Dooring Accidents and Resulting Injuries

The act of dooring refers to people opening the doors to motor vehicles into the path of other road users, often bicyclists, and usually happens when vehicles are parked or stopped, and drivers or passengers are exiting vehicles. When you suffer injuries in a dooring accident, you will want to make sure you get in touch with an experienced bicycle accident attorney in the Bay Area. 

It is important for people to understand that California actually has a law relating to dooring under California Vehicle Code § 22517, which states that an individual cannot open the door of a motor vehicle on the side that is available to moving traffic unless it is reasonably safe to open the door and this can be done without interfering with the movement of traffic. A person also cannot leave a car door open on the side of a vehicle that is available to moving traffic for an amount of time longer than necessary to load or unload passengers.

Dooring Accident Statistics

According to the San Francisco Collisions Report, 203 of 1,235 collisions (16 percent) in San Francisco involved people opening doors into moving traffic. The report noted that the bicyclists were not at fault in these cases.

The same report found that 230 collisions (19 percent) in which bicyclists were not at fault were the result of unsafe lane changes, 203 collisions (16 percent) involved opening doors into moving traffic, and 149 collisions (12 percent) were failure to yield for left or U-turns. 

Dooring accidents are far more common in urban areas of major cities than in rural locations. For example:

Chicago writer Steven Vance had access to the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) Data Mart and found that one in five bike crashes in Chicago were the result of dooring, with 344 reported dooring crashes in one year.

Dooring became such a problem in New York City that its taxis started displaying anti-dooring decals and showed a video that would play on all 13,000 taxi TVs. “Take out a friend,” the message stated. “Take out a date. But don’t take out a cyclist.”

Dooring Accident Injuries

Bicyclists could suffer various types of severe injuries in dooring crashes. Common dooring accident injuries often include, but are not limited to:

• Abrasions and lacerations
• Abdominal wall injuries
• Back injuries
• Broken bones and fractures
• Bruised or fractured ribs
• Concussions
• Eye injuries
• Head and face injuries
• Hearing damage
• Internal organ damage
• Intestinal injuries
• Neck injuries 
• Nerve damage 
• Road rash
• Severed limbs
• Soft-tissue injuries
• Spinal cord injuries
• Sprains
• ​Sternum and chest injuries
• Torn shoulder muscles and tendons
• Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs)

In the most serious cases, dooring accidents are fatal. Families are often entitled to file wrongful death claims in such cases.

The website BicycleSafe.com publishes a list of bicyclists killed by dooring accidents. The victims include locations from California to New York as well as Toronto. Dooring accidents often result in debates about which party was at fault for a dooring accident. Do not be surprised if you are a victim of dooring and a motorist or passenger immediately claims that you were at fault for not paying attention.

Common Factors in Dooring Accidents

Some of the most common factors involved in dooring accidents may include whether a driver was legally parked, whether a driver or passenger properly looked for oncoming cyclists before opening a car door, whether a person exiting the car was distracted, whether a bicyclist was riding lawfully at the time of the crash, whether a bike was equipped with required gear, and whether a bicyclist was riding a bike in an unsafe manner. All bicyclists should be aware that insurance companies for motor vehicle drivers and passengers often argue that bicyclists were at fault in an effort to deny financial compensation.

After a dooring crash, you should immediately call the police and be sure to request a copy of an accident report while getting the driver’s name, contact information, driver’s license number, license plate number, and insurance information. Above all, make sure you seek medical care. 

Medical treatment is incredibly important following a dooring accident, not just to make sure that you are OK but also to have medical records of your treatment for any injury claims you may have to file. When it is possible, you should also try to secure evidence at the scene of the accident, such as the names of any witnesses and photographs of where a vehicle was parked. 

When you are not able to collect evidence yourself, try to have a friend or family member do this for you. You should remember that without this evidence, your case will become a competing version of events between your word and that of the motor vehicle occupant.

Dooring Accidents: economic damages and non-economic damages.

People who suffer injuries in dooring accidents could be entitled to several kinds of compensatory damages, which refers to compensation that intends to compensate a person for actual losses they have suffered. Compensatory damages often come in two categories: economic damages and non-economic damages.

Economic damages refer to the kinds of losses that can be proven and calculated, while non-economic damages are much more subjective and do not have clearly established financial value. Some of the most common damages include:

• Disfigurement
• Emotional distress 
• Inconvenience
• Loss of consortium
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Lost earning capacity
• Lost wages
• Mental anguish
• Pain and suffering
• Past and future medical bills
• Property damage
• Physical impairment 
• Unjust hardship

Call Us Today to Schedule a Free Consultation with a San Francisco Dooring Accident Attorney

Did you sustain catastrophic injuries in a dooring accident in the greater San Francisco area? The Cartwright Law Firm can make sure that you receive the fair and full compensation that covers every single cost you are facing because of your injuries.

Our firm will be able to conduct a thorough independent investigation into your crash and will work to hold the negligent party fully accountable. You can call (415) 433-0444 or contact us online to take advantage of a free case review that will let us take a longer look at your case and also answer all of your legal questions.