This time it was a bicyclist on Water Street at Wisconsin Ave in Washington DC. The biker was passing a parked van when the driver threw open the door.
We stayed, called 911 & rendered aid until the medics arrived and he was taken to Georgetown. He was alert and talking the whole time but in tremendous pain. Not a doctor but I would not be surprised at a broken hip given his reaction to the medics.
As per usual I kept the fact I had video of the incident quiet initially. The van driver later tried to tell the police officer he had not opened the door, and was caught in the lie when I showed the video.
I have no idea if anyone was charged in the incident; we were thanked by police and went on our way.
We returned the man’s bicycle to his apartment building and provided a copy of this video for his use in the future.
A reminder for everyone to be more careful out there.
Okay, but as a cyclist the general feeling was that the door prize was on the cyclist, not the vehicle. That is to say, a person parking on a street has a perfect right to open his door. Yes, he should look. Yes, there are people who do this maliciously. But really it’s on the cyclist to keep a safe distance from parked cars because the fact is, a lot of people just can’t seem to see bicyclists despite the loud ugly clothing. (And bikes are quiet.)
The guy lying about opening his door is skeevy. My sympathies to the cyclist, and props to you for helping out.
If the door had been opened in front of him, I’d expect him to be in a heap behind it (the inside side), under it, to the side–but he’s fully in front of it. Was the bicyclist not pushed by the outside side and edge?
The exact impact is pretty hard to be sure about. My best guess was that he hit the edge of the door off center(maybe pedal or handle bar) and glanced off and tumbled. But I can see how the push from the side is feasible too.
Bicyclists need to be riding in the street. Almost every state phrases bicycle positioning law, “… as far to the right as practicable.” And motorists need to understand the bicycles are out in the street because that is where they belong. It sucks that bicyclists feel the need to endanger themselves in order to not inconvenience motorists.
Well, technically, downtown streets tend to be 25mph, which a good bicyclist can maintain for long enough to get onto a smaller street. But the majority of bicycle accidents tend to be left or right hooks, which happen because the cyclist is not out in traffic. Drivers are not looking out for moving hazards on the edges, and bicycles getting run down from behind is not as common as you might think. Being out there and visible is better than trying to thread the edges.
Thanks for being a good citizen and standing up as a witness,** 2gigch1**. And taking care of the guy’s bike after. I’ve really been helped a couple of times when strangers spoke up and were able to verify my account of an accident.
Spiderman I purchased nice ‘police quality’ amber & white LED strobes front & back from SpeedTech Lights and did a rough install on Tuesday. I certainly didn’t expect to need them so soon.
I have had many instances when I have run up on emergency situations in my work and personal vehicles so I decided to bite the bullet and get some warning lights. I stayed with construction / non-emergency colors and I *cannot *turn them on while underway, no exceptions. Under those circumstances I am cool. Indeed the DC officer taking the report commented he liked my setup, so I think I’m in the clear.
After the bicyclist was struck I sat my truck blocking a lane and a half to protect the victim. I am sure that without some warning lights the DC crazies would have been honking and otherwise acting stupid (not seeing the guy in the road). As it was we had 3 other very active Good Samaritans join in, the one acting very much like a trauma nurse, so we weren’t alone in our public endeavors.
Sure, when it’s practical. There are marked bike lanes in Chicago which are both right next to the parking lane, and just narrow enough to be completely blocked by an open car door. Many of these bike lanes are on roads where auto traffic regularly zips along at 45 MPH. (Stretches of Elston Ave. come to mind.) And there are definitely drivers who flip out and drive menacingly if we’re not in the bike lane. So we muddle along as best we can.
I’ll certainly take the lane if the moving vehicles are passing too close, as it forces them to slow down and/or move completely to the other lane to pass. But I’m less concerned with getting hit from behind than getting hit by cars changing lanes. I HAVE been hit that way. The road narrowed from two lanes to one, and the guy in the car next to me decided he was a special snowflake who didn’t have to merge with the other car traffic, so he “merged” into the (marked) bike lane instead.
We have a lot of roads in Chicago which have parking lanes and two lanes of traffic in each direction, along with marked bike lanes or marked “shared” lanes where cars and bikes are supposed to play nicely together. So the changing lanes problem is pretty common.
I don’t think it’s outrageous to expect, as common courtesy, people to look out the window for traffic before they open their door. Hell, forget courtesy, how about self preservation? If you don’t look, a passing car could take your door off and maybe you with it.
My reporter Bruce forwarded an email from the victim’s assistant (who we were in contact with regarding the bike and a copy of the video) this morning.
Bruce asked of his condition and she stated he is undergoing hip replacement surgery today.
Though I understand the feelings people have about riding bikes in a lane vrs nearer a parked car, I can’t blame the victim in this case. Bike riding in DC is a near suicidal vocation to begin with; Water Street is worse, as it runs along the waterfront of Georgetown underneath the Whitehurst Freeway, and elevated freeway that runs along the Potomac*. It’s dark, busy, and full of distracted drivers, including a large proportion of tourists who are the city’s equivalent to drunk drivers all day long.
As it was vehicles were quite anxious to get by us at the accident scene and cut closer to the victim and helpers then was quite right.
**GusNSpot **kind of you to say, and I thank you.
Some time ago I wrote something in a thread that was insulting to you, and you were clearly unhappy about it. I have felt bad about that since so I will take this opportunity to apologize to you publicly.
So seriously, I understand the era when traffic planners wanted to improve the roads that a waterfront was a natural choice, but good golly what a scar on a city these roads have become today. I hate how hard it is to get across town in DC but even I would advocate the removal of the Whitehurst Freeway and paring back other significant waterfront roads in this and other cities for aesthetic and environmental reasons.
