Comments on: Beware Being Doored: Broken Bones & Bicycling Blues

By: Megan

Megan — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:36:52 +0000

I’m so sorry to hear about your experience, Cynthia.

I’m not sure what the laws are in CA, as I’m in AZ, but my experience has been that any time you are in a ‘run in’ with a vehicle, that the insurance should take care of it. I believe it’s under the MEDICAL ($25,000/person, etc)

Sometimes, they may try to find loop holes of whether or not the car was moving or not, however, consider if someone driving ripped off the door of a vehicle who flung their door into traffic.

If the door-er doesn’t have insurance, or even if he does, I would see what your insurance will cover right away. They should cover everything, and it is their responsibility to collect from the other insurance company.

If they are unwilling to work with you, then I would make it the main priority to get all of your treatments, keep your receipts, and contact an attorney. The attorney will not charge you until the case is settled, and they can work with the health care providers you are seeing to put attorney’s liens on the bills so you don’t have to pay anything out of pocket.

I hope this is helpful information. Good luck, and I’d be interested at how it turns out. In my case, the door-er’s insurance was at $25,000, so that’s what I got to cover the cost of medical bills, and my attorney fees, and a little extra for me. All of my bills totaled a little more than $26K, but I had a good lawyer who lowered their fees by half, and talked almost all of the medical bills down by half as well, so I did walk away will a little bit of cash for over 6 months of recovery, and having to drop my classes I had already paid for.

I hope your hand feels better soon. You will be ambidextrous pretty soon. Keep on your physical therapy!

By: cynthia

cynthia — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 21:24:42 +0000

i got doored a few weeks ago, broken hand. i have car insurance, including uninsured. unsure if the “doorer” has insurance. i opened a claim my insurance is acting as if they dont deal with these things (bikes). question: im in cali, should my car insurance be actively pursuing him, is it their responsibility? or is this all lawyer territory?

By: Megan

Megan — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:08:33 +0000

Hey Kumar,

Thanks for your concern. Unfortunately, I did not get a very good settlement considering I was unable to use my dominant hand for 2 months while I was working full time and in school full time. Pretty much I only got enough money to cover my medical bills, my attorney fees, and have a little money left over for repairing my bike, and some treatments.

I used the best attorneys in the south west, but it was unfortunate that the driver only had the minimum amount for car insurance $25,000, which barely covered my medical bills. I did get the full amount, but my attorneys had to negotiate down the hospital bills (there were 6 different businesses related to ‘medical bills’) with each agency. I wasn’t going to draw it out and garnish the wrong-doer’s wages because my attorney’s fees would have gone up, and it would have taken FOREVER.

If I would have owned a car at the time (I hadn’t had one for 4 years at the time of the accident) my insurance would have covered it because I’ve always driven with all the bells and whistles. My thought was, even though I didn’t have a (running) vehicle, to get car insurance for it. I’m unsure on if there is bicycle specific insurance, but the point is if you don’t have a car, and you get pegged by a car, you can use YOUR car insurance to cover yourself and not risk being hit by someone who is under-insured.

That’s my advice, have good car insurance if you use the roads.

Keep an eye out for yourself, and good luck out there. I still cannot extend my finger the full way, and have my fancy Titanium plate and screws. I guess there’s always the ‘could’ve been worse’ but let’s hope we can increase awareness and cut down on hurt cyclists.

By: Kumar

Kumar — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:20:13 +0000

Hey Megan,

Any success with the legal side of things after that accident. Just saw this post today. This morning, after a daily run, watched a woman a half block up powerwalk down the sidewalk, stroll out to her street parked car and fling the door open without once looking to see the cars bearing down on her. Frightening….and probably a future doorer.

By: megan

megan — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:21:13 +0000

amanda,
thanks for noticing the chauvinistic, car eccentric language in the anti-dooring website. I will certainly take it off.
As we know, dooring is usually due to the vehicles neglecting to look before they open doors into traffic. When it’s a vehicle coming, they care because their door gets ripped off, but when it’s a person on a bike, and there’s not much damage to the car, they don’t care. Frustrating!!

By: Amanda

Amanda — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:13:57 +0000

Thanks for the article. I checked out some of your links to other websites “dedicated to people who have been doored”, and you should ABSOLUTELY REMOVE http://WWW.ANTIDOORING.COM from your list. This is an anti-biking website, where the inane author writes “The most important action you can take is to prevent dooring is to stop riding your damn bike on the street. Remember, streets are for cars.” !!!!

By: jon b

jon b — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:34:17 +0000

I was ‘doored’ the other night here in Seattle. It was dark and rainy, but I had two blinkers on the front of my bike [and one on the back]. I am now in a sling with a separated shoulder and off the saddle for at least 2 months. I feel EXTREMELY lucky that it wasn’t worse than it was, but it’s still extremely aggravating.

I was obviously in shock after the accident. I got the guy’s personal info, but not his insurance. I was also hit from behind by a cyclist who was riding right behind me. He was ok and able to continue his ride. I should have, but didn’t get any info from him. I just called and left the ‘driver’ a message in hopes of getting the needed information to take care of medical, etc.

I knew I wasn’t at fault, but I had to look anyway:
The Washington state statute is:
RCW 46.61.620 ‘Opening and closing vehicle doors.’

Thanks for the post..it was very encouraging.

By: Bike Tour Preparation: P2 - Training — Bike Trailer Blog

Bike Tour Preparation: P2 - Training — Bike Trailer Blog — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:52:35 +0000

[...] because of a recent bicycling injury to my hand, I have been unable to ride. Preparing for a tour without being able to integrate [...]

By: Megan

Megan — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:43:09 +0000

Thanks so much Ricardo and SD rider for the encouragement. After 2 months of not riding (with the exception of 4 miles here, 3 miles there), I’m finally officially back in the saddle (back to 20 miles per day) with a little jumpstarted Thanksgiving ride to the Grand Canyon from Flagstaff. 160 miles roundtrip in 2 days in the rain. Nothing like the elements to get you back in your cycling shoes. My xrays still show a fracture, but i’m slowly gaining mobility. Glad you’re back in the saddle too Ricardo, and I’ll made sure to watch for surfboards.

By: San Diego Rider

San Diego Rider — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:21:51 +0000

I hope you are doing better! Thank you for the link to the Ca Law about open door. This has become a topic among my buddies and I due to many people flinging their door open on the coast. Many people are parked along the PCH to watch the surf or whatever and forget about the HUNDREDS of cyclists and runners that use the same space. You can yell at them, but I doubt it sinks in.
My neighbor recently had a pickup with longboards hanging out the back,(that it all he remembers) quickly back out of a space in Encinitas in front of him . Since the boards were sticking out so much he was struck in the head which immediatly knocked him out. He woke up in the hospital and was told he was found that way in the middle of the road. A year recovery, and occasional headaches and still no clues as to who did the deed.
Good luck on your PCH trip, but watch the surfboards too.