DC knocked over a cyclist

[blueirishues]

The situation was that I pulled up and dc opened the car door, a cyclist went into it and over the top. My door is damaged and cyclist shouting all sorts about going to sue what are the rights and wrongs here?

Yet isn't found guilty. The law in this country is far too lenient on drivers.

It's mad, whatscoming, I agree. I drive too - more at the moment as I'm 38wks pregnant, and I am by no means a perfect driver - I would love to see anyone admit they are and actually mean it! However, as a regular cyclist I'd hope I have just that bit more awareness of bikes round here (Cambridge - huge cycling city so loads of bikes everywhere) because they can pop out of nowhere / have no lights / do silly or impatient things just the way drivers can.

However, ultimately a cyclist is small and vulnerable in comparison to a car and it's just plain common sense to take greater care around a cyclist when driving. The law seems at the moment to just plonk out a ban and a fine for the majority of car-door incidents - even when they've resulted in death (in googling the one I'd linked, a load of others came up where the cyclist had died but the driver had only been fined/banned for a short time).

What is quite right.

I cycle nearly every work day and after DH came very close to being doored we have both been ultra careful to leave at least a door width between us and any parked cars.

Similarly I never use cycle lanes right next to pavements or parked cars. Too many near misses and pedestrians stepping into the road to avoid other slower folks. Invariably without a backward glance.

The problem is then that drivers beep, harrass and narrowly overtake because they have little understanding of why cyclists leave massive gaps and why we take up space.

This is one of the more dangerous Cambridge roads for cyclists, where thanks to traffic flow and the fact that it's basically one of the city ring roads, it's often not possible for cyclists to leave door widths without ending up in the flow of traffic anyway. As the pic shows, there is parking on one side, then a pretty narrow cyclepath, then the road. Many roads here are just a mess where cyclist access has been added in as an afterthought rather than (for the volume of bikes in the city) properly thought through.

Some roads are terrible.

This road 2.bp.blogspot.com/_oyFz-fjr8cw/TNsSAFHTX9I/AAAAAAAAAM8/SFBHFgvtEJQ/s1600/IMG00124-20101110-1242.jpg is designed to injure cyclists.

The cycle lane is right next to parked cars, and the only way to avoid risk of injury or death to door being opened is not to use the cycle lane. But that increases the risk of a road rage attack by a nutter.

If it had been a car passing, not a bike, the child might have been killed, or at least injured; put the child lock on, and get children into the habit of getting out on the pavement side.

My friend's husband was really badly injured in a similar accident but this was an elderly gentleman who opened the door without looking. He broke his collar bone, fingers and was not able to work for a while so yes, this cyclist may need compensation depending on how badly injured they were and the cost of the bike that probably got damaged. I feel sorry for the DC but yes, I would say this was passenger 'fault'.

Cyclist probably had a ton of adrenaline running through them as they vaulted the door so unsurprising they acted somewhat aggressively. They will probably feel bad about that in hindsight especially where a sobbing child is involved - I would.

Not nice for anyone involved. I hope you and your friends child are ok too.

I'm pretty sure the OP knows she is in the wrong by now. In fact she said that she had apologized to the bike rider 168 posts ago so was clearly already aware she was in the wrong before she even started the thread - but we need to REALLY ram it home eh? And how stupid the child is, obvs. she should be taken into care, maybe a physical punishment like a beating. I mean, its not as though children make mistakes ... is it?

Saw a tip on FB the other day Always open a car door with the 'wrong'hand I.e. the one furthest from the door .It makes you half turn your body and you will see anyone coming up -cyclist or pedestrian .I keep trying to remember ....

Today 16:01 wettunwindee

@ShotsFired - I think your husband's been telling you porkies.

There are very, very few frames for £6k. People who have them keep them for racing, not commuting. They would be uncomfortable and ill-suited to the job, ignoring the price tag. You certainly wouldn't have £1,000 wheels on a 6 grand frame. double, triple or quadruple that perhaps.

Where are you getting this information?? My husbands bike (colnago) was 6k. The wheels were £1500. His clothing is assos. So dressed and on his bike he has £8500 worth of kit, plus gps and mobile in his pocket.

If he was thrown over a door and wrecked his bike (carbon would be broken, likely wheels damaged, clothes ripped etc) that's a serious claim to the drivers insurance policy. (Who would totally be at fault here)

My husband is insured because he was knocked off a long time ago and had to pay his own legal fees then. Loss of earnings would hurt us and would h likely be paid by drivers car policy so he has insurance.

I wouldn't expect all cyclists to be insured mind you. But I do believe EVERYBODY has the responsibility on the road to look out for one another.

Burning bridges- exactly that. Mistakes happen every moment of the day. The poor kid and the cyclist must have had the crap scared out of them. A pure accident. The kid didn't mean it.

I thought the back doors on most cars locked automatically when you go over certain speed (in my car 6mph)

If your daughter is old enough to open a car door and get out of a car unsupervised, she is old enough to have the sense to check first if anyone is coming past the car. Her fault... and your fault for not teaching her a simple fact of life.

What punishment do you suggest valeview? Those kids REALLY need a lesson and you sound like the sort of person to give it.

DC could have opened door and stepped out in front of another car.
DC could have opened door and another car could have collided into it.
DC opened door and hit cyclist.........

It's all about child supervision and adult responsibility for that child. Child locks..........

Wow, burning, you must not get out much, to bother tracking back how many posts it was since OP admitted fault. If you use those eagle eyes of yours, you'll notice that I also acknowledge she admitted fault, good for her. But yes, if I'd just been knocked over someone's car door by their child opening the door, I'm afraid adrenaline and shock would probably make me consider the child pretty stupid.

However, yes, the point does unfortunately deserve ramming home - not to OP necessarily, who appears to understand that it could have been an even worse accident, but to a massive number of posters since who seem to think (like you) that it's all ok because "kids make mistakes". In this case, fortunately, they ended up with an angry, bruised cyclist and nothing more. However, there've been multiple cases of dooring where the cyclist has been severely injured or killed. Were that my OH or a friend, I'm afraid "children make mistakes" wouldn't cut it as an excuse.

The adult in charge of the vehicle ultimately should also be in charge of the child and should either put child locks on or remind the kid to look before opening the car door, or get out on the pavement side. It's common sense for the safety of the child themselves, after all, and certainly something I remember being taught as a child.

Lots of cyclists are third party insured including my DD at my insistence (and cost)You can be sued if it can be proved you caused an accident

I mean she's 9 (and not the OP's daughter BTW) so sadly she can't be prosecuted. So something else, make her realise just how evil she really is.

"I thought the back doors on most cars locked automatically when you go over certain speed (in my car 6mph)"
Doesn't help when you can then unlock them from the inside?

valeview, it's not OP's daughter.

Kikis that quote is from someone else earlier who saw the number of posts and how truly ridiculous those baying for the 9 year old's blood are. There are now 244 posts - there's a post counter just there ^

I'm really glad the OP left the thread, but what I am driving at is what do all the outraged posters want to happen to the OP or the child? I just want it spelled out (not "she needs to be taught a lesson") - are we talking a good hiding? Seriously, would the flog em and hand em brigade only be happy if OP comes back and says she's been given a custodial sentence?

Personally, I'm not baying for the 9 year old's blood - she's 9 years old! It's the adult in charge who should be in charge and behave that way - no matter how much of a rush they might've been in or whatever other circumstances there might have been - it's just common sense to look before opening a door, and to teach that to kids, isn't it? At least OP had the honesty to admit that she just didn't look or remind the child to look, which was a poor move on her part, but what's done is done and at least no one came off any worse.

To be honest, I had joined the thread mainly at the point where crappy road safety / road networks for cyclists in general was being discussed. I think even in the most "cycling friendly" cities, way, way more can be done than painting a thin red stripe with a bike picture between a row of parked cars and the road and calling it a safe cycling area.

Glad everyone ok - it's lucky for DC it wasn't a car.

burning what a weird request! You seem to be the one unable to leave it, but given you've asked:

If I as a driver opened my door, or a passenger of mine did, and injured another road user (but as in this case, there was no major harm done other than a lot of shouting and upset and adrenaline), and then if that road user decided to pursue it further with police etc (or say, for example, a witness did), I'd expect at least some sort of penalty - either a fine or needing to attend a driving awareness course. Exactly that happened with a friend who was knocked off his bike (not by a door this time, he was actually hit, which is a different circumstance, I accept). A witness called the police and as the victim, my friend was asked if he wanted to press charges or have the driver go on an awareness course. He chose the latter.

Obviously the child is just a child - all you can do is calm them down when they're upset from what they've caused, and educate them properly in future to look etc or get out on the pavement side / once the driver says it's safe to do so. Ultimately, responsibility should lie with whoever's in charge of the vehicle, even if another adult passenger opens a door on to a cyclist.