BIKE: Law about getting doored

[Michael Bluejay]

On Mar 23, 2005, at 2:01 PM, Big Bad Lane wrote:

> Amongst several discussion threads on my neighborhood listserv about
> SCB, one brought up the issue of who is at fault when a cyclist gets
> doored.  I poked around bicycleaustin.info, but didn't see issues of
> fault addressed there.  I remember a guy who got badly doored in front
> of my house about five or six years ago, but never knew who would
> ultimately be found at fault (and, since he was taken away in an
> ambulance, I'm sure the issue came up).
>
> Anyone know?  Who's at fault when someone opens a door into a moving
> car?  Seems like it should work the same way, no?


I've never seen any law specifically about this and I strongly doubt 
there is one.  Probably it would fall under some ultra-general law 
about doing something unsafe in general, but then of course prosecutors 
and jury would have to be convinced of that fact.

One thing I hope has been clear is that *who's at fault* is often very 
different from *who gets punished*.  That was the whole point of the 
work I used to do on BicycleAustin, showing that clearly at-fault 
motorists get off scot-free in an astounding number of cases.  One of 
the stats on the No Justice page is that in a study in New York City, 
70-92% of drivers were at-fault in killing pedestrians and cyclists, 
but 74% didn't even get a ticket.

But getting back to the topic, if anyone finds anything conclusive 
about a law relating to getting doored I'll be happy to publish it, of 
course.

Hey, what did y'all think of the pictures on the Shoal Creek page on 
Bicycle Austin?  I was on my way to the dentist and fortunately had my 
camera with me.

-MBJ-