# Open your door, smack a biker? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 26, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196 "2004-09-26T20:32:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196/41 "2019-10-08T15:20:32Z")
Not going back to see if I already posted this, but I was riding on the 10 one day when a guy in an old beater full-size American car kept crowding over to stop me from getting through. There was eventually an opening, so I gunned it a little. He tried to flip me off and got hit with my right-side mirror. If he broke his hand, he deserved it. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196/42 "2019-10-08T18:56:07Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > Not the idiot at a curb who’s not paying attention, that does happen, but an intentional attempt at murder. > > Easy bonus question; > If Harley riders see a guy riding a Harley wearing a conventional helmet instead of one of those little brain buckets, will they yank him off the bike and beat him up? > Peace, > mangeorge First; back in the 70s I was riding to my boss’s house (owner of the Harley shop I worked at) when a guy coming out of a Vet’s Club floored it as I got close and I had to lay it down into him. He admitted to the cops when they found him (the hole my highway peg put in his door was a dead give-away) and he admitted to trying to kill me. His words basically were “My daughter eloped yesterday with someone on a motorcycle, I had too much to drink, I saw a bike ------ and I wanted him dead”. He got 200 hours of community service and some sort of basic ticket – not even a misdemeanor conviction as far as I know. And yes — I am still mad about that. My bike got messed up fairly well and I escaped with some minor breaks and he should have at least gotten some sort of assault. But it was different then. I know someone who claims to have done the door thing to a scooter busting lanes; he himself is a biker. I have not had any contact with him since then; and he added the little “kill sign” to the door of his truck. As for the bonus ----- even though helmets are optional in my state I am usually in a full-face or at the least a 3/4. And between my Harleys (how they look/are set up) and my natural looks no one has had the gonads to say anything to me face yet. ---
**Author:** ![KMS94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ad7895/32.png) [@KMS94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KMS94)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196/43 "2019-10-09T00:11:06Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > I ride a Harley and I wear a full-face helmet (I really don’t like taking a large bug directly to the face at 70 mph). The usual response I get from other Harley riders is just the “Harley wave”. No one ever gives me grief about my helmet type. A bug at 70 is a mere tickle, compared to the acorn I caught square in the forehead years ago, while speeding under an oak…:smack::mad: That left a mark. I began wearing my helmet more regularly as I got older, smarter and had kids. I was on a ride with a half dozen friends one sweltering day a few summers ago. I think it was all Harleys, mine included. I was the only one in the group wearing any sort of helmet, and it was my usual full-faced Shoei. Incidentally, I was also wearing a high visibilty, armored, textile riding jacket and gloves, while everyone else was wearing t-shirts. Apart from one “Just how fast are we going to be riding today, anyway?” when I was putting in my earplugs before donning the helmet, I didn’t catch any flak from the others. If it matters, I was easily ten years older than the next youngest rider, and by far the most experienced. They all knew the Harley I brought was one of my slower motorcycles, and even that one I’ve raised the suspension for better ground clearance while cornering. (Also the only one in the group with a stock, quiet, factory equipped exhaust system, but that could probably be a whole other thread:cool:) We took a rural route, and at one point passed through a 100+ year old dairy farm that was on both sides of the road, and they had recently spread the manure over their fields. This resulted in a half mile stretch of road with dried manure on it, being kicked up into a thick dust cloud by a dump truck our group was stuck behind. When we got to out destination, one of the guys told me, “When we were going through that giant shit-cloud, I was really wishing I had your helmet…”😃 I have never lane split on a motorcycle. I know I’d be a nervous wreck getting that close to other cars, seeing how little attention most drivers pay to the goings-on around them. I do most of my riding on secondary and rural roads, I don’t like divided highways. I’ve had several close calls while on a bicycle/inattentive person getting out of a car, but always managed to avoid a collision, and I attributed it to a little carelessness on all parties involved. ---
**Author:** ![road\_lobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@road\_lobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/road_lobo)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196/44 "2019-10-09T00:53:39Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > … a guy coming out of a Vet’s Club floored it as I got close and I had to lay it down into him. Would you mind explaining that a little more? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196/45 "2019-10-09T01:13:50Z")
Has anyone ever deliberately opened their door with the intention of wrecking a biker? I wouldn’t want to say it’s never happened somewhere (it’s a big world out there), but I’m sure it’s very, very rare at worst. Has anyone ever opened their door for innocent reasons like getting out of the car, without noticing a biker, and accidentally caused a wreck? It’s almost happened to me enough times that I’m sure there are plenty of times it’s not just “almost”. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196/46 "2019-10-09T03:34:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Has anyone ever deliberately opened their door with the intention of wrecking a biker? I wouldn’t want to say it’s never happened somewhere (it’s a big world out there), but I’m sure it’s very, very rare at worst. > > Has anyone ever opened their door for innocent reasons like getting out of the car, without noticing a biker, and accidentally caused a wreck? It’s almost happened to me enough times that I’m sure there are plenty of times it’s not just “almost”. This is a world where someone would [do this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spqZ704Um-s) Or [this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arAC83PWjsg) Or [this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKB4A4Qa7uw) Or [this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8FuaSRiTOI) there are a great many assholes in cars out there who think this is all a race, and if someone on a bike passes them, then they “lose” or something. More than once I’ve been riding and had someone pull out of a driveway or parking lot in front of me making me brake hard, and when I hit the horn they honked back and flipped me the bird like it was my fault. we need to make it a lot easier to strip people of their driving privileges in this country. Driving is not a “right” and we should not treat it as such. Oh, sorry, can’t get to work if we take your license away? Oh, that’s too bad. Fuck off. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196/47 "2019-10-09T03:39:53Z")
Obligatory Weird Al reference from the song “Traffic Jam”: There’s a yuppie on a cellular phone, I’m gonna puke if I hear any more There’s a motorcycle zooming by me, watch what happens when I open my door ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196/48 "2019-10-09T14:39:13Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > This is a world where someone would [do this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spqZ704Um-s) Or [this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arAC83PWjsg) Or [this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKB4A4Qa7uw) Or [this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8FuaSRiTOI) The only one of those involving a car door appears to have been an accident. I think the point is that trying to hit a moving bike with your car door sounds like a great way to jack up your car door (besides the obvious other reasons not to do it). Versus people trying to just swerve at bikes or get up right on their rear wheel or other rage-driving behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196/49 "2019-10-09T14:54:50Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > If Harley riders see a guy riding a Harley wearing a conventional helmet instead of one of those little brain buckets, will they yank him off the bike and beat him up? Outlaw biker gangs (as defined by the US DoJ) are a minority, and they prefer to stay out of jail. Their criminal activities generally involve the drug trade, money laundering, or violent encounters with rival outlaw motorcycle gangs. They may get medieval on your ass if you deliberately provoke them, but wearing a full-face helmet is not the sort of provocation for which they’re willing to risk jail time. The vast majority of people you see riding Harleys are not members of such gangs. > [@mangeorge](#): > > There are a lot of motorcyclists in CA, and most do split lanes, even bitching if cars don’t “make room”. I don’t blame them, as long as they get away with it. Not that we owe it to them. Some drivers, already annoyed by the traffic, take umbrage at this practice. A friend was once splitting lanes in stop-and-go traffic in LA, when one driver squeezed over in an attempt to cut off my friend. The driver, red-faced with impotent and reasonless rage, then threw an unopened can of soda at my friend and it somehow landed in my friend’s lap. So he opened it and threw it back in the guy’s car before squeezing past and motoring down the road. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196/50 "2019-10-09T17:07:06Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > The only one of those involving a car door appears to have been an accident. I think the point is that trying to hit a moving bike with your car door sounds like a great way to jack up your car door (besides the obvious other reasons not to do it). Versus people trying to just swerve at bikes or get up right on their rear wheel or other rage-driving behavior. hitting a moving bike with your car is going to jack up your car. The point is that road ragers (whether they use their door or not) aren’t thinking about their car when they pull this crap, and most certainly aren’t giving a rip about the person on the bike. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196/51 "2019-10-09T19:44:45Z")
> [@road\_lobo](#): > > Would you mind explaining that a little more? Reading before I post this — I’ll do a little better than a little. 🙂 Think rural two-lane blacktop; right turn off the bridge and 100 yards down the road is a Veterans Club/VFW on the left. Usual gravel parking lot. As I made the right I gunned it a little and started up the gears when I saw him get to the edge of the lot. He didn’t pull out and it being the year it was I figured he was getting out a smoke or something. We had eye contact so I wasn’t really worried but I covered the brakes anyway. When I was about 20 yards away he floored his car and put it across both lanes and with a ditch on my right I didn’t have an escape. That bike was a 1970 with drum brakes and all so my two choices were to center-punch him and fly or lock the rear brake while turning the bars and drop it in a slide and push off. Think coming hard into third base. I considered going into the parking lot and crashing but I figured with my parka I wore in the winters back then pavement would hurt less than gravel. I rolled to the right slightly, the bike on its side contacted his car; my rear tire contacted his passenger front tire and the force/speed of the bike made it basically stand up again but sideways. I had an additional set of footpegs for long highways (and to look really cool) that stuck out more than a tiny bit and one of those penetrated his door before the bike fell back to the ground. Among the things he readily admitted to when the cops caught him later was that his plan was to run over/T-bone me; he was so drunk he hit the peddle a little early. :smack: I hit so hard that my helmet strap (Bell Star 120) broke and my helmet came off. And I sort of watched it all in slo-mo. After the bike fell back he got half out of his car and then back in and drove off. And at that moment I became very frightened ------- because nothing hurt. I figured my back was broken or something. So it gets better — this little old lady comes along a couple minutes later in her car, stops, walks over, picked up my helmet and cleans off the visor, walks to me and asks if I’m hurt. I had her unlace a boot and remove it and look to see if my toes moved. They did. I broke a few fingers and cracked my wrist but that parka (USAF high-altitude flight jacket) really was freaking GREAT! Got another 10 years use out of it. Damn great padding. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196/52 "2019-10-09T22:39:46Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > How dumb would you have to be to do this though? Quite apart from the injury to the biker, getting your car door repaired/replaced ain’t going to come cheap. 800 lb bike traveling 50 mph hitting a 150 lb door will tear the door off. It might even anger the rider. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2019, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196/53 "2019-10-10T01:11:32Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > 800 lb bike traveling 50 mph hitting a 150 lb door will tear the door off. It might even anger the rider. More than that almost beyond any doubt. Motorcycle crashes are one of those things ------ you never know. I’ve been really charmed but I’ve attended a funeral for friend who lost to a groundhog at lower speed let alone doors. Like we always said at the safety classes ------- if you ever have a fender-bender buy a lottery ticket before you get home because Sonny – it’s your day! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196/54 "2019-10-10T01:53:51Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > More than that almost beyond any doubt. Motorcycle crashes are one of those things ------ you never know. I’ve been really charmed but I’ve attended a funeral for friend who lost to a groundhog at lower speed let alone doors. Like we always said at the safety classes ------- if you ever have a fender-bender buy a lottery ticket before you get home because Sonny – it’s your day! 😃 wow, I’m surprised. I ran over a skunk with my smaller bike and basically cut it in half. Sorry for your loss. That sucks. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196/55 "2019-10-10T19:28:33Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > wow, I’m surprised. I ran over a skunk with my smaller bike and basically cut it in half. > > Sorry for your loss. That sucks. s’OK ------- you ride motorcycles as long as I have and some funerals come with the territory. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2019, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196/56 "2019-10-10T19:44:29Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Among the things he readily admitted to when the cops caught him later was that his plan was to run over/T-bone me; he was so drunk he hit the peddle a little early. :smack: Holy shit! Glad he was too drunk to actually do it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-your-door-smack-a-biker/266196.md?page=2)