(We borrowed this picture from melbourne cyclist. Hope that's OK!)
Today we would like to discuss a very important, and very dangerous, topic: (Car) Dooring. Yesterday we read about Alberto Paulon, an Italian chef, who died a little over a year ago, in Melbourne, Australia, after being doored.
Alberto Paulon and his fiancée at the time, Cristina Canedda. (We borrowed this picture from The Age. Hope that's OK!)
Alberto Paulon was riding his bicycle in the bicycle lane, when a motorist swung open the car door right in front of him, he hit the door, was thrown under a truck driving next to him and died lying on the street.
We have nearly been car doored a couple of times. Thankfully we haven't had any real accidents and hopefully we won't have any either. But motorists or passengers swinging their car doors open without looking is potentially life threatening, and being near that happening is enough to get your heart racing a little.
As cyclists there isn't that much we can do, without having to be sticklers for the letter of the law, or just quite annoying people. We can train our reflexes and powers of reaction. We can tell motorists that they should always check their mirrors before exiting (or look around before entering) their vehicles, if they're doing it while we're passing. And we can try to influence our politicians to spend more money on safe bicycle lanes and tell officials about dangerous places, where this phenomenon occurs or could occur. Because it really is better to be annoying than dead.
Ride safe! And spread this video:
The cyclist in this video reacts exemplary. Our reactions have included swearing, shouting and/or flipping the bird. Because we have gotten scared. (We borrowed this picture from youtube. Hope that's OK!)
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