Because that's where they fit.Lazyweek wrote:So why do they so often put bike lanes next to where cars park? It just seems so dangerous, especially on downhill sections where you can get a bit of speed.
I "claim my lane" if I intend on going fast downhill, no way in hell would a do 40-60 km/hr within ~1-1.5m of parked cars. If not, I ride slower and keep an eye out. I hope it never happens to me.
Anyone had a car door opened on them?
-
- Posts: 270
- Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 12:25 pm
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby Undertow » Tue Nov 27, 2012 12:14 pm
-
- Posts: 60
- Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 11:05 pm
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby crazyjose » Tue Nov 27, 2012 12:58 pm
-
- Posts: 364
- Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2012 12:43 pm
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby clydesmcdale » Tue Nov 27, 2012 2:49 pm
Because traffic engineers don't have an appropriate set of guidelines/standards to follow. Mostly councils just put them in without any science behind it.Lazyweek wrote:So why do they so often put bike lanes next to where cars park? It just seems so dangerous, especially on downhill sections where you can get a bit of speed.
I see it as a potential safety in design issue. If someone gets killed or injured because they were doored whilst in a designated bike lane within the door zone, I would expect there would be some grounds for litigation.
-
- Posts: 12212
- Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 3:40 pm
- Location: Brisbane
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby jasonc » Tue Nov 27, 2012 2:56 pm
unfit for purpose?clydesmcdale wrote:I see it as a potential safety in design issue. If someone gets killed or injured because they were doored whilst in a designated bike lane within the door zone, I would expect there would be some grounds for litigation.
- Lukeyboy
- Posts: 3621
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2012 2:38 am
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby Lukeyboy » Tue Nov 27, 2012 8:49 pm
Quickly closed when the police car caught up
-
- Posts: 136
- Joined: Tue Aug 23, 2011 12:45 am
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby lammy » Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:38 am
I was riding up a 2-3%incline so not going that fast luckily 23kph ish, on a road with heaps of car sales showrooms etc. There were car parking spaces, 16 inches of road then solid white line (I assume this was the bike ''lane')', then single carriageway. Some dude in his white sedan had been there a while then just opened the door!!!... OMGosh ....swift dangerous manouvere out into the road and just missed him. If I was cycling perhaps another 6 inches closer to the cars I would have clipped is door for sure. I turned around to hurl abuse and he just stood there looking blankly at me not saying a word!! Sign of guilt perhaps. Shook me up bigstyle. So glad I give that miniumum 1m clearance and wrote this post to keep it fresh in my mind!!!
I have to admit though, I and not perfect either and have a car also and am guilty of not looking everytime before I open the door, 90% of the time I do, but its the 10% which makes you into a statistic I suppose, note to myself, must try harder. 8 lives left now.
- Summernight
- Posts: 2073
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2012 3:40 pm
- Location: Melbourne
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby Summernight » Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:32 am
The cyclist in front of me about 30 metres ahead gets doored by the front passenger getting out of the stationary black car waiting 4-5 cars from the lights. Since it was low speed no major issues and no fall and he rides off. The elderly lady who doored this cyclist then proceeds to walk off without a care towards Swanston Street. Then as I go past (very slowly) the rear elderly male passenger from the same black car opens his door on me.
I managed to stop in time but my wrist did hit the door although no major damage to anybody and my wrist was fine after an hour or so. Since my quick-thinking abusing skills aren't very good I didn't say anything meaningful before riding off.
I've had a few passengers open their doors from cars stuck in traffic in the Collins Street bicycle lane as well as on the green Albert Street bicycle lane but none have been as close as that time I was actually hit. The passengers are almost worse than the drivers.
I also ride Albert St across Hoddle up to the city and for that section of the road where there isn't the green bicycle lane I mostly ride in the car lane - I don't consider the dotted line they have as an indication of a bicycle lane but more an indication of where the third lane would be if the cars weren't parked in it as it is completely within the door zone.
- ft_critical
- Posts: 2099
- Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 2:06 pm
- Location: watching the 11
- Contact:
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby ft_critical » Fri Nov 30, 2012 12:46 pm
First - Filtering traffic stopped at a cross walk outside a station. Riding slowly, concentrating on the parked cars on the left. VW Golf door on the right, flung open. Handlebar strikes the edge of the door and I go down. Passenger was a teen about 14, alighting to go to the station.
The two ‘amusing’ things about this were: 1.) It was my first ride back after a bad race crash, so I was covered in gauze. It hurt falling on the wounds. 2.) The kid was distressed. He was picking up bits of plastic and stuff from the road and handing them to me, ‘sorry, here is a bit of your bike.’ ‘Nope sorry that is a bit of your mum’s car.’ ‘This one?’ ‘Nope, your mum’s car too.’
Second - I was riding on the extreme edge of an on-road bike-lane at a fair clip. This puts me just over a metre from the parked cars. Door is flung open full; as in, as wide as it goes. It slammed into my rear skewer. I stayed up, though there was paint on the skewer from the impact. The ‘amusing’ thing about this was, during my breathless, but reasonably polite confrontation with the driver and during his profuse apologies, he revealed to me that he had been doored badly as a child.
My rules are:
1. Ride more than a metre from parked cars, bike lane or not. This often sees me in the road not the bike-lane.
2. Don’t filter between cars. If you must, do it at a crawl. Look for doors opening both sides.
-
- Posts: 308
- Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2011 8:07 pm
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby slidetaker » Fri Nov 30, 2012 1:23 pm
In an ideal world, we will see complete phsyical separation between cars, pedestrians and cyclists. However, this is the real world and if the traffic lane next to the kerb is wide enough, most cyclists will ride on it comfortably sharing with vehicles. Dooring will still happen regardless of whether there is an official bike lane or not. It is an education and enforcement issue, not an engineering one.clydesmcdale wrote:[Because traffic engineers don't have an appropriate set of guidelines/standards to follow. Mostly councils just put them in without any science behind it.
I see it as a potential safety in design issue. If someone gets killed or injured because they were doored whilst in a designated bike lane within the door zone, I would expect there would be some grounds for litigation.
If we go down the lawyer path, road authority will just remove the bike lanes. Most cyclists will still ride it as the space is still there. But now more motorists are unaware of cyclists without the signs, line markings and the bicycle pavement markings......
-
- Posts: 136
- Joined: Tue Aug 23, 2011 12:45 am
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby lammy » Fri Nov 30, 2012 1:37 pm
- InTheWoods
- Posts: 1900
- Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:34 pm
- Location: Brisbane
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby InTheWoods » Fri Nov 30, 2012 2:09 pm
+1,000,000lammy wrote:Going off topic perhaps, but personally I think all driving tests should be re-sat every 5 years and more emphasis on awareness of motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians should be integrated into an both areas of the test.
- KonaCommuter
- Posts: 978
- Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2011 9:28 pm
- Location: Brisbane Northside
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby KonaCommuter » Fri Nov 30, 2012 4:48 pm
-
- Posts: 1791
- Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2011 1:25 pm
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby wellington_street » Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:10 pm
Sounds like a good example of why not to filter.RobertFrith wrote:Many years ago whilst filtering on St Georges Tce I had a lady door me. Predictably I went straight over the door but both bike and I were fine. Her driver's door got bent back a bit on the hinges though and she had trouble closing it. We exchanged details and she got back in her car. Next thing there's a screaming engine noise and a Mini, clearly out of control, came careering down the Terrace, ripped the door out of her hand and bent it all the way back to the front wing and rear ended a row of four cars waiting at the lights. My door assailant was reduced to tears.
- Mulger bill
- Super Mod
- Posts: 29060
- Joined: Sun Sep 24, 2006 2:41 pm
- Location: Sunbury Vic
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby Mulger bill » Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:47 pm
Did you see it coming? If so, a loud surprised sort of yell should wake the doziest of people.KonaCommuter wrote:Feel free to weigh in on my poor road craft
London Boy 29/12/2011
-
- Posts: 9810
- Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2009 11:48 am
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby human909 » Fri Nov 30, 2012 8:46 pm
- uncle arthur
- Posts: 1387
- Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:45 pm
- Location: Brisvegas
- Contact:
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby uncle arthur » Sat Dec 01, 2012 2:46 pm
Or called out "bike back"....human909 wrote:The pedestrian was in the roadway ahead of you. If a pedestrian opening a door causes you problems I would suggest that you are shaving the pedestrian too closely. I would either have stopped or changed lanes.
Or rung your bell.....
Or beeped your AZ.....
Or signalled right to pull further out into the lane......
Or..........
-
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2012 11:43 pm
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby avikone » Sun Dec 02, 2012 9:47 pm
Admittedly I should have checked my side view mirror before opening the door - as the road is wide I know that I can open the door safely without a passing car hitting it. It didn't even occur to me to check for cyclists as I assumed that they would ride in the middle of this quiet suburban road.
Luckily the cyclist was not injured and the bike and my door were OK - there were witnesses and we exchanged details and I offered to help the cyclist home as they lived close by.
In hindsight, if I am going to ride through a school zone you'd have to think there are going to be kids opening car doors who probably aren't going to look for passing cyclists either.
-
- Posts: 187
- Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2012 10:23 pm
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby DentedHead » Tue Dec 04, 2012 9:32 am
Damn things should be illegal on a paved road!
Dent.
-
- Posts: 1290
- Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2010 4:47 pm
- Location: Perth
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby GraemeL » Tue Dec 04, 2012 9:57 am
I wonder what the outcome would have been if it was a car instead of a bike? It is YOUR responsibility to make sure it is clear before opening your door, it doesn't matter where on the road the cyclist is, the bottom line is, you should have checked.avikone wrote:I haven't been doored but I did door someone a few weeks ago. I was dropping my kids off at school. The entire block is taken up by a primary and high-school. On the other side of the block a church takes up almost half the block. The road is wide enough for parking on both sides of the road as well as for 2 lanes of opposing traffic. It's not a particularly busy road. But obviously any cars stopping would be dropping school kids off.
Admittedly I should have checked my side view mirror before opening the door - as the road is wide I know that I can open the door safely without a passing car hitting it. It didn't even occur to me to check for cyclists as I assumed that they would ride in the middle of this quiet suburban road.
Luckily the cyclist was not injured and the bike and my door were OK - there were witnesses and we exchanged details and I offered to help the cyclist home as they lived close by.
In hindsight, if I am going to ride through a school zone you'd have to think there are going to be kids opening car doors who probably aren't going to look for passing cyclists either.
As for being in a school zone and kids opening doors without looking, firstly the parents need to educate their kids on how to exit a car safely. You wouldn't let them jump out into oncoming cars without looking, the same goes for oncoming cyclists.
Graeme
* Bicycle Camera FAQ's *** Mounting FAQ’s & DIY Mounts *
-
- Posts: 1791
- Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2011 1:25 pm
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby wellington_street » Tue Dec 04, 2012 11:15 am
Yep, front-in angle parking is quite bad and cyclists really need to claim the lane to be safe. It's often impossible to see beyond the next parked vehicle so call you can do as a driver is inch back slowly until you can see.DentedHead wrote:For me, dooring is not the big concern, the few places where there is parallel parking and I don't feel comfortable claiming the lane I just avoid. Plus, on my trike, if I did get doored, my recumbent position makes it less likely I'd cop serious injury myself, and I'm not particularly concerned about damage to the offending door.... What does worry me is angle parking. Many drivers reverse well back to get a view of the oncoming traffic, and would be very unlikely to spot my low trike before they were in my path (hence my hi-vis flag. Without it, I really couldn't fault them for not seeing me). I'm always particularly cautious about cars parked "down-stream" from an SUV/Mums Bus. These (largely unnecessary) vehicles force drivers to reverse WAY back into the shoulder/bike path (and depending on the parking of the ego-boost, sometimes into the traffic lane itself) to be seen around, and also block my view to brake lights, eliminating the advanced warning I'd usually get when a car is about to reverse out of an angle park.
I have a similar situation near my place where I come out of a laneway which has a building built right up to the edge of the pavement and the corner with no visibility at all. All I can do when driving is just inch forward to try and give any peds and cycles using the footpath a chance to see me. I've nearly hit one pedestrian but that's it, thus far (touch wood).
- jacob_T
- Posts: 315
- Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 8:09 pm
- Location: Sunshine Coast
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby jacob_T » Tue Dec 04, 2012 11:29 am
Was riding with a group of 6 people. Fairly visible. In a bike lane. There was a council/road work car parked on the side of the road. Just as I passed him the door flung open and narrowly missed me and a friend.
I found out later from a friend who was riding further behind that he called out "watch out you f***ing c***s" after us, which I didn't hear at the time.
I'm seriously regretting not going back and getting his number plates and details to report.
- ft_critical
- Posts: 2099
- Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 2:06 pm
- Location: watching the 11
- Contact:
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby ft_critical » Fri Jul 12, 2013 6:58 pm
Parked cars, 1.5m wide bike lane, 50kmh traffic. I ride the white line, always, on High St Willoughby. Today, this saved my life.
40kmh, a car shadowing me, riding the white line. Door flung open full. I micro swerved, because it was so sudden. I only glimpsed the door and interior. It is certain I would have hit it at full speed had I not been on the edge of the lane. Unquestionable. Seriously injured or dead, certain to probable.
It is ironic that I have been hit in the rear skewer by a door and abused by the cute girl in gym-gear for not riding in the bike lane on this very same stretch of road.
You must ride in the bike lane unless it is unsafe to do so. Seriously, in the dark it is almost always unsafe. I might add I was running a 600 lumen Strada front light. I reckon, if I was generous, I would say the driver assumed I was a car. If they looked that is…
The car behind me saw the whole thing and didn’t pass me for two km. At least someone else saw the danger…
- il padrone
- Posts: 22931
- Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2008 11:57 pm
- Location: Heading for home.
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby il padrone » Fri Jul 12, 2013 7:03 pm
Most bike lanes alongside parked cars are too narrow and hence unsafe. James Cross (RIP) sadly found out this on Glenferrie Rd.
"An unjustified and unethical imposition on a healthy activity."
- Summernight
- Posts: 2073
- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2012 3:40 pm
- Location: Melbourne
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby Summernight » Fri Jul 12, 2013 7:46 pm
It just confirms when this happens time and again that that area of the road just isn't safe.
- QuangVuong
- Posts: 1794
- Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2013 5:04 pm
- Location: Villawood, Sydney
Re: Anyone had a car door opened on them?
Postby QuangVuong » Fri Jul 12, 2013 8:32 pm
Blog: https://villaveloframes.wordpress.com/
FB & IG: @villaveloframes
Return to “General Cycling Discussion”
- General Australian Cycling Topics
- Info / announcements
- Buying a bike / parts
- General Cycling Discussion
- The Bike Shed
- Cycling Health
- Cycling Safety and Advocacy
- Women's Cycling
- Bike & Gear Reviews
- Cycling Trade
- Stolen Bikes
- Bicycle FAQs
- The Market Place
- Member to Member Bike and Gear Sales
- Want to Buy, Group Buy, Swap
- My Bikes or Gear Elsewhere
- Serious Biking
- Audax / Randonneuring
- Retro biking
- Commuting
- MTB
- Recumbents
- Fixed Gear/ Single Speed
- Track
- Electric Bicycles
- Cyclocross and Gravel Grinding
- Dragsters / Lowriders / Cruisers
- Children's Bikes
- Cargo Bikes and Utility Cycling
- Road Racing
- Road Biking
- Training
- Time Trial
- Triathlon
- International and National Tours and Events
- Cycle Touring
- Touring Australia
- Touring Overseas
- Touring Bikes and Equipment
- Australia
- Western Australia
- New South Wales
- Queensland
- South Australia
- Victoria
- ACT
- Tasmania
- Northern Territory
- Country & Regional
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot], Google Feedfetcher, redsonic
- All times are UTC+10:00
- Top
- Delete cookies
About the Australian Cycling Forums
The Australian Cycling Forums is a welcoming community where you can ask questions and talk about the type of bikes and cycling topics you like.
Bicycles Network Australia
Forum Information
Connect with BNA
This website uses affiliate links to retail platforms including ebay, amazon, proviz and ribble.