Cycling is an outdoor
activity that takes places on the public roads, streets,
and trails of Arkansas. Is it inherently
dangerous? Absolutely not! However,
the prudent cyclist is alert to the road and traffic
conditions around him (or her), and follows some basic
safety precautions.
Common Road Hazards for Cyclists,
and How to Avoid Them. An expanded
compilation of material from the Traffic Skills 101 and
201 curriculum on bike safety
Road Hazards for Visual Learners:
Avoiding the "Door Zone"
While bike lanes
represent one of the most effective facilities in
encouraging more people to ride bicycles, their
placement -- especially where curbside parking is
provided along the same stretch of street -- often
creates another road hazard for bicyclists: the
so-called "Door Zone."
Riding a bike or
driving too close to parked cars always creates the risk
of a car door opening in your path. The impact of this
on a cyclist is clearly more serious than for the
drivers of motor vehicles. There is a concern that bike
lanes striped against parked cars will put cyclists in
the door zone and therefore into greater danger.
Many roadways
suitable for bike lanes have no parking on them – so
obviously this isn’t an issue in those cases.
However, the presence of curbside parking creates a
risk of dooring whether or not bike lanes are
present. This has always been a critical factor in
the selection of streets for bicycle accommodation
of any kind.
The primary
legal and practical responsibility for avoiding
dooring is on the motorist or passenger opening the
car door: they should not open their door into the
path of any vehicle; they should not open their door
before checking that it is safe to do so. Arkansas
has a law (A.C.A. Sect. 27-51-1301, "Opening door on
traffic side") to reinforce this responsibility.
[Note:
passenger-side doors also pop open, which means
there are door zones on both sides of a car. This is
of crucial importance for riders who like to
"filter" between lanes when traffic is jammed.]
Cyclists in
Arkansas always have the right to leave the bike
lane if their safety is threatened due to surface
conditions, obstructions, and dangers such as
opening car doors.
Bike lanes can
be striped adjacent to parking lanes and parked
cars, often called "door-zone bike lanes."
There are striping, signing and marking techniques
that encourage and enable cyclists to ride further
away from parked cars. Bicyclists are successfully
and safely operating on urban streets even with
AASHTO's minimum recommended widths for parking,
bike, and adjacent travel lanes. This may not always
be appropriate for every such street: engineering
judgment may suggest other options such as
establishing lower overall speeds and the use of
shared lane arrows.
There is an
ongoing need to educate cyclists AND motorists about
the hazards of dooring: cyclists need to know how to
spot and avoid the hazard; motorists need to be
constantly reminded to look before opening their
doors into traffic.
The way to avoid
being "doored" is to always observe a no-exceptions
rule: Don't ride in a door zone or in a place
where you could be hit or hurt if a door popped open in
front of you.
At normal cycling speeds of 12 mph or
more, you simply can’t stop in time to avoid a car door
that opens 1 car length in front of you. (You can only
stop in time if you’re traveling at “half speed” or
less, which we’ll discuss when we talk about riding in
downtown areas.) Riding at normal speed in the door zone
while watching for car doors that might open is like
playing Russian Roulette because:
Many vehicles
have rear doors or tinted windows that you can’t see
through.
A driver or
left rear passenger may be leaned over to pick
something up, then open the door before you see
their head.
The door may
turn out to be wider than you had counted on
avoiding.
An opening car
door can kill or injure you in at least 4 ways:
1) Your body
and head impact the door and window
2) Your torso
impacts the door, but your head keeps going. (Think
“French Revolution”!)
3) You and
your bike miss the door, but you swerve into traffic
4) Your body
misses the door, but your handlebar strikes it,
throwing you into traffic.
Experienced
cyclists don’t waste time guessing whether a door might
open. Instead, they negotiate a safe line of travel
before reaching the parked cars, even if it puts all or
part of their bike outside a bike lane. Doing this also
frees up your attention to interact with other drivers.
How to Avoid being "Doored":
Where to Ride?
Common wisdom tells cyclists to
ride "about three feet away from parked cars."
Sometimes that's not enough, depending on the cars...
here, LCI Coach Preston Tyree demonstrates the problem and how
to stay away from the door zone:
Given the
dimensions of the parking lane (8'), the bike lane (4 to
5'), and the traffic lane (10-12') on most streets, in
comparison with the width and reach of the average car
or truck door, the safe place to ride where bike lanes
are striped alongside curbside parking is in the center
to right half of the traffic lane, essentially negating
the presence of the bike lane!
Why
You Should Avoid the Door Zone: Here's a
video by LCI Dan Gutierrez (Los Angeles, CA) showing
what can happen when riders are "doored" when riding
past parked cars, and a motorist opens a door into their
path:
