How to stop dooring

[Steady rider]

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2017AGFSafeTogether

'How can we stop car dooring?' is the question for this year's Amy Gillett Foundation Safe Together competition.

Extra mirrors, for passengers to see behind, before leaving a vehicle may help.

[[XAP]Bob]

On the basis of the current climate - surely we need a car door safety review and new legislation...

Or we could just charge drivers with dangerous driving if they allow anyone in the vehicle to open a door without checking that the roadway/pathway is clear of oncoming traffic.

My own method is to not ride within a car door length of stopped traffic - the obvious exception is filtering, and I pretty much exclusively filter on the RHS, which reduces the likelihood of a dooring significantly.

[pwa]

It's not really practical to make a driver responsible for passengers who open a door in a dangerous way. There is no sense in putting responsibility on someone who has little control over the situation. Some drivers may have control over their passengers, but not all.

[Steady rider]

https://www.cyclistsdefencefund.org.uk/ ... icle-doors

h3. A gap in the law

A gap in the law was highlighted in 2012 when Kenan Aydogdu was charged and tried for manslaughter in 2012 for the death of cyclist, Sam Harding, after he opened a car door into his path. Mr Aydogdu parked his car next to a bus lane which was shared by cyclists. He opened his door, hitting Mr Harding, who was flung into the path of a bus which was following him. The cyclist went under the wheels and was crushed. Mr Aydogdu had added a very high level of tint to his car windows which reduced visibility to 17%. He also admitted he had made a mistake by not looking in his mirror.

Mr Aydogdu was charged with manslaughter. Although the death involved a car, Mr Aydogdu could not be charged with Causing Death by Dangerous Driving as he was not driving. The jury took just over an hour to find Mr Aydogdu not guilty of manslaughter. As there was no other appropriate offence which he could have been charged with, he received no punishment or penalty. Clearly this shows a gap in the law which needs to be addressed

Causing death by unsafe behaviour - would cover any situation where someone died as a result of another persons unsafe behaviour.

[pwa]

https://www.cyclistsdefencefund.org.uk/the-law-for-cyclists-hit-by-vehicle-doors

h3. A gap in the law

A gap in the law was highlighted in 2012 when Kenan Aydogdu was charged and tried for manslaughter in 2012 for the death of cyclist, Sam Harding, after he opened a car door into his path. Mr Aydogdu parked his car next to a bus lane which was shared by cyclists. He opened his door, hitting Mr Harding, who was flung into the path of a bus which was following him. The cyclist went under the wheels and was crushed. Mr Aydogdu had added a very high level of tint to his car windows which reduced visibility to 17%. He also admitted he had made a mistake by not looking in his mirror.

Mr Aydogdu was charged with manslaughter. Although the death involved a car, Mr Aydogdu could not be charged with Causing Death by Dangerous Driving as he was not driving. The jury took just over an hour to find Mr Aydogdu not guilty of manslaughter. As there was no other appropriate offence which he could have been charged with, he received no punishment or penalty. Clearly this shows a gap in the law which needs to be addressed

Causing death by unsafe behaviour - would cover any situation where someone died as a result of another persons unsafe behaviour.

There obviously needs to be some charge for that.

[Steady rider]

Causing death or injury by unsafe or negligent behaviour - would cover most situation where someone died or was injured as a result of another persons unsafe behaviour.

Having a simple law to cover nearly any situations could perhaps be used.

[PRL]

Causing death or injury by unsafe or negligent behaviour - would cover most situation where someone died or was injured as a result of another persons unsafe behaviour.

Having a simple law to cover nearly any situations could perhaps be used.

One which juries can't get out of convicting people for on the basis that "that could have been me".

[rmurphy195]

Interesting how many parked cars I passed to day with the mirrors folded in. And I know that in some cases, they fold when you get out of the car and lok the door which is OK, but some I have come across fold when you switch off the ignition or take the ignition key out of the lock, which is not so good!

[The utility cyclist]

If through your negligent actions you kill or injure someone then that is a simple case of an offence against the person is it not? where you are, in a car, walking through a street, in a night club should make zero difference.
Someone has being negligent with an action that is known to cause harm and death, yet our system encourages punishments/charges to be watered down (death by careless is one instance) rather than taking a stance against a weak and massively flawed system that allows people to judge the outcome when they themselves would act no differently or think a crime acceptable even when the outcome is the death of another human being.

truly sickening

[reohn2]

If through your negligent actions you kill or injure someone then that is a simple case of an offence against the person is it not? where you are, in a car, walking through a street, in a night club should make zero difference.
Someone has being negligent with an action that is known to cause harm and death, yet our system encourages punishments/charges to be watered down (death by careless is one instance) rather than taking a stance against a weak and massively flawed system that allows people to judge the outcome when they themselves would act no differently or think a crime acceptable even when the outcome is the death of another human being.

truly sickening

+1

[brooksby]

It's not really practical to make a driver responsible for passengers who open a door in a dangerous way. There is no sense in putting responsibility on someone who has little control over the situation. Some drivers may have control over their passengers, but not all.

The driver is the responsible party for the vehicle in the event of an accident, the driver is responsible for making sure that the passengers are wearing seatbelts if the passengers are minors, so why should the driver not be held responsible if one of his passengers (minor or not) does something totally f-ing stupid?

[Fruity]

The driver is the responsible party for the vehicle in the event of an accident, the driver is responsible for making sure that the passengers are wearing seatbelts if the passengers are minors, so why should the driver not be held responsible if one of his passengers (minor or not) does something totally f-ing stupid?

Do you think a driver would/should ever be found criminally responsible if, while driving normally and safely, a passenger suddenly grabbed the wheel and caused a collision?

I don't.

If I'm the driver and you're the passenger, and I tell you not to open your door, but you ignore me and open it, why am I criminally responsible if somebody else is injured as a result? etc etc.

[Fruity]

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2017AGFSafeTogether

'How can we stop car dooring?' is the question for this year's Amy Gillett Foundation Safe Together competition.

Extra mirrors, for passengers to see behind, before leaving a vehicle may help.

Ride at a pace at which you can observe parked vehicles ahead, if there are occupants within, treat with caution and be prepared to move laterally or stop. Same principle when driving, or when watching for pedestrians emerging from behind vehicles/road furniture.

[Cunobelin]

Simple method exists and could be taught and implemented

Use the inside hand to open the door, as you reach across the body, it automatically rotates the driver or passenger so that the rear of the car is in their vision

[ian s]

If only all cyclists would stop cowering in the gutter and assert their place on the public highway such events would be much less frequent. However, in Bedford there are instances of marked cycle lanes passing marked car parking places which put the cyclist in exactly the wrong place, just where dooring will happen; I dare say such dangerous marking exist elsewhere. Then motorists expect the cyclist to use the marked cycle lanes, and get annoyed when they don't. This is the sort of reason why I don't want more typical British provision for cyclists