Dooring bill hits Virginia House, does not survive

Bad news

State Sen. Chap Petersen’s bike safety bill has met the fate of an unlucky cyclist in a bike-vs.-car collision: instant death.

Petersen had proposed legislation directing people not to open their car doors into the path of cyclists or any other traffic. Because there is no law against “dooring,” insurance companies often refuse to cover injured cyclists because no one is found to be at fault.

The bill cleared the full Senate but died Tuesday in a 7-7 vote of the House Transportation Committee. Petersen’s office issued a release titled: “Petersen’s bicycle safety bill hits House Transportation Committee: Does not survive.”

How dumb is the opposition

Some committee members opposed to the bill expressed concern that young children who open their car doors without looking could be cited for a traffic infraction, punishable by a fine of up to $100.

OK, well that seems unlikely, but even more relevant

Petersen said it would not apply to anyone under the age of 14.

 

Comments

[Froggie]

Disappointing, to say the least. This state really has some ignorant legislators.

[dynaryder]

Almost got doored today in Clarendon. Dude just popped his door open without looking(face buried in cell phone). Gave him a blast from my NCO voice(my HEY! is as loud as a car horn). Gave me a dirty look in return. As I was approaching the Key Bridge I saw a sign saying Arlington was bike friendly. My have to go back with a spray can sometime.

[duffmanrb]

I don't get the parade of horribles that these legislators think will (now "would" I guess) follow from this bill. Don't something like 45 other states have this law already? Have children been fined in other states that have this law? Are their legal systems overrun by cyclists frivolously suing poor innocent drivers?

I guess now the assembly can get back to more important things, like printing their own money, and poorly devised transportation funding.

[Nancy]

@dynaryder (and everybody else)--just take the lane. It takes a thick skin, but is so much safer than riding in the door zone. If the drivers honk at you, it means they can see you.

[MB]

I want to be clear that Del. Garrett had already been informed - by Sen. Petersen, no less - that the bill would quite obviously not be enforced against children. That's true for the proposed law and any other law, as anyone with a passing familiarity with laws and law enforcement would know.

So Del. Garrett is either an extraordinarily slow learner or he was being disingenuous.

Also, there were NoVA legislators who had previous given very positive indications about the bill that were mysteriously absent from the vote, and showed up immediately after.

Draw your own conclusions.

[Kolohe]

Like I've said before, I don't think the law matters all that much. Safety is a mindset, and would be better served by a DOT (& non-profit org) education campaign. Nobody actually *wants* to door people. And nobody in DC or Maryland is thinking about their own dooring laws when they get out of their cars.

[antibozo]

The stupid, it burns.

[MB]

Kolohe - a change in the law necessitates an education campaign. An education campaign gets folks thinking about it.

Lots of things flow from a change in the law.

[ACyclistInTheSuburbs]

"The stupid, it burns."

this.

[oboe]

Why pass laws against rape when you can pass laws against wearing a short skirt?

[Daniel]

I'm not a cyclist, so I obviously don't know the concerns when it comes to "dooring" -- however isn't it a two-way street in which cyclists should be aware as well as drivers?

I'm not trying to be crass or rude by any means; I simply don't understand the culture.

I ride motorcycles and there really aren't any laws protecting us either. Every time I go out, I'm almost always cut off, run off the road, or worse. However, I know the risks involved in this activity as opposed to taking a car, and it's something I enjoy; the expectation is that other drivers as well as myself need to be more alert.

The "other drivers" part is a hard lot; I get it...but how will this make things better, is what I'm getting at, I suppose?

[washcycle]

Daniel,

I think the issue is reaction time. If you open a door just as a cyclist is coming along such that a reasonable person would not be able to react in time to avoid hitting the door, then you're at fault. If on the other hand, you give the cyclist plenty of time so that any reasonable person could avoid hitting the door and yet they hit it anyway, then they're at fault.

So, it is a two-way street. It's just like pulling out of a driveway really.

The hope is that this makes things better in two ways. One, it will make doorings less likely as it educates motorists and incentivizes them. And it should make civil cases easier for cyclists to win which has an element of justice we can all appreciate - in that the person most responsible for an accident should be held financially responsible.

[dynaryder]

@Nancy: I was in a bike lane. Sometimes they're useful.

@Daniel: pretty much every bike lane I've seen in VA runs through the door zone. The govt puts in bike lanes to promote cycling,but puts them in the door zone and won't enact a law to make drivers act responsibly. This is what is hacking us off.