Dooring is a problem. The first time I was doored I was in graduate school. I was biking to class and - pursuant to what I was told - biking as far right as possible. I never saw the door. Never had a chance. A woman in a car did not look, opened her door right in front of me, and sent me flying.
I had no idea what had happened. I had never been doored before and the concept had never crossed my mind. My foot was crushed and my bike was garbage. Worse yet, the driver was now screaming at me. I was dazed. I crawled threw a school security door and locked her out. Eventually I made it to the school health center.
Getting doored is dangerous and horrible. Its dangerous to cyclists. And its dangerous to everyone else on the road as well including other vehicles. A proposed Virginia law that educates drivers to look before they open the car door is simply good. In some driver education classes, drivers are taught to open the car door with their right hand -- this of course turns the body and the head so that the driver is looking out the door as they are opening it.
Sen. John Watkins doesnt want drivers to be held responsible for the negligence of cyclists. Really. Really??? Look, cycling is a transportation activity where the cyclist must pay attention to what they are doing every moment of the ride -- unlike car drivers who are on cell phones, texting, and eating McBurgers. Cyclists must pay attention to where they are going at every moment.
Cyclists are not going to intentionally run into an open door on purpose. It just will not happen. Anyone who suggests this is a possibility is full of bullshit.
The proposal before the Virginia General Assembly is good law. The message is simple. When you are part of the transportation system, pay attention to what you are doing - this includes opening a traffic side door. Make sure there are no bikes there or cars or people or anything that might hit your door. Sen. Barbara Favola posted to her facebook page that she supports the legislation.
By the way, I have never been doored again. My solution: I dont ride in the door-zone of death. It's too dangerous - too many drivers just swing those doors open without looking.
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Reports indicate that the Virginia State Crime Commission is considering recommending to the legislature that texting while driving fall under reckless driving. Apparently, according to this article,
a judge declined to find that a driver, who had been involved in a
fatal accident, was involved in reckless driving because texting while
driving is currently listed as a lessor offense.
"Many of us were puzzled by his legal reasoning but, in any case, if
that's something that's happening in the court, we need to make sure
texting is covered under reckless driving," said state Del. Robert B.
Bell, R-Albemarle, the commission chairman.
The Commission makes influential recommendations to the VA
legislature - and will be considering this in a Dec. 5 meeting. The
Commission can be contacted as follows
Patrick Henry Building
1111 East Broad Street
Suite B036
Richmond, Virginia 23219
FAX: (804) 786-7872
vsccinfo@vscc.virginia.gov
I
could just go off on the number of times I have almost been hit or run
off the road by someone with there head down and their nose in a mobile
phone - teenagers running stop signs because they are talking on a
phone. I have biked up Lee Hwy during rush hour at about the same speed
as traffic - and watched drivers text the entire way up the road. It's
because sort of a punch-buggy game - observe some driver
do something really erratic - and then see whether they were in fact
talking on a phone or texting.
When you are behind the wheel, you need to be doing one thing: driving - nothing else. Anything else? It can wait.
