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LarryM · 01-26-2013, 01:04 AM

Most states do have laws that prohibit opening car doors into traffic. They have been around for years. Here is the one from Illinois

Quote:

(625 ILCS 5/11‑1407) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 11‑1407)
Sec. 11‑1407. Opening and closing vehicle doors. No person shall open the door of a vehicle on the side available to moving traffic unless and until it is reasonably safe to do so, and can be done without interfering with the movement of other traffic, nor shall any person leave a door open on the side of a vehicle available to moving traffic for a period of time longer than necessary to load or unload passengers.

The law helps to clarify who is responsible for what. In terms of crashes with cyclists, without the law it is an open question as to whether a cyclist is at fault for riding in the door zone at a speed too fast to stop, or the door opener is at fault for not exercising reasonable care.

{after pressing the send button on this I noticed newleaf had posted a similar comment .. looks like we're on the same wavelength again}

MNRider · 01-29-2013, 08:33 PM

ND has a similar law. It doesn't stop anyone from failing to look before opening a door, but it does put the liability on the person who opens a car door without looking. It's been a while and I'd have to look it up, but if I remember correctly the ND law covers injury and property damage either on the traffic side of the vehicle or on the sidewalk. The incident I'm thinking of actually involved a person on the sidewalk who was having an argument with someone in a car when the passenger supposedly intentionally opened the door forcefully striking the person arguing through the passenger window while standing on the sidewalk. The officer wasn't able to establish intent (which would have made the intentional dooring a battery) but was still able to issue a ticket for the "accidental" injury to the pedestrian.

LarryM · 01-31-2013, 06:50 PM

A situation we have all too often in Chicago is that of a cyclist riding in a bike lane getting doored by a taxi passenger exiting the right side of the cab.