two

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"Hold Fast to Dreams..."

Collision type #2 The Door Prize // Austin

This is from a great Bicycle advocacy site called bicycleSafe.com

This post is excerpted from the article titled: How not to get hity by cars by Michael Bluejay

Collision type #2 The Door Prize

A driver opens his door right in front of you. You run right into it if you can't stop in time. If you're lucky, the motorist will exit the car before you hit the door, so you'll at least have the pleasure of smashing them too when you crash, and their soft flesh will cushion your impact. This kind of crash is more common than you might think, and in fact cyclists crashing into parked cars is the #1 kind of car-bike collision in Santa Barbara. (source)We've compiled a list of cyclists killed by running into open car doors.

How to avoid this collision:

Ride to the left. Ride far enough to the left that you won't run into any door that's opened unexpectedly. You may be wary about riding so far into the lane that cars can't pass you easily, but you're more likely to get doored by a parked car if you ride too close to it than you are to get hit from behind by a car which can clearly see you.

Cyclist killed after bike hits car door // Toronto

This comes via TheStar.com

May 23, 2008 12:10 PM

Precious Yutangco Staff Reporter

The death of a Toronto cyclist, who was killed yesterday after his bike hit a car door that was being opened, is the type of tragedy that is becoming all too familiar on the city's streets, bicycle activists say.

Toronto police say that the 57-year-old man was heading east on his bicycle on Eglinton Ave. W. just west of Avenue Rd. yesterday afternoon around 1 p.m. when the driver of a parked Volvo started to get out of his car.

The cyclist hit the door and flew off his bike before landing on the roadway, where he was struck by a Ford cube van.

The man was taken to hospital where he died of his injuries.

Yvonne Bambrick, assistant coordinator for the Toronto Cyclist Union, said today that while bike accidents are not as frequent as car collisions, the reality is that mishaps with car doors put cyclists at great risk.

"You have to be aware that there are bikes on the road. You must look before you open your door onto the roadway," Bambrick said, adding that cyclists also have to take some responsibility.

"Be aware of the road users around you and act accordingly . . . you can't not pay attention when you're on a bike."

There have been 12 bicycle-related fatalities in Toronto since 2004, according to Toronto Traffic Services. In 2007, there were 1,163 motor-related bike collisions reported.

Although the investigation is still ongoing, Sgt. Tim Burrows, communications and media relations officer for Toronto Traffic Services, said that it was likely an accident and it does not look like charges will be laid.

Regardless, police are asking witnesses to call 416-808-1900 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).

The family is asking for privacy and police have not released his name.

Cops ticket biker hit by car door // Wisconsin

From the Daily Page

State law protects careless drivers but penalizes those they hurt

by Vikki Kratz on Thursday 08/14/2008

Linda Willsey saw the car door opening a split second before it hit her. She was biking down Henry Street, on her way home from work at Community Pharmacy, when someone in a parked car swung open the door without looking.

"I think I yelled 'No!'" says Willsey, as the door hit her right side. "I went into the air and landed on my back."

She was taken to the emergency room with multiple contusions and a fractured vertebra. As she was waiting to have X-rays taken, Madison police officer Jean Papalia paid a visit.

"She said, 'Gee, I'm really sorry, but I have to issue you a citation,'" recalls Willsey. The $10 ticket cited a little-known state law that requires bicyclists passing a parked or standing vehicle to allow "a minimum of three feet" between themselves and the car.

"I don't think I was riding my bike dangerously close," says Willsey. "I was at a reasonable distance." The car, she adds, was not damaged.

Willsey plans to fight the ticket in court next week. She's already received a letter from the motorist's insurance company, citing the state law as a reason to deny any future claims. "I hadn't intended to file a claim," she says. "But I might now just to show them."

Police spokesman Mike Hanson is momentarily dumbfounded when he hears about Willsey's ticket. "Wow," he says finally. "I've never heard of that."

Hanson doubts officers are regularly ticketing bicyclists who get doored. "This would be an obtuse citation."

But he notes that when a person is injured in a traffic accident, police are obligated to ticket someone, unless they get a supervisor's approval. And Hanson can't think of any law the motorist who hit Willsey violated. "There's nothing specific about opening a door."

Michael Rewey, a board member of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, disagrees. He thinks the driver should have at least been cited for obstructing traffic.

"If another car got doored, there would have been some form of obstruction ticket," he says. "I don't think there's fair treatment of all modes of transportation."

The Bike Fed may lobby the state Legislature to get the law changed. Willsey has already contacted state Sen. Fred Risser (D-Madison), who wrote back that he, too, had once been hit by a car door while biking. He promised to draft a bill, writing: "At the very least I think cars should show the same 'due care' when opening a car door."

Rewey notes that some Madison bike lanes require bicyclists to pass within three feet of parked cars; in fact, he thinks many newer lanes are too close. "A lot of bike lanes are right on the edge," he says. "If you're in the bike lane and get doored, whose fault is it?"

Certainly not the impatient, barely-paying-attention drivers who fling open their doors.

Merge this!

When John Roussos, owner of New Orleans Take-Out, renewed his restaurant license this summer, he got an unpleasant surprise. The annual fee, previously $382, was now more than $700.

"I work long, hard hours to keep my business open," he complains. "What am I getting for [an extra] $340?"

The fees increased after Dane County and the city of Madison merged their health departments this year. Roussos, whose restaurant is in the town of Madison, used to get a license from the county, which charged every restaurant a flat fee. The new Public Health Department adopted Madison's method of charging fees based mostly on revenue.

"There's now one standard set of services and fees applied universally over all of Dane County," says department head Dr. Thomas Schlenker. "It's a natural outcome of the merger."

Roussos' restaurant falls into one of the higher revenue categories: $250,000 to $1 million. "I can see a million-dollar restaurant paying $700," he says. "But a $250,000 restaurant is barely in business. Should somebody making four times as much pay the same?"

Schlenker agrees the categories are probably too broad and could be split. "We wouldn't be against it."

The fee hike is expected to bring in about $150,000, which will be used to hire another inspector and give all inspectors computerized tablets, improving efficiency.

"We are providing more and better service," says Schlenker, adding that Dane County did not inspect establishments as rigorously as Madison did. City inspectors, for example, would test the safety of soft-serve ice cream, which can easily be contaminated. "That was not done outside the city of Madison anywhere in Dane County," he says. "People assume if they had an ice cream cone there would be the same safety standards."

Roussos mocks the department for claiming the merger is more cost-effective. "If they're saving money, then by that logic my fee should have gone down," he says. "I was really concerned when I heard they were going to merge — I knew I was going to get screwed."

Streetwise

Gorham Street will not be converted into a two-way street when it reopens on Sept. 2. Although the neighborhood asked the city of Madison for a trial, there was not time to get it approved by the Common Council.

"We want to keep this idea alive," says Patrick McDonnell, president of the Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood Association. The neighborhood believes a two-way street will calm traffic and encourage more owner-occupancy. Says McDonnell, "Operating as a primary arterial for cars is not conducive to families with children."

McDonnell notes that there was "remarkably little fallout" from closing Gorham for construction this summer, suggesting it isn't needed as a downtown artery. "There is more capacity on the stretch of East Washington than perhaps even Traffic Engineering had imagined."

Ald. Brenda Konkel recently introduced a resolution calling for a transportation study of the entire downtown corridor. "No one is looking at the big picture," she says. "Streetcars looked at streetcars, Platinum Biking looked at biking. There was no overall look at downtown."

Konkel says if the city opens one-way streets like Gorham to two-way traffic, it should have some idea how the entire isthmus will be affected. And the city should plan for how cars, buses, bikes and pedestrians will interact.

"We really want to look at the whole thing as a big package," she says. "Not just do what is best for individual neighborhoods."

Something to rethink about

The city of Madison may sue to keep Charter Communications from moving Madison City Channel 12 to a spot in the digital 900s. City Attorney Mike May is drafting a letter to the cable company.

"Comcast in Michigan announced it was doing the same thing, and a group got an injunction stopping them," says Brad Clark, City Channel's station manager. "Obviously, litigation is a last resort. But I think the city feels pretty strongly this would be a bad idea for Madison residents."

Charter has pushed back its plan to move City Channel to the fall. "It's a temporary situation," says Tom Vowell, Charter spokesman. "We're rethinking the plan."

Vowell says the company still wants to create a "Public Affairs" tier to house government channels. But it must first move some other things around. "This is a pretty complex plan," and moving City Channel "is a small piece of the puzzle."

But Charter, he says, is not worried about a lawsuit: "We're well within our legal rights."

Nearly Doored // Dublin

Save a life and your door!

Almost Doored // Berkeley

Disappearing Car Door

Door Prize Lady Charged "To The Full Extent of the Law" // Toronto

From Treehugger http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/door-prize-lady-charged.php

by Lloyd Alter on 07. 4.08

We were appalled when, after yet another door prize death, a policeman discussed charging the woman who did it and said “If she didn’t look, would that be negligence? It’s very hard to label that as negligent." In our survey, 75% of the respondents agreed that " The driver broke the law and killed someone and should be charged to the full extent of the law."

Well it turns out, she has been charged, with "Open Vehicle Door Improperly", which carries a maximum punishment, if convicted, of demerit points and an approximate $110 fine.

Is this enough? "The consequences should reflect the severity of the crime," said Yvonne Bambrick, the assistant co-ordinator of the Toronto Cyclists Union. "We do not believe that this charge is adequate in this matter" ::The Star Press release from Police below the fold.

Toronto Police Service

News Release
Traffic fatality #20/2008, Update, Charge laid
Friday, June 27, 2008 - 3:11 PM

On Thursday, May 22, 2008, at 1:12 p.m., police responded to a personal injury collision at Eglinton Avenue West/Avenue Road.

It is alleged that:

- a 57-year-old man was cycling east on Eglinton Avenue West, passing a line of parked cars on the south side of the street,

- an occupant of one of the cars, a woman, 43, opened the driver's door,

- the cyclist struck the door, lost control of his bicycle, fell onto the roadway and was struck by a truck.

The cyclist was taken to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. This is the first cycling fatality of 2008.

Traffic Services, in consultation with the City of Toronto’s Prosecutors' Office, have laid a charge of “Open Vehicle Door Improperly” under the Highway Traffic Act.

An information laying out the charge has been filed with Old City Hall Courts.

Comcast Executive Fatally Doored in Moorestown Bike Crash // New Jersey

From the CourierPostOnline

June 13, 2008

Bike accident kills Comcast executive

By JIM WALSH
Courier-Post Staff

A top lawyer for Comcast Corp., just weeks away from retirement, died in a chain-reaction accident as he bicycled here Thursday.

Stanley Wang, a 67-year-old township resident, was pedaling eastbound on Main Street when someone in a parked pickup truck and trailer, also facing eastbound, opened the driver's-side door in his path about 12:20 p.m., police said.

Wang struck the door and fell from his bike into the street, where he was run over by an eastbound car. He was pronounced dead at 1:08 p.m. at Kennedy Memorial Hospital, Cherry Hill, police said.

No other injuries were reported.

Wang, who lived in the 500 block of Sentinel Road, "loved activities," said his wife, Pola. "He was always biking, golfing, playing tennis."

"He was very family-oriented," she said of her husband, who had two adult children and five grandchildren. "He loved his family."

She said Wang planned to retire at the end of this month after almost 30 years with Comcast, the Philadelphia-based cable television giant.

"He saw Comcast rise from a small company to the large company it is today," she said. "He was the one who helped oversee the Comcast Center."

The 58-floor Comcast Center, which officially opened this week, is Philadelphia's tallest building.

Wang was former general counsel at Comcast and served more recently in a part-time role, said D'Arcy Rudnay, a company spokeswoman.

Police did not identify the owner of the pickup truck, which was parked in the 400 block of East Main Street, near Stanwick Road.

They said the car that hit Wang, a 2000 Chevrolet Cavalier, was driven by Kellie Gifford, 19, of the 100 block of Winthrop Avenue.

An investigation is continuing. Anyone with information should call Police Sgt. Randy Pugh at (856) 914-3045.

Reach Jim Walsh at (856) 486-2646 or jwalsh@courierpostonline.com

Taxicab "Look Before You Leap" Campaign // San Francisco

I had thought about trying to get my stickers into cab windows. The closest I came was to stick a random one on the back of a seat here and there. Unfortunately I was not organized or funded well enough to get the idea off the ground. The good news is however The San Francisco Bike Coalition did a great thing back in 04 by teaming up with the city and some Taxi companies by securing placement of these stickers in taxi windows to promote the awareness of the potential of getting into a Car door accident while exiting a taxi cab.

I haven't found any statistics to prove that they have been effective or not but I'll tell you this, It can't hurt.

Jerry

ShareTheRoad PSA2 -- Open Door to Disaster

On the road it's called "dooring", the open door to disaster. The driver of a parked car opens the door without looking behind for approaching bicyclists. The biker either hits the door or swerves into the traffic lane, either option can be lethal. In a cooperative world the biker would see the driver in the parked car, signal to the traffic behind him and then take the lane to avoid the "door zone". The message in this short video is simple: Watch for doors, Signal, Take the lane, ShareTheRoad.

Friends Mourn Cyclist Killed In Freak Accident // Chicago

This report was written by Mai Martinez for CBS. Check out the link at the end of the story. They have a heartbreaking video version of the story posted that demands viewing. —Jerry

June 10, 2008

CHICAGO (CBS) ― A Chicago cyclist, who was hit and killed by an SUV after crashing into an open car door, was remembered Tuesday as a loving young man with a bright future ahead of him.

As CBS 2's Mai Martinez reports, he had recently taken up cycling and was looking forward to his first summer of riding in Chicago.

Those who knew Clint Miceli said he was almost always smiling. It was that trademark smile and his wonderful sense of humor his friends said that they'll miss most.

At Plan B Advertising, where the 22-year-old worked, his co-workers said that if they wanted something done, or just wanted a good laugh, Miceli's desk was the place to be.

Tuesday, that desk had the opposite effect as his friends realized that Miceli was really gone.

Friend and co-worker Mitch Cooper said, "I don't know how you replace that. Probably you're lucky if you do."

Miceli was killed Monday as he was biking home from work on North LaSalle Street. His friends said a child opened the door of a parked car and Miceli crashed into it.

The impact sent Miceli into the nearby intersection, where he was struck and killed by a passing car.

Friend and co-worker Ric van Sickle said, "It's not someone you can point a finger at and assign blame to, it's just a tragic accident."

Miceli's friends hope a memorial -- a white bicycle with his photograph pasted to it -- will remind people of how precious life is and how easily it can be taken away. They said that drivers and cyclists need to be more aware of their surroundings and more respectful of each other

"Cycling is dangerous, and it comes down to making sure that you're ready before you head out into the streets," van Sickle said.

It was a sentiment echoed by many who bike in Chicago.

Cyclist Dave Sienko said, "You've got to look both ways. One thing everybody should be careful about is opening a door. Certainly, that's pretty obvious to me."

For now, Miceli's friends have said only one thing gives them comfort. "I know he was doing something he loved, and a grin on his face in the seconds before he was taken away," van Sickle said.

The driver of the parked car was cited for opening a car door in traffic. The driver of the car which hit Miceli was not ticketed.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/cyclist.freak.accident.2.745322.html

Open Car Door Kills Midtown Bicyclist // New York City

I had to share this thoughtful article written by Jen Chung from Gothamist. She has also included various links to other interesting media coverage of this sad story. —Jerry

December 6, 2007

A 65-year-old man was killed during his bicycle ride to work when he was struck by an open car door in the bike lane at 6th Avenue and 36th Street. David Smith was then pushed off his bike and into the path of a box truck, which hit him.

Smith lived on West 9th Street and worked as an engineer at Town Hall in midtown. His partner of 36 years John Moody said that he had an early day because he was helping prepare a show for school children: "He was looking to come home early this afternoon after he finished the show; it was just a routine day." Smith was already dead by the time Moody made it to Bellevue.

The Post calls it a "FREAK MISHAP," but given that Smith was cycling in the bicycle lane, which is designated for cyclists, we don't know how much of a freak accident it could be. Some witnesses do say that Smith was not wearing a helmet. The truck's driver was issued summonses for parking in front of a fire hydrant and blocking the bike lane while the truck's passenger was issued a summons for "opening a door unsafely."

Times-Up will be having its 3rd Annual Memorial Ride on January 6, 2008. Smith is the 22nd known person to be killed while biking in 2007; that's up from 14 in 2006. And earlier this week, Transportation Alternatives released CrashStat 2.0, a map showing locations of incidents where pedestrian and bicycles have been hit by vehicles.

By Jen Chung (gothamist) New York City

http://gothamist.com/2007/12/06/open_car_door_k.php

Door prize, day 1 // Helsinki

This is my knee on the day of the accident. I was biking down Bulevardi (hereafter referred to as The Death Trap Bicycle Lane From Hell) when a taxi passenger opened his car door into my lane. It all happened so, so fast, and I was in shock, joking around and laughing and apologising and not actually feeling any pain for about an hour and a half, after which this started to sting like a mother. No mechanical damage, it would seem, and I've been icing it in a way that's probably melting glaciers somewhere. But it's gonna photograph well, I says. (From October 11, 2007)

Name: happeningfish
City: Helsinki
Country: Finland
http://www.flickr.com/photos/happeningfish/1555282805/

Always watch the parked cars!

Jerry,

I have been fortunate enough not to have had any "door prizes" since I started riding a bicycle since I was a little kid - the 70's. However, I have had some nonfatal, near-misses. Always watch the parked cars!

—felicion

Riin's Rants, The Door Zone Project

After checking out this site check out Riin's Rants, The Door Zone Project. A small site with some disturbing facts on deaths caused by "dooring" Check out http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Eriin/bikes/

Interesting post from James Doherty, Oakland CA

Jeepers I've been an urban cyclist for 51 years now and I've never been doored.

But, almost, of course. I am always vigilant that it could happen, and besides, the best advice is that given by the Leauge of American Bicyclists: Do not ride in the door zone. OK, OK, easier said than done on skinny streets with two busses or two Hummers trying to pass each other- AND a bicyclist or two, all converging in the same space at the same time. WATCH OUT especially for those grand old Cadillacs, a two door '77 Biarritz Caddy has doors half the size of a football field. The two door cars are always most dangerous, those doors have to be much bigger than the four-doored vehicles to allow any access to any back seat or stowage area.

Anyhow if any of you bikers out there would like to hack, or help, it seems the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) is ignoring my plea of many years ago to configure cars so the driver door SLIDES back. Such an arrangement helps protect kids who may prematurely jump out of a back door into the street side, a slider prevents this too, and hundreds of kids die from this every year, too. You all can think I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. Please realize almost every FEDEX and USPS and UPS truck in the US already has a sliding back driver door, and the Honda Odyssey's sophisticated electronics sliding back prove it could be done on any car, the only thing missing is the mandate. How about an internet campaign to get a mandate rolling so bikers can stop taking it on the chin?

My name is James Doherty. I live in Jerry Brown's Oakland, just across the Berkeley, California border. I can bicycle to free speech famous Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley in just about 10 minutes on one of my hyper bikes. I'm a member of several bike clubs, including the aformentioned League, and am now webpublishing some great stuff on urban biking. I rode Berkeley's Critical Mass last Friday and had a great time. Check out http://www.danceswithbicycles.org/, http://www.freewebs.com/bicyclesrus and see my bike warrior pedal-powered rants on the UN Environmental Programme indexed http://www.CultureChange.org/

"For city bicycling to catch on we need a revolution in our society's infrastructure. Right now a city rider needs to be a road warrior, and the bike needs to be cheap and ugly so it won't get stolen. That's not a bike friendly culture." - Gary Fisher

James Doherty
jimisfun@mac.com

Bike Accident Photo Essay, Posted by Jerry SF, CA

These images are two several taken by Robert Winters for the Cambridge Civic Journal regarding the July 2nd 2002 fatality of cyclists Dana Laird. Dana was run over and killed as she swerved to avoid a car door on Mass Ave. It has been posted here with Roberts permission. Soon I'll be adding a separate photo page to display more photos Robert took at the scene and other general photography related to Car Door accidents. Until then please visit Roberts site to view more photos of this unfortunate incident.

http://www.rwinters.com/bike/july2dooring.htm

Additional information:
Go to the_ "Feburary 2005" section at the bottom of this page. There you'll find a post by Matthew Pickett who's brother knew Dana.

Go to the_ links section under "magazine articles" to read the Boston Phoenix account of the accident.

—Jerry

Ted Greenwald, San Francisco CA

Here's my story:
It was just before 6pm on November 5, 2001, and I was pedaling down the San Francisco streets on my way to the train station for the evening commute home. Night falls early in November, and the daylight was fading. In those days my bike didn't have a headlight. And although I wear a helmet, I hadn't put it on; it dangled from my handlebars. I was keeping close to the right-hand side of the street and traveling at a pretty quick clip when I saw a car door opening in front of me. I swerved, but not enough to avoid clocking the door with my right pedal. My launched into the air like a missile. I remember flying, thinking about what landing would be like. I crashed into the pavement and realized that I had gotten off lightly. Rather than smashing my head, I had merely scraped my nose against the asphalt. I had instinctively put out my left hand - my dominant hand - to break the fall. The guy in the car didn't even get out to check on me; he closed the door and sat silently in his car as I picked myself up. Then I noticed that my wrist was hurting, and my only thought was to get ice on it ASAP. I ran into a nearby eatery and got a bag of ice, then picked up my bike and walked to the train station. I forgot all about the guy who had doored me. I thought my wrist was sprained, but it turned out that I had broken my left scaphoid, a tiny carpal bone that often fractures in the course of a hard fall on an outstretched hand - it's a common injury among skiers, skateboarders, motorcyclists, basketball players, and soldiers dodging incoming ordnance. Even when it's treated properly, it doesn't heal in 10 percent of cases. Over the next several months, I learned that I was in that 10 percent. Here it is, June 2005, and I'm still working on getting my wrist back into shape. I got surgery in late 2002, and which finally healed the fracture, but it left my range of motion compromised, so I put my wrist in a stretching device three times a day. The wrist is pretty functional, but it will never be back to normal; Even if I get the range of motion back, the cartilage damage is permanent, leaving me with an arthritic wrist. If you get doored and you're unfortunate enough to break your scaphoid, my advice is: don't wait to see whether it will heal naturally. Get it surgically fixed right away if you can. You'll avoid a bunch of unpleasant complications that way.

Best,
Ted