Accident club...

[spokewench]

I'm glad you are okay. This is a lesson on cycling however. I know this is not always possible but whenever I am in a situation where there are a bunch of cars parked alongsidethe road, I take the lane, i.e. ride in the middle of lane showing that if you want by me, a car will have to pass me. In most states, the rule is that you ride to the farthest right of the road as practicable. The as practicable is the key. If there is debris in the road, you can move out into the lane, it if it unsafe to ride near parked cars because they may door you like you had happen, you ride out in the lane and show that you are aggressively taking the lane!

Yes, the driver should look before they exit their cars, but they hardly ever do. so it is up to us to keep ourselves safe on the bike.

[miffy'sFuji]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all of your kind words. I'm a little sore this morning, but my incident was nothing like a few of the accidents I've read about on the boards.

Fact of the matter was, I was in the middle of the lane. However, in a lot of the city of SF, many of the streets are narrow and there isn't a lot of extra room. I think his door caught me by only 1/8 -1/4 inch. He opened it very fast and all of the way at once. He said afterwards that he didn't look, he had been sitting in his car listening to music. For a car to make it around his fully opened door, they would need to cross about half of their vehicle over the yellow line and into oncoming traffic.

I didn't realize at first that my bike is unrideable, so I went back later and was able to get his insurance information. We'll see what happens.

[Cassandra_Cain]

Oh I'm sorry to hear about the accident

Then, at least you being able to write about it on the forum is positive. Better that than being hospitalized.

San Francisco is a tough place to ride. Even being in the lane as you were, the car door swung soooo far open - hard to avoid I bet.

I was in an accident 2 months ago, it has had a subtle but definite effect on my riding. You could say it has upped my level of vigilance around cars enormously.

Hope you (and the bike) get better soon and out riding again