So I was riding in the bike lane down Glisan, thinking mostly about lunch when all of a sudden I’m on the pavement, surrounded by Newman’s Own Organic Cinnamon Alphabet cookies. My glasses are on the ground, too – broken – and there’s people running frantically around me. My hands hurt and my legs hurt and apparently I’m crying profusely and it takes me a few long seconds to realize that I have been hit by a car. Well, hit by a car door, which I figure out a few whoozy moments later when the tense middle-aged man who opened the door has to explain to his frightened son what happened.
I always figured that if I got hit by a car I would be the super tough biker who lectures the boneheaded driver about sharing the road, bends her derailer back into shape with her bare hands and then rides off to catch a Sprockette’s show but instead, of course, my body fell to pieces and my brain couldn’t manage much besides producing more and more tears and mumbling “thank you” to the gathering crowd. It turns out that if you’re not knocked unconscious and you’re not super tough, getting hit by a car is mostly just awkward.
Four of us crowded around my bike and tried to figure out why the tire didn’t move. Our hands got covered in bike grease and we all poked things in different directions. My hands kept shaking and everyone looked at me like something was seriously wrong. We all praised helmets. A guy gave me his name and number “in case I needed a witness” and I felt bad gathering evidence against the obviously sheepish middle aged driver. Ever tried making small talk with someone who you might soon be suing? It’s no good.
“Are… you… going to … eat at Pambiche?” I choked out, since we were standing next to the colorful restaurant.
“Yeah,” replied the driver.
“They… have… really great… beans there,” I sniffled. That’s all there was to say.
I could have stayed and sat at their table and drunk some water and maybe they’d buy me a postre, but I was so embarrassed that I just wanted to get away. I rode to CityBikes where a cute mechanic named Jeremy kindly fixed my wheel for $5 while I superglued my glasses back together. My leg started turning to a light purple bruise but mostly I felt bad for for ruining someone’s lunch. I imagined the driver and son sitting in the thick resentful silence of the other diners, who might catch the man’s eye just to shake their heads and mutter, “grumblegrumblecarfreeportlandgrumble.”
UPDATE: Despite all your supportive suggestions to sue the guy and call the cops (and despite a door-shaped bruise on my leg) I’m doing okay and decided to just call the driver up and ask him to replace my glasses. I think that’s the way humans who aren’t assholes should resolve their small problems – talking it out together rather than getting the police or insurance companies to negotiate. Anyway, I called him and he was very apologetic and offered to send me a check. Perfect!
Also, looking back on it, you’re all right – I was definitely in shock. For whatever brain-addled reason, my first goal after getting off the ground was, “I must get to CityBikes! They must fix my bike!” rather than, you know, maybe sitting down? Or drinking some tea? A few hours later I finally got over to Black Sheep Bakery and the kind barista served me a free hot chocolate, asking, “Was this your first time?”
811.490 – Improper opening or leaving open of vehicle door; penalty
(1) A person commits the offense of improper opening or leaving open a vehicle door if the person does any of the following:
(a) Opens any door of a vehicle unless and until it is reasonably safe to do so and it can be done without interference with the movement of traffic, or with pedestrians and bicycles on sidewalks or shoulders.
(b) Leaves a door open on the side of a vehicle available to traffic, or to pedestrians or bicycles on sidewalks or shoulders for a period of time longer than necessary to load or unload passengers.
(2) The offense described in this section, improper opening or leaving open a vehicle door, is a Class D traffic violation.
I’ve been hit an embarrassing number of times (never technically my fault, they were all right-hooks, but I still certainly could’ve avoided some) and I usually feel the same way. With one exception, the drivers have always seemed more shaken up than I have, even though I was in shock most times. Even when I’ve been fine, I’ve never felt like screaming; the driver is clearly feeling terrible enough.
I hope there’s not a next time, but if there is it’s important to remember that you’re probably in shock. Head home or head somewhere safe and nearby. Then relax for a an hour until your brain recovers. You can’t make any smart decisions when you’re in shock, so heading somewhere with friends is probably your best bet. Let them look after you because you’ll be too dumb to do it yourself.
(One time in particular, I picked myself up and kept going to Backspace where I was originally heading. I ended up bleeding all over their counter while trying to pay for my tea. They convinced me to call a friend to pick me up. Thanks, guys!)
And to think: Paul Newman died. You lived. Whew.
Seriously though, scary.
While dooring someone is a crime, in truth it’s the sort of thing that the cyclist tends to be complicit in. Basically, if you can’t ride on the shoulder of the roadway without putting yourself in the way of opening door, you need to simply take the lane (as is your right). You’re entitled to do either, of course, but one is a lot more dangerous than the other, as you’ve found out. Why take the chance?
Regardless, I hope you’re feeling ok tomorrow. Minor bike-wrecks tend to produce way more bruising than you’d expect.
I was walking and was hit by a car. He looked left and I was coming right. All of a sudden I was on his hood and witnessed a black guy turn white. I was fine but he was freeked out..once he realized he ran into me.
When an incident like that happens, the police need to be involved on the scene. You are stunned. Adrenaline prevents you from knowing if or how badly you are hurt.
You give your statement to the police; the driver gives a statement to the police. With any luck, the driver get cited with the statute above and the driver gets convicted.
The conviction makes dealing with the insurance company later much, much easier.
I’ve been doored before too when I was riding in a bike lane. The passenger in a stopped car to my left opened a door into the bike lane.
It happens so fast you don’t even have time to grab a brake let alone swerve out of the way.
Talk to Mark Ginsberg that’s who all my buddies go to.
Ouch. I try to stay away from the right edge of bike lanes and such, but the other day I was nearly doored from the left when a passenger jumped out at a stoplight. It’s dangerous out there. Glad you weren’t hurt worse.
I’m glad that you were wearing a helmet….there are two kinds of helmetless riders in Portland – fucking idiots and organ donors.
Wait – you got hit by some careless, unattentive driver’s car door, and you “felt bad for for ruining someone’s lunch”?!?!?
No, no, no!
People need to pay attention when they open a car door. Dude needs to be taught a lesson for his lack of awareness, not apologized to.
I dig this post, it’s very real, human and honest.
Nice work.
Bp
LostInPdx: I’ll be waiting there when you make a mistake to teach you your lesson.
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone…
There’s an event that every cyclist fears
When riding ‘long ‘side stagnant, steel machines:
A happ’ning that can only end in tears,
And sometimes broken bones; these treacherous scenes
Are caused by you, the careless motorist,
Who, lost in thought, starts opening your door,
Not noting the approaching bicyclist.
As t’ward this sudden obstacle I soar,
I swerve as to avoid an early death
As your metallic monster opes its gill,
Just like a fish about to take a breath,
But risk another passing current, still.
May I request you take the time, at least,
To look when exiting your armored beast.
~Sarah Foote Burghardt
Hearts and flowers, hon. It is no fun.
Glad you’re okay.Don’t let it slow you down.
My people have a saying that roughly translates,
Go fast-Take chances!
Happy healing! I’m still recovering from being hit by a flatbed truck almost a month ago. The ribs are the worst part for sure! But I just got a check to buy a new bike, so I got that going for me.
call the cops. go to hospital. talk to ginsberg.
Accidents happen.Don’t litigate unless absolutely nessecary.
I lost at bike vs. car three weeks ago (driver was at fault) and while I was lying in the street, crying and talking to the paramedics they asked me, “Does anything hurt besides your [broken] leg?” and the only thing I could think to say through the tears was “I’m so embarrassed!”
When I got doored last year I did stand right up and rip the driver a new one, though, so I should get points for that, right?
Glad you and your bike are okay! Getting hit by a car brought out the sensitive in me, too. First, weeping piteously. For me, it wasn’t just the various pain, but rather my brain realizing that shit, I coulda died!
Trying to comfort the driver was a surprising thing I did as well. I actually apologized to him for the hassle of him hitting me with his car.
If your driver is nearly as nice as mine was (and because you were nice to him), you shouldn’t have any problem getting things taken care of if you end up with anything worse than bruising. Again, glad you’re okay, and yay helmets indeed!
Want someone to come along and help you pick out new glasses?
and a new helmet?
Similar things have happened to my social skills after I’ve fallen or been hit. When I got doored I tried to lecture the guy about looking before opening his door, but I just stuttered and couldn’t complete a sentence. Then the time I fell on my own, people crowded around me and asked if I was okay, and all I could say, over and over, was that my glasses weren’t broken (I caught them in the air as I fell!)… all the while my wrist and elbow were broken.
I’m glad you chose not to sue. You are right, the world is ugly enough without us perpetuating the ugliness.
At first I was mystified by your reaction of embarassment– after all, it wasn’t your fault. But then I remembered how I felt when a rototiller landed on my finger and tore the end off of it– I was embarassed too. Do you think we are embarassed because of our human frailty?
Steve K
To Diver: I’m calling total BS on your comment. This was not an ‘ACCIDENT’. This is called a ‘CRASH’. Why? Because is was entirely preventable. If the driver had checked his mirror before opening his door out into a bike lane, then he would not have hit anyone.
Just so we’re clear:
Lightning hits tree and tree falls on you = Accident.
You fail to follow the rules of the road and impact someone’s vehicle and/or their person (especially if causing injury or death) = Crash.
What’s the difference? RESPONSIBILITY.
Err on the side of super-awk and call the cops. I was hit by a car on my bike; I was fine but my bike was not. I chose not to call the cops not only because I exchanged info with the driver and had witnesses, but also because I myself was in shock, felt bad for the driver and just wanted to get out of there. Long story short, the driver gave me bogus insurance information, disconnected his phone line after a few weeks of ducking my calls, let e-mails and certified mail go unresponded, etc. Infuriating, sure, but if it had turned out that in the post-hit haze I had made a wrong call about being uninjured, I would have been totally screwed.
My only truly bad scare from a car (as opposed to a driver just pissing me off), I was waiting to cross NW Broadway at Couch, and a guy who was turning left onto Couch tried to cut across the lane I was in, then slammed on his brakes. I saw him coming straight at me and heard his tires skid on the asphalt. He did stop, a few feet from me, and then slowly went around me. I was so startled I didn’t have time to yell–I remember taking a sharp intake of breath and death-gripping my brakes (as if that would do anything). “Watch it!” I yelled.
I biked the half-block to work, started to tell someone “I almost got hit by a car,” and just burst into tears. I was shaky the rest of the morning.
Hits and near-hits are fucking scary. I’m so sorry. :^(
Kudos to you for how you handled it afterward (in your update). I agree; this is how we should be able to handle things.
Sarah, you sound like a very even tempered person. I congratulate you on handling this traumatic event with some grace and dignity.
I have some advice that would be non-controversial if you weren’t in Portland:
Do NOT ride in the door zone. As “A cat” pointed out, you should claim a space that is outside the door zone. Then you risk of dooring drops to zero.
This is controversial in Portland because in Portland, your government likes to take the most dangerous part of the street — the door zone — and tell you you’re supposed to ride there. But in Idaho, Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio, the state bicycle driver’s manual tells you to ride outside the door zone. That is a FAR better alternative.
Of _course_ people who are opening car doors should look before opening their doors. But that’s not a perfectly reliable solution. People forget. One bicyclist I know was doored by a motorist who was wearing a bike helmet, because the motorist had just gone for a ride. (There goes that pesky “awareness” argument.) Another person I know nearly doored a rider because the rider turned onto the street and came into view during the brief time interval after the motorist looked in his mirror.
When people ride in the door zone, there will always be failures, and there will be injuries and an occasional death. (There were dooring deaths in Illinois and New Jersey earlier this year, and quite a few nationwide over the last decade.) You’ll have a driver to blame, as many posters have noticed, but that’s cold comfort if you’re dead or paralyzed.
Ride outside the door zone and you won’t get doored, and you won’t have (or need) anyone to blame. It’s a MUCH better alternative.
My detractors, and I have more than a few in Portland, will tell you that you have to be a superhuman athlete to ride outside the door zone. Bunk! I’m 56, a wee bid pudgy, and no athlete, and I do it, as do many of my similarly non-athlete riding friends (of both genders).
I’m glad you weren’t seriously injured, so you could continue. Now, you can be far, safer, and you’ll find it less stressful too. Ride outside the door zone.
John Schubert
Coopersburg, Pennsylvania
schubley@aol.com
limeport.org
I agree with riding out of the door zone. It takes too much attention to spot check every car for an exiting driver. Especially on streets lined with parked cars (like Lovejoy, Williams or Glisan). He should replace your cookies as well. Those things are yummy.
This is a good story.
Whenever I have to ride in a bike lane, I keep an eagle eye on every car I pass to make sure noone is sitting on the driver’s side. I bet you will now too. I’ve never even had it happen. It just seems like the most painful, and yes, awkward, thing I could imagine. Frankly, there is no way to trust what a car will do next on the road. We just have to bike like our lives depend on it.
Mr. Schubert would have us believe that riding out of the door zone and riding in a bike lane are two completely discreet actions. In truth, one can very easily accomplish both at the same time.
Be advised that Mr. Schubert has much broader agenda to assert. While tempting, that pungent nectar known as Vehicular Cycling is just old fashioned kool-aid spiked with his preferred form of cultism: everything will be just fine so long as bicyclists behave like car drivers. Too bad bikes and cars are so radically different. Ask the Dutch. Or the Danes. Or the Germans. They have old people on bikes, too, John. Except they aren’t rabid white guys with an axe to grind. They’re grandmas and grandpas and everyday people going where they want to go by bike. And they aren’t trying to behave like a car. They’re riding on facilities designed for bikes.
Well, always a pleasure to see your familiar comments, Mr. Schubert. Tell me, how’s the bicycle mode share out there in Coopersburg these days?
This is a reply to “Words Matter.”
Your first paragraph says one can very easily ride out of the door zone and ride in a bike lane.
That depends on the bike lane design. Many bike lanes I’ve seen all over the country, including ones in Portland, are not clear of the door zone. In addition, one should not attempt to ride a quarter inch outside of the door zone. One should ride clear of the “startle zone.” That makes the environment less stressful for all road users.
Your second and third paragraphs are full of character assassination, guilt by association, putting words in my mouth, and other very questionable debating tactics.
My “broader agenda” is that I want cycling to be safe and enjoyable wherever you go. I believe that most people can learn a few simple things to be optimally safe. The grandmas and grandpas I ride with, and there are many of them, have done so.
You mention the Dutch, the Danes and the Germans. All three of those nations have produced reports showing serious bicycle/car collision problems associated with their special bicycle facilities.
My phone number is 610/282-3085. I request that you call me during eastern business hours. We both might learn something.
I also formally request that you post your real name and contact information, as I did.
John Schubert
Coopersburg, PA
limeport.org
schubley@aol.com