Dashcam video from a car dramatically shows what happens when somebody opens a door into a cyclist. The cyclist just narrowly avoided becoming road pizza when the driver swerved to avoid hitting him (or her?)
Via Keri @ Commute Orlando. The video she uses was removed from YouTube because it violates YouTube’s “policy on shocking and disgusting content.” There’s no blood but it is disturbing to watch, so beware.
I don’t know where this was recorded. Every U.S. state prohibits opening a car door directly in the path of traffic, but doorings are still a common occurrence. Earlier this week, I watched somebody open a car door directly in the path of a moving city bus — the bus driver stopped short to just avoid demolishing the car door by that much.
Defensive cycing means watching out for the mistakes the other idiots out there make. As the above video demonstrates, a hit cyclist is often thrown into adjacent traffic. To reduce the risk of getting run over, move out of the “door zone” and further into the traffic lane. This may seem counter-intuitive, but experience and statistics testify to the safety of moving left into the lane.
See also:
- Dooring a bus & blaming the bus driver
- Dooring kills
- Bronx cyclist doored, killed by bus
- Door Prize in the New York Times
