Does anyone have car doors 1.5m wide?????

FasterFerret
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Does anyone have car doors 1.5m wide?????

Post by FasterFerret »

This:

https://twitter.com/BBCSpotlight/status ... 1465055232

Was on BBC South last night.

Generally a good piece, about Dorset Police running a close pass initiative, but finishes with the advice "to leave a car door's width" (whilst the presenter was stood a 'passing mat' showing 1.5m).

So, can anyone name a car that has doors that come out 1.5m when open?

Just tested the family waggon, 95cm
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Does anyone have car doors 1.5m wide?????

Post by Cyril Haearn »

I have a small two-door car, the doors are bigger so one can clamber into the back seat

It should be 2m minimum!
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Re: Does anyone have car doors 1.5m wide?????

Post by peetee »

I could believe that, yes. Years ago I had a VW Polo and the doors on that were about 1.2m long. Not a big car by any measure. Besides, giving some allowance for something so important is the right thing in my book.
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rmurphy195
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Re: Does anyone have car doors 1.5m wide?????

Post by rmurphy195 »

peetee wrote:I could believe that, yes. Years ago I had a VW Polo and the doors on that were about 1.2m long. Not a big car by any measure. Besides, giving some allowance for something so important is the right thing in my book.


Especially since its the edge of the door you would hit, coming from behind! Nasty.
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mjr
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Re: Does anyone have car doors 1.5m wide?????

Post by mjr »

About 1.4m on the Alfa Mito (3-door)... and the passing mat measures the 1.5m from the centre of the bike (see below) and hybrid handlebars are typically 0.6m wide, so 0.3m either side, so the fully-open door would overlap 0.2m of handlebar!
Image

Is 1.5m really enough? In practice, it probably is, because most people look before flinging the door fully open.
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: Does anyone have car doors 1.5m wide?????

Post by Cyril Haearn »

The Dutch Hook is one partial solution of course :)
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thirdcrank
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Re: Does anyone have car doors 1.5m wide?????

Post by thirdcrank »

A two-door saloon has much wider doors than a four-door version of the same model.
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Re: Does anyone have car doors 1.5m wide?????

Post by PH »

I'm not sure everyone posting has actually looked at the link or understood the OP. It's got nothing to do with how much room to give a car or being doored. It's using a door as a visual example of how much room to give a cyclist you're overtaking, it's really got nothing to do with doors!
Whether it's enough depends on how big someone thinks a door is, it's probably better than saying 1.5m because IMO unless you're someone who measuring things frequently you're unlikely to be able to accurately gauge what 1.5m looks like.
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mjr
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Re: Does anyone have car doors 1.5m wide?????

Post by mjr »

PH wrote:I'm not sure everyone posting has actually looked at the link or understood the OP.

What do you feel there is to misunderstand with "So, can anyone name a car that has doors that come out 1.5m when open?"

Just to confirm your suspicion about the link, I've not looked at the link because it sounded like a video and I don't have time to unsecure the browser enough to allow the BBC to exploit it before the video plays, but I do have a small car with doors that come out 1.4m which I posted to suggest it's not completely stupid to think there are some 1.5m ones out there.

That said, I agree that it's not the best measure. I'd suggest the rule of thumb should be to move the car completely into another lane. Then even with narrow lanes, I think you'll still be more than 1.5m away - and seeing as even with wide lanes, you have to put some of your car into the next lane (do the maths), so you have to wait for a gap in that lane anyway, why not move over completely?
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Re: Does anyone have car doors 1.5m wide?????

Post by PH »

mjr wrote:
PH wrote:I'm not sure everyone posting has actually looked at the link or understood the OP.

What do you feel there is to misunderstand with "So, can anyone name a car that has doors that come out 1.5m when open?"

mjr wrote:Is 1.5m really enough? In practice, it probably is, because most people look before flinging the door fully open.

The discussion the OP intended to start has nothing to do with flinging doors open, they wanted to discuss whether it was a suitable example of overtaking distance.
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gaz
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Re: Does anyone have car doors 1.5m wide?????

Post by gaz »

Use your existing doors differently,
[youtube]zvd3q4PxFuw[/youtube]
Or redesign car doors.
[youtube]3UJ9H_ma3Bs[/youtube]
thirdcrank
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Re: Does anyone have car doors 1.5m wide?????

Post by thirdcrank »

From another angle and trying to take a positive view of this, at the very least it seems another police force has been using its mat to publicise the problems of close overtaking. I speak as somebody who has been rather sceptical of the mat initiative.
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Re: Does anyone have car doors 1.5m wide?????

Post by Tangled Metal »

Have there been any cases of motorists throwing fully open their car doors as they pass a cyclist?

Correct me if I'm wrong but the 1.5m gap is while overtaking cyclists in a motor vehicle. The likelihood a motorist or more likely the passenger opening the door fully while in motion is probably very small. The gap is about giving the cyclists space not to make sure they can't be hit by doors. So even a car with 2m wide door would be great if it gave 1.5m gap when overtaking cyclists.
thirdcrank
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Re: Does anyone have car doors 1.5m wide?????

Post by thirdcrank »

I think the idea is that a door's width is a measure which can be visualised like the length of four London buses, twice the height of Big Ben or an area the size of Wales. Whether it's a good idea is open to discussion.
Tangled Metal
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Re: Does anyone have car doors 1.5m wide?????

Post by Tangled Metal »

I thought the measure was a burly copper.
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