Watching out for cyclists

On Sunday, March 21, 2021 at 10:43:26 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/21/2021 11:49 AM, Steve Weeks wrote:
On Saturday, March 20, 2021 at 10:04:51 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sat, 20 Mar 2021 18:38:35 -0700 (PDT), Steve Weeks
I believe the fine for opening a door into traffic is $1,000, raised from $500 a few years ago. Most motorists do not know this.
I forgot to mention that the fine applies only if the open door is hit by a cyclist or another vehicle. In the case of a "dooring" incident, the problem is more likely to be getting law enforcement to respond, and this will probably be determined by the occurrence of injuries to the cyclist. The one time I was doored, I wasn't badly hurt (more damage to the car's door!) and I had a patient coming in a half hour, so I bailed on calling the police.
This has been a bit of controversy in the bike advocacy world. If a
cyclist takes a "how to ride in traffic" class from a reputable source,
they'll almost certainly be instructed to never ride in the door zone.
(Older advice, to watch carefully and be ready to stop, is in violation
of laws of physics.)

But it's not uncommon to have city bike lanes painted in the door zone.
And one private email list for LAB certified instructors once got an
anonymous post - probably from a LAB official - defending that placement
of bike lanes.

One colleague of mine realized that the standard police form for
reporting traffic crashes was not capturing _any_ dooring incidents. The
rules for the form were to use it only in crashes between "vehicles in
transport." The logic (if you can call it that) was that the parked car
was not "in transport" so a dooring crash didn't count - even though
they have caused fatalities and many serious injuries.

Then someone uncovered the fact that Chicago (IIRC) did gather data on
dooring crashes. They found that they comprised over 20% of the car-bike
crashes in that city. The city is a bit notorious about painting bike
lanes in the door zone, so that may have contributed.

Stay out of the door zone.

--
- Frank Krygowski
Yesterday a friend sent me the most horrifying video I've ever seen.

A bicyclist and a heavy gravel truck were approaching an intersection. The cyclist was going to continue through the intersection. The truck driving AT SPEED turned right, directly in front of him. He almost hit the side of the truck and grabbed the sidebar but the turning and speed of the truck prevented him from holding on. He fell off directly in the path of the rear double doubles. and he and the bike went directly under the wheels. Somehow God was on the rider's side and he turned just enough to flatten and the truck rear axles passed directly over his head and body. He got up on the opposite side as the truck continued up the road without even slowing. It was all caught by an intersection camera so these drivers must have been commonly doing these sorts of things for them to install and intersection camera out in the middle of nowhere. The bike was entirely crushed and after a few seconds the rider arose more or less unharmed and carried the bent bike over to the side of the road. Other drivers on that road were aghast and it took a minute for them to get moving. A Cement truck that was obviously going to the same site that that gravel truck had left almost fainted. NO ONE OFFERED TO HELP THE CYCLIST. The drivers front license plate and probably the driver himself would be visible with image enhancement software so I hope they put that guy away for 20 yeas for attempted murder. He HAD to approach and see that bicyclist because he was just passing him at the intersection..

On Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 11:17:03 AM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, March 21, 2021 at 10:43:26 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/21/2021 11:49 AM, Steve Weeks wrote:
On Saturday, March 20, 2021 at 10:04:51 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sat, 20 Mar 2021 18:38:35 -0700 (PDT), Steve Weeks
I believe the fine for opening a door into traffic is $1,000, raised from $500 a few years ago. Most motorists do not know this.
I forgot to mention that the fine applies only if the open door is hit by a cyclist or another vehicle. In the case of a "dooring" incident, the problem is more likely to be getting law enforcement to respond, and this will probably be determined by the occurrence of injuries to the cyclist. The one time I was doored, I wasn't badly hurt (more damage to the car's door!) and I had a patient coming in a half hour, so I bailed on calling the police.
This has been a bit of controversy in the bike advocacy world. If a
cyclist takes a "how to ride in traffic" class from a reputable source,
they'll almost certainly be instructed to never ride in the door zone.
(Older advice, to watch carefully and be ready to stop, is in violation
of laws of physics.)

But it's not uncommon to have city bike lanes painted in the door zone.
And one private email list for LAB certified instructors once got an
anonymous post - probably from a LAB official - defending that placement
of bike lanes.

One colleague of mine realized that the standard police form for
reporting traffic crashes was not capturing _any_ dooring incidents. The
rules for the form were to use it only in crashes between "vehicles in
transport." The logic (if you can call it that) was that the parked car
was not "in transport" so a dooring crash didn't count - even though
they have caused fatalities and many serious injuries.

Then someone uncovered the fact that Chicago (IIRC) did gather data on
dooring crashes. They found that they comprised over 20% of the car-bike
crashes in that city. The city is a bit notorious about painting bike
lanes in the door zone, so that may have contributed.

Stay out of the door zone.

--
- Frank Krygowski
Yesterday a friend sent me the most horrifying video I've ever seen.

A bicyclist and a heavy gravel truck were approaching an intersection. The cyclist was going to continue through the intersection. The truck driving AT SPEED turned right, directly in front of him. He almost hit the side of the truck and grabbed the sidebar but the turning and speed of the truck prevented him from holding on. He fell off directly in the path of the rear double doubles. and he and the bike went directly under the wheels. Somehow God was on the rider's side and he turned just enough to flatten and the truck rear axles passed directly over his head and body. He got up on the opposite side as the truck continued up the road without even slowing. It was all caught by an intersection camera so these drivers must have been commonly doing these sorts of things for them to install and intersection camera out in the middle of nowhere. The bike was entirely crushed and after a few seconds the rider arose more or less unharmed and carried the bent bike over to the side of the road. Other drivers on that road were aghast and it took a minute for them to get moving. A Cement truck that was obviously going to the same site that that gravel truck had left almost fainted. NO ONE OFFERED TO HELP THE CYCLIST. The drivers front license plate and probably the driver himself would be visible with image enhancement software so I hope they put that guy away for 20 yeas for attempted murder. He HAD to approach and see that bicyclist because he was just passing him at the intersection.
I found it a little unbelievable that no one offered any help since in OAKLAND I fell off on Broadway with heavy traffic and EVERYONE stopped and offered assistance from helping me up to carrying the bike over to the sidewalk.. And none of them were white. Maybe because of the color of my skin, they thought me either black or brown? At least that is the story of todays leftists.

On 3/24/2021 1:17 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, March 21, 2021 at 10:43:26 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/21/2021 11:49 AM, Steve Weeks wrote:
On Saturday, March 20, 2021 at 10:04:51 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sat, 20 Mar 2021 18:38:35 -0700 (PDT), Steve Weeks
I believe the fine for opening a door into traffic is $1,000, raised from $500 a few years ago. Most motorists do not know this.
I forgot to mention that the fine applies only if the open door is hit by a cyclist or another vehicle. In the case of a "dooring" incident, the problem is more likely to be getting law enforcement to respond, and this will probably be determined by the occurrence of injuries to the cyclist. The one time I was doored, I wasn't badly hurt (more damage to the car's door!) and I had a patient coming in a half hour, so I bailed on calling the police.
This has been a bit of controversy in the bike advocacy world. If a
cyclist takes a "how to ride in traffic" class from a reputable source,
they'll almost certainly be instructed to never ride in the door zone.
(Older advice, to watch carefully and be ready to stop, is in violation
of laws of physics.)

But it's not uncommon to have city bike lanes painted in the door zone.
And one private email list for LAB certified instructors once got an
anonymous post - probably from a LAB official - defending that placement
of bike lanes.

One colleague of mine realized that the standard police form for
reporting traffic crashes was not capturing _any_ dooring incidents. The
rules for the form were to use it only in crashes between "vehicles in
transport." The logic (if you can call it that) was that the parked car
was not "in transport" so a dooring crash didn't count - even though
they have caused fatalities and many serious injuries.

Then someone uncovered the fact that Chicago (IIRC) did gather data on
dooring crashes. They found that they comprised over 20% of the car-bike
crashes in that city. The city is a bit notorious about painting bike
lanes in the door zone, so that may have contributed.

Stay out of the door zone.

--
- Frank Krygowski
Yesterday a friend sent me the most horrifying video I've ever seen.

A bicyclist and a heavy gravel truck were approaching an intersection. The cyclist was going to continue through the intersection. The truck driving AT SPEED turned right, directly in front of him. He almost hit the side of the truck and grabbed the sidebar but the turning and speed of the truck prevented him from holding on. He fell off directly in the path of the rear double doubles. and he and the bike went directly under the wheels. Somehow God was on the rider's side and he turned just enough to flatten and the truck rear axles passed directly over his head and body. He got up on the opposite side as the truck continued up the road without even slowing. It was all caught by an intersection camera so these drivers must have been commonly doing these sorts of things for them to install and intersection camera out in the middle of nowhere. The bike was entirely crushed and after a few seconds the rider arose more or less unharmed and carried the bent bike over to the side of the
road. Other drivers on that road were aghast and it took a minute for them to get moving. A Cement truck that was obviously going to the same site that that gravel truck had left almost fainted. NO ONE OFFERED TO HELP THE CYCLIST. The drivers front license plate and probably the driver himself would be visible with image enhancement software so I hope they put that guy away for 20 yeas for attempted murder. He HAD to approach and see that bicyclist because he was just passing him at the intersection.


Link?

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 2:37:17 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/24/2021 1:17 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Sunday, March 21, 2021 at 10:43:26 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/21/2021 11:49 AM, Steve Weeks wrote:
On Saturday, March 20, 2021 at 10:04:51 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sat, 20 Mar 2021 18:38:35 -0700 (PDT), Steve Weeks
I believe the fine for opening a door into traffic is $1,000, raised from $500 a few years ago. Most motorists do not know this.
I forgot to mention that the fine applies only if the open door is hit by a cyclist or another vehicle. In the case of a "dooring" incident, the problem is more likely to be getting law enforcement to respond, and this will probably be determined by the occurrence of injuries to the cyclist. The one time I was doored, I wasn't badly hurt (more damage to the car's door!) and I had a patient coming in a half hour, so I bailed on calling the police.
This has been a bit of controversy in the bike advocacy world. If a
cyclist takes a "how to ride in traffic" class from a reputable source,
they'll almost certainly be instructed to never ride in the door zone.
(Older advice, to watch carefully and be ready to stop, is in violation
of laws of physics.)

But it's not uncommon to have city bike lanes painted in the door zone..
And one private email list for LAB certified instructors once got an
anonymous post - probably from a LAB official - defending that placement
of bike lanes.

One colleague of mine realized that the standard police form for
reporting traffic crashes was not capturing _any_ dooring incidents. The
rules for the form were to use it only in crashes between "vehicles in
transport." The logic (if you can call it that) was that the parked car
was not "in transport" so a dooring crash didn't count - even though
they have caused fatalities and many serious injuries.

Then someone uncovered the fact that Chicago (IIRC) did gather data on
dooring crashes. They found that they comprised over 20% of the car-bike
crashes in that city. The city is a bit notorious about painting bike
lanes in the door zone, so that may have contributed.

Stay out of the door zone.

--
- Frank Krygowski
Yesterday a friend sent me the most horrifying video I've ever seen.

A bicyclist and a heavy gravel truck were approaching an intersection. The cyclist was going to continue through the intersection. The truck driving AT SPEED turned right, directly in front of him. He almost hit the side of the truck and grabbed the sidebar but the turning and speed of the truck prevented him from holding on. He fell off directly in the path of the rear double doubles. and he and the bike went directly under the wheels. Somehow God was on the rider's side and he turned just enough to flatten and the truck rear axles passed directly over his head and body. He got up on the opposite side as the truck continued up the road without even slowing. It was all caught by an intersection camera so these drivers must have been commonly doing these sorts of things for them to install and intersection camera out in the middle of nowhere. The bike was entirely crushed and after a few seconds the rider arose more or less unharmed and carried the bent bike over to the side of the
road. Other drivers on that road were aghast and it took a minute for them to get moving. A Cement truck that was obviously going to the same site that that gravel truck had left almost fainted. NO ONE OFFERED TO HELP THE CYCLIST. The drivers front license plate and probably the driver himself would be visible with image enhancement software so I hope they put that guy away for 20 yeas for attempted murder. He HAD to approach and see that bicyclist because he was just passing him at the intersection.

Link?

There was no link. It is a downloadable file. I don't know where it was. The license plate may be foreign but if so it might be in Asia.