The swinging door

[250learna]

I was riding down to mitchel park in lower hutt to play some tennis. Going about 55 i got to a turn, slowed down and looked for car. The coast was clear apart from the cars parked on the side of the road (as they do outside there). So off i went, got up to about 30, just straightend up going close to parked cars because of oncomming trafic.then a door of a parked car just swung open :mad: . I dont remeber how i avoided hitting it, but by some miracle i did.
I dont get it, the lights were off, and it was dark inside during the whole time i could see it. I did not hoon around the corner so would have seen me if the checked before they opened the door.
I just wish i was in my car at the time, because then their door would have been detached by the time i went past :devil2:

[Holy Roller]

Its the doors that open when lane splitting down the motorway that I object to. Always need to be expecting the unexpected, thinking what if...

[John]

Its the doors that open when lane splitting down the motorway that I object to. Always need to be expecting the unexpected, thinking what if...
Exactly!

I get hell nervious when I go past parked cars, so I stick to the centre line like glue - as for splitting I always check where there hands are if I notice them fidgeting, I've had someone do it to me before on the motorway, they thought it was amusing as hell, I failed to see the humour

[Lou Girardin]

This doesn't explain why cagers feel they have to cross the centreline when passing empty parked cars. I've never seen a 2 metre long car door.

[RON SOAK]

This doesn't explain why cagers feel they have to cross the centreline when passing empty parked cars. I've never seen a 2 metre long car door.
coz they have the attention span of a newt, the awareness of a 3inch rock, ten foot underground and the reaction times of a sloth on prozac!! and those are the alert ones!

[XP@]

had one open on me the other day, fun isn't it :-) am being a tad more careful now

[Biff]

Lesson 327 of the Biking Bible.
If it can happen, it will happen, so expect it. Especially from cagers, because they're :weird:

[johnny]

I was riding down to mitchel park in lower hutt to play some tennis. Going about 55 i got to a turn, slowed down and looked for car. The coast was clear apart from the cars parked on the side of the road (as they do outside there). So off i went, got up to about 30, just straightend up going close to parked cars because of oncomming trafic.then a door of a parked car just swung open :mad: . I dont remeber how i avoided hitting it, but by some miracle i did.
I dont get it, the lights were off, and it was dark inside during the whole time i could see it. I did not hoon around the corner so would have seen me if the checked before they opened the door.
I just wish i was in my car at the time, because then their door would have been detached by the time i went past :devil2:



I have bad experince on these suddenly open door ....
It was in Taiwan, rain, dark and i was doing about 40~45...
a car suddenly open the door when i just pass its rear bumper.......... that make me no where to go ...... so i hit it........ fly out to the main traffic...heard all the car hit on hard breaks........ couldnt even got up by myself........end up at hospital.................. :no:

some people just dont care who else is on the road ... they just do their thing and thinkless when open the door or park their car ............

Be careful everyone!!

[vifferman]

This doesn't explain why cagers feel they have to cross the centreline when passing empty parked cars. I've never seen a 2 metre long car door.
Two things (both generalisations, and if I offend anybody, sorry. Or not.):

Women (generally) have poorer spatial awareness than men, so theye have trouble estimating how much room is between their car and other cars/obstacles. (However, they do make up for this by being (generally) prettier than men, and having more smoothey bits and nicer boobies. Mmmm.... booobies...)
Don't believe me? If there's a gap betwen vehicles, a man will (generally) look at it, go "Yup" and cruise through, or "Nup" and stop. A woman will (generally) dither around, and not go through, even if the car in fornt of her has susccessfully negotiated it.
Asians (generalisation), both sexes, as for (1).
It's TRUE, Jimmie! :yes:

Our suburb has lots of both Asians, Wimmin, and Asian Wimmin. Lotsa crashes on our street (16 in one year!) Lotsa crap drivers, the study of whom gave me the data for these wide, sweeping statements and generalisations.

[johnny]

Two things (both generalisations, and if I offend anybody, sorry. Or not.):

Women (generally) have poorer spatial awareness than men, so theye have trouble estimating how much room is between their car and other cars/obstacles. (However, they do make up for this by being (generally) prettier than men, and having more smoothey bits and nicer boobies. Mmmm.... booobies...)
Don't believe me? If there's a gap betwen vehicles, a man will (generally) look at it, go "Yup" and cruise through, or "Nup" and stop. A woman will (generally) dither around, and not go through, even if the car in fornt of her has susccessfully negotiated it.
Asians (generalisation), both sexes, as for (1).
It's TRUE, Jimmie! :yes:

Our suburb has lots of both Asians, Wimmin, and Asian Wimmin. Lotsa crashes on our street (16 in one year!) Lotsa crap drivers, the study of whom gave me the data for these wide, sweeping statements and generalisations.


This is what i mean when bad Asian driver on the road give us other respectful driver/biker a real bad name!!!

[zadok]

Some car drivers don't do the basics sometimes. It's obvious to look before opening a car door when parked on the road.
When I was holidaying on the Gold Coast last October I was on a bus that was pulling into a bus stop on the Gold Coast Hwy. There was an almighty scraping sound all of a sudden. You guessed it; one Fairlane owner with a very second hand drivers door.

[Beemer]

[QUOTE=vifferman]Two things (both generalisations, and if I offend anybody, sorry. Or not.):
[list=1]
Women (generally) have poorer spatial awareness than men, so theye have trouble estimating how much room is between their car and other cars/obstacles. (However, they do make up for this by being (generally) prettier than men, and having more smoothey bits and nicer boobies. Mmmm.... booobies...)
Don't believe me? If there's a gap betwen vehicles, a man will (generally) look at it, go "Yup" and cruise through, or "Nup" and stop. A woman will (generally) dither around, and not go through, even if the car in fornt of her has susccessfully negotiated it.
Asians (generalisation), both sexes, as for (1).

VAST generalisation here and you need to be denied access to boobies until you've learned not to generalise! Yes, some women are terrible (isn't this something to do with men telling them 'this' is 12 inches... :rofl: ) I think in the main this is due to many women not driving much - because their men drive them everywhere or they only use the car to collect the rugrats from school - a journey of what, 500m each way? I was a sales rep for years and soon learnt how small a space I could fit a Sierra station wagon into - I had to, or drive around Wellington for hours looking for an angle park! I got to the stage where I could do a u-turn into a park on the other side of the road, so I think my spatial awareness is fine, thank you very much!

And I usually freak people out by moving through gaps that others are wary of negotiating - comes from experience, and I bet many young guys are just at wimpy as some women when it comes to this!

As for car doors opening, it's a fact that MOST people, regardless of their sex, DON'T look before opening their car doors - or if they do, they just give a perfunctory glance to make sure there is nothing big like a car coming - which is why cyclists often cop it. Rule of thumb, if there is a car on the side of the road, EXPECT someone to open a door in front of you and allow enough room for this!

[pritch]

Women (generally) have poorer spatial awareness than men, .

I was in a discussion with the senior cop involved in traffic in town at the time, he told me that women definitely don't have the spacial abilities that most males do. Your statement was not necessarily a generalisation and may apparently be considered to be conventional wisdom.

It certainly goes a long way to explain the damage to virtually every front left wheel in the vehicle fleet where I work , and the number of times the females hit the garage door as they drive through it...

[Yarg]

Remember- every car is out to get you, whether going or stopped ! :ride:

[bear]

I've read that the spatial thing man vs women as been proved (can't remember where), of course there is always the exception to the rule (which tends to mean that it is still a generalisation I guess).

[250learna]

[QUOTE=vifferman]Two things (both generalisations, and if I offend anybody, sorry. Or not.):
[list=1]
Women (generally) have poorer spatial awareness than men, so theye have trouble estimating how much room is between their car and other cars/obstacles. (However, they do make up for this by being (generally) prettier than men, and having more smoothey bits and nicer boobies. Mmmm.... booobies...)
Don't believe me? If there's a gap betwen vehicles, a man will (generally) look at it, go "Yup" and cruise through, or "Nup" and stop. A woman will (generally) dither around, and not go through, even if the car in fornt of her has susccessfully negotiated it.
Asians (generalisation), both sexes, as for (1).

VAST generalisation here and you need to be denied access to boobies until you've learned not to generalise! Yes, some women are terrible (isn't this something to do with men telling them 'this' is 12 inches... :rofl: ) I think in the main this is due to many women not driving much - because their men drive them everywhere or they only use the car to collect the rugrats from school - a journey of what, 500m each way? I was a sales rep for years and soon learnt how small a space I could fit a Sierra station wagon into - I had to, or drive around Wellington for hours looking for an angle park! I got to the stage where I could do a u-turn into a park on the other side of the road, so I think my spatial awareness is fine, thank you very much!

And I usually freak people out by moving through gaps that others are wary of negotiating - comes from experience, and I bet many young guys are just at wimpy as some women when it comes to this!

As for car doors opening, it's a fact that MOST people, regardless of their sex, DON'T look before opening their car doors - or if they do, they just give a perfunctory glance to make sure there is nothing big like a car coming - which is why cyclists often cop it. Rule of thumb, if there is a car on the side of the road, EXPECT someone to open a door in front of you and allow enough room for this!

well tell that to my mother who has driven all her life and still has no idea where she is on the road :no:
i think she has effectively shortened my life through stress :weird: while i was too young and poor and didnt have my own car

[Wolf]

coz they have the attention span of a newt, the awareness of a 3inch rock, ten foot underground and the reaction times of a sloth on prozac!! and those are the alert ones!
You reckon they're that aware, huh? I'd've thought they weren't that sharp.

This thread is the best advert for "stick to the right hand tyre track" I've ever heard. Still well within the lane, but not as prone to hitting car doors or wankers who have to stick half the car out into the lane to see if anyone's coming...

Of course, cornering with the right lines necessitates getting dangerously close to the outside of the lane once or twice, so that's the place you'll be screwed...

[jazbug5]

Had a similar thing happen to me when riding a pushbike in London.
I've learned over the years to give parked cars a pretty wide berth, but this was rush hour, the car was on its own outside a school, and *seemingly* empty. You guessed it- the extremely short driver chose the exact moment I drew up to it to throw her door open (yes, it was a woman... dammit).
A 'Look Ma, I C'n Fly' moment ensued for a few seconds, followed by the inevitable faceplant and fun trip in an ambulance.
Still have an interesting scar on my leg from the door.
A note: always get their details. She got away with it because I wasn't compis enough to- b*tch.

[250learna]

Had a similar thing happen to me when riding a pushbike in London.
I've learned over the years to give parked cars a pretty wide berth, but this was rush hour, the car was on its own outside a school, and *seemingly* empty. You guessed it- the extremely short driver chose the exact moment I drew up to it to throw her door open (yes, it was a woman... dammit).
A 'Look Ma, I C'n Fly' moment ensued for a few seconds, followed by the inevitable faceplant and fun trip in an ambulance.
Still have an interesting scar on my leg from the door.
A note: always get their details. She got away with it because I wasn't compis enough to- b*tch.

thats it im saving up for a goldwing :mad: and riding right next to all the parked cars i see, that will teach them :motu:

edit: i might be saving for a while tho :whistle:

[Wolf]

A note: always get their details. She got away with it because I wasn't compis enough to- b*tch.
Kinda hard being compos mentis when you've just used your face as a braking surface.

You've usually got a lot on your mind at the time and your agitated state is not conducive to memorising details even if you do think to grab the rego/description of car.

You really need to have some means of recording the info then and there - but how many people carry pad and pen or dictaphone in a handy location when they're riding down the road to the shops? I suppose that you could always send yourself a text on your cellphone - if you're in a fit state to do so.

[jazbug5]

True enough.
At the very least, you could try to insist that the police attend (they are supposed to by law in the UK, but this is London we're talking about..) and that they get the details. Failing that, you could try to get the ambo crew to (if you can talk out of your mashed face, that is...).

[Ixion]

If you hit the open door square on and braced there is a good chance you will rip it off and emerge relatively unscathed. The impact will (hopefully) break the little link thing that stops the door swinging back past a certain point and will fling the door back past it's normally fully open position. And then maybe break one of the mounting points.

You should be able to remain upright.

[Wolf]

If you hit the open door square on and braced there is a good chance you will rip it off and emerge relatively unscathed. The impact will (hopefully) break the little link thing that stops the door swinging back past a certain point and will fling the door back past it's normally fully open position. And then maybe break one of the mounting points.

You should be able to remain upright.
Square-on and braced - what if the door is still at an angle to your path (not fully open) or you scarcely have time for your sphincter to clench, let alone brace yourself?

Have heard of people taking the door off, wobbling a bit then being able to come to a halt and sort out what to do about the "fetchingly redecorated" front mudguard - on a motorbike, not a pushbike. I'm not keen to get into that situation, though - rather not put it to the test.

[Ixion]

Square-on and braced - what if the door is still at an angle to your path (not fully open) or you scarcely have time for your sphincter to clench, let alone brace yourself?

Have heard of people taking the door off, wobbling a bit then being able to come to a halt and sort out what to do about the "fetchingly redecorated" front mudguard - on a motorbike, not a pushbike. I'm not keen to get into that situation, though - rather not put it to the test.

Angle is a problem - the impact will be along the axis of the door which is very strong. But if it's only open a bit you have more chance to swerve round it.
Agreed with preferring not to put it to the test. I am terminally paranoid about cars that stop. Either they are intending to hang a U turn in front of me, or to swing their doors open at me. Either way a solid horn blast is called for.