Dooring accidents are far too common and serious, or even deadly.
Yet, in much of the USA we don’t count this specific type of injury accident in a way that can best yield data to improve safety infrastructure and awareness. In most states opening a door into a cyclist, pedestrian or even another car is a traffic code violation, yet enforcement is rare and fines are often very low amounts.
In 2011 Chicago Bicycle Advocacy won a huge victory and got the state of Illinois DOT to officially start tracking and recording dooring incidents.
In 2012, after 7 bicycle dooring fatalities in 5 years, NYC DOT started a media dooring awareness campaign as well as safety improvements to the sidewalks and taxi cab windows to try and raise awareness.
Bikers call for state to count ‘dooring’ accidentsAdvocacy group says untracked collisions are most common
Chicago Tribune
March 20, 2011
[…] A Tribune request for violations data showed that since 2008, Chicago police issued no tickets for opening a vehicle door into the path of a bicyclist or turning in front of a bicyclist. […] Excluding dooring accidents from crash counts likely decreases reported vehicle-bike accident numbers by at least 15 percent statewide, said Dan Persky, director of education at the Active Transportation Alliance. […]
1 In 5 Bicycle Crashes In Chicago Is A Dooring
Chicago-ist
May 16, 2014
[…] The city passed an ordinance in 2008 that addressed doorings. […] That was followed in 2011 when IDOT, after lobbying by Active Trans, began counting doorings and crashes and tracking them. […]