all along the curb to the cyclists right, and the cyclist is being overtaken by traffic moving about 30mph on his left. Bike lanes in Chicago are about 3' wide, and an average car door opens about 2.5' wide. The cyclist approaches the rear bumper of a parked car, when the drivers side door of the car suddenly swings open into the bike lane. The cyclist is looking foreward and is aware that there are cars overtaking him/her on the left. The cyclist has the choice to come to a complete stop within 9', which is impossible or try to slow as much as possible and collide with the door. They may also try to veer out into the traffic lane, either sideswiping a passing car which will probably send the cyclist back into the door anyway, or possibly being hit from behind by a vehicle which is overtaking the cyclist. The bottom line is that if the cyclist has any time to react at all, they still are not left with any choice that will likely end in them not being injured or killed.
Lets look at the car driver who opens the door in the same situation. They will have pulled their car into the parking space. The driver will have then put the car into park, turned the ignition off, and taken the keys out, and will have to reach for the door handle in order to exit the car. This is the key moment in the interaction between the driver and the biker. The driver might look in his mirror to see if any vehicles are coming up from behind his car before opening his door. Or the driver won't be paying attention, and will open their door without looking, in which case their door will be hit by any vehicle that is passing within a few feet of their parked car, whether it is a street sweeper, cyclist, or a car that is passing another car that is waiting to turn left. In any of these cases, the person who opens the door will be responsible for the damages to any of the vehicles listed, be it a bike, car, bus, truck, motorcycle, or anything else. Rightfully so, as the person opening their door is the only one not paying attention, and they should bear the responsibility. It's pretty simple; just look before you open your door.
I'm going to assume that you have never ridden a bike in the city Watcher, which is fine. But I would appreciate it if you would try to have some understanding of the dynamics of city traffic if you are going to drive in the City of Chicago.
Thanks.
Thank you, Messenger. I was doored for the first time yesterday. Your explanation as to why the cyclist is not at fault is right on.
I'm sorry. I hope you are OK. Being able to explain it, or figure out why it happens still doesn't seem to keep people from getting hurt.
Bike lanes in Chicago are at least 5 feet wide. See pages 5 and 7 of the Bike Lane Design Guide.
http://www.activelivingresources.org/assets/chicagosbikelanedesignguide.pdf
Thanks for the clarification Steven. I have never actually measured a bike lane, I was only estimating the width. Even at 5', it still doesn't really leave you with enough room to squeeze between a fully-opened car door and a car overtaking you on the left. I also don't want to give the impression that we are being critical of bike lanes. I know that you guys have a tough job trying to fit everything into narrow, busy Chicago streets, and bike lanes definitely make things safer for cyclists.
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