Why You Should Avoid the Door Zone

This video show how bicyclists are thrown into traffic when they collide with an opening car door. This is why bicycling traffic safety instructors in the Cycling Savvy and Smart Cycling programs teach cyclists to ride outside the door zone:
http://cyclingsavvy.org/
http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/education/course_schedule.php

Category:

Education

Tags:

• dooring
• door
• zone
• bicycle
• bike
• crash
• safety
• lane

[carrigan88]

@gcziko The first crash (1:07-1:29) was posted orginally on Youku.com (Chinese video sharing site == youtube). Possibly a PR China or Taiwan city?

[CyclistLorax]

@carrigan88 - I don't recall where I had heard that the first video was from Chicago, and it would not surprise me if that was an Asian city, since low powered e-bikes and scooters are common.

[tedmagnusson]

This threat is very real. A good reason for cyclist to 'take your lane.'

[KrunchyJD]

Could I use this video in a video of my own. I would like to show why the bike lanes in my city are dangerous and some vehicles parked in the door zone?

[CyclistLorax]

@tlnelsn - Of course I see your point, but my intent was different. I wanted to show the crashes in the order I arranged them to emphasize the the "throwing to the left", and was not at all concerned about severity, since the point of the video was to show the potentential lethality of being thrown to the left and into a travel lane. Had traffic conditons been different, all 4 of the doorings in the video could have been fatal, and the dynamics of many fatal doorings have developed similarly.

[tlnelsn]

@CyclistLorax, you made your point very well with the first three crashes.  If I may make an editorial suggestion to re-order the crashes in order of severity and point building, show 4th first, 3rd second, 1st third and 2nd last. Do you see my point?

[CyclistLorax]

@tlnelsn - I think you miss my point in showingthe last crash. Had that been moving traffic to the left, the low speed bicyclist would have been hit or run over by the taxis. I was foreshadowing this with my initial text comments.