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Doored in Jamaica Plain
By adamg on Fri, 04/06/2012 - 6:49pm
Alert bus driver hit brakes in time.
MQ took this photo around 6:30 p.m. at the intersection of Centre Street and South Huntington Avenue, reports:
I think rider got doored, bus stopped in time thankfully.
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Comments
Uh, yeah...
It's not hard to look before you open a MF'ing car door.
If they did look, then this rider might have been going too fast, or was around a corner and suddenly appeared.
Did anyone actually see it happen?
I feel you
Almost blew off a lady's door, and almost took her life, at four corners today. All because she didnt look.
It's not hard to ride outside
It's not hard to ride outside the door zone either.
Never trust a driver to do the right thing.
This isn't blaming the victim, they got screwed by a driver.
But it can be avoided.
The whole street is a door zone.
Not sure if you are familiar with Center Street in Jamaica Plain but it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. The street is extremely narrow for a "main street". The only area outside the "door zone" is on the yellow line in the middle of the road. In which case you would then be rear ended by some angry driver.
This street is so narrow they had to ditch the plan to bring back the Arborway trolley as it would have required a complete parking ban the entire length of the street, something many residents and businesses in the area foolishly opposed.
Wrong on all 3 counts. The
Wrong on all 3 counts.
The door zone is 3 feet wide. Traffic lanes are wider than 3 feet plus the width of a bicycle.
It's very rare for bikes to be rear-ended by cars. That's why experienced cyclists ride outside the door zone -- it's the safest place to be.
The Arborway trolley would have resulted in parking bans at and across from trolley stops, not the entire length of the route. http://ksgaccman.harvard.edu/hotc/DisplayPlace.asp... says a total of 45 parking spaces would be removed on Centre Street, and 30 on South Street (about 20% of the total parking).
Since the door always wins and
the bike always loses, you bicyclists have to ride slower and be more vigilant. Having the right-of-way doesn't make you any less dead when some dummy opens her car door without looking.
The mechanic was right
While I'll agree that cyclists have to be vigilant about staying in the lane and away from the doors, honking homicidal bus drivers be damned, the responsibility for "dooring" lies entirely with the motorist in control of the door.
Why we can't expect all the poor motorists to simply swivel their head and look, or pay attention to what the heck they are doing I don't know. Perhaps they shouldn't be driving if doing something as minimal as this is too intellectually and physically challenging?
Maybe the mechanic in Repo Man is right.
...the responsibility for
I agree that this is often the case, however it's not always the case. While driving I have more than on a few occasions run into the daredevil cyclist who whips around a corner after I've looked behind me and am exiting the drivers side of my car. The daredeveil cyclist then expressed outrage that I'm hadn't telepathically sensed that he was going to be riding on that part of the street.
Life is not composed of absolutes, dogma is. The driver is obligated to look before exiting the car. The cyclist, like a car driver is obligated to slow down to a speed that is safe and reasonable for the situation. In a busy environment everyone is obligated to act responsibly. Once cannot assume that one party is automatically guilty in a given situation.
As someone who bicycled in the 1980's in that area, I generally would avoid that intersection because of the huge blindspot that abbutted Flanagan's Market (CVS) parking lot. There are alternative bike safety routes available.
Can we all agree that it's
Can we all agree that it's legally the motorist's responsibility, but that the bicyclist needs to be careful because there are a lot of idiots on the road?
Consider the possibility...
Consider the possibility that the car driver did look, but didn't see the bicyclist in the bike lane, due to blind spots, the speed of the bicycle, etc.
I often park in a bike-heavy area, and I always look, but I nearly doored a bicyclist last week who was riding way faster than I expected them to.
Sorry, cyclists who insist in riding between traffic
and parked cars at warp speed (because they feel entitled to get to their destinations faster than everyone else) bear some responsibility when they can't slow down or move in time to avoid an opening car door are a real factor in every dooring incident as well.
Insisting on bike lanes that reduce street capacity for others and create the potential for dooring are also a factor.
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Doored
I was there. This is why I feel bike lanes do not work on every main street. Vehicles outnumber. it doesn't matter if both parties are being safe, or not. There are moments where things happen to fast. Yes, we can look to see if a bike is coming but the biker must look ahead and see if anyone is in a car and use precaution when passing. Many bikers can be unsafe and inexperienced, as well as drivers. But for the once the bus driver wasn't wasted.
Helmet
Great to see the victim wearing a helmet. That's why I always wear mine despite the snide remarks from friends.
Nice "friends."
Nice "friends."
That's a dangerous
That's a dangerous intersection for cyclists. Lots of traffic (and doors) going to CVS and a semi-blind corner. Not to mention cyclists blowing the red light. Just last night I was stopped at the red (Centre side heading south) along with a bus, when a hipster blew right between us and ran the red. The driver and I just looked at each other and shrugged.
Based on where the person and
Based on where the person and the bike are on the road, it doesn't look like he was doored to me. Could be, but it wouldn't be my first guess.
And door open
Often after a dooring, the offending person leaves the door open.
Sort of an admission of guilt.
Agree - some other explanation
is more likely. Perhaps the cyclist swerved to avoid a door (or other hazard) and lost control. Definitely the greatest danger would have been the bus.
If you're riding almost far
If you're riding almost far enough away from cars to avoid being doored, a door opening suddenly can clip the side of your handlebars, slowing and pulling them to the right and sending the rear of your bike out to the left, and the photo looks about right for that. That's what happened to me when I got doored.
Then again, he could have hit
Then again, he could have hit into someone's trunk when they suddenly braked. You're assuming he was doored and fitting the evidence to your assumption. There could have been a pedestrian crossing there. And he could have been knocked forward by the bus.
? I'm not assuming he was
? I'm not assuming he was doored. I'm offering an explanation for how a dooring would result in those results, since you said it wouldn't. But the rear-ending/being rear-ended scenarios that you list above are unlikely, since any collision hard enough to knock you over would probably result in a bent wheel rim, which is not evident.
Bikes shouldn't tailgate
Ran into someone's trunk? Then she was riding too close.
Doored
This is why I feel bike lanes do not work on every main street. Vehicles outnumber. it doesn't matter if both parties are being safe, or not. There are moments where things happen to fast. Yes, we can look to see if a bike is coming but the biker must look ahead and see if anyone is in a car and use precaution when passing. Many bikers can be unsafe and inexperienced, as well as drivers. But for the once the bus driver wasn't wasted.
Same accident?
Same accident?