Anti-dooring bill fails in Virgina

[jasflyfisher]

You probably don't need a reminder to be careful out there (regardless of where you live), but just in case...

"It will continue to be acceptable in Virginia, legally if not morally, to open your car door into the path of a bicyclist. After an anti-”dooring” bill by Fairfax Sen. Chap Petersen (D) passed the Virginia Senate, and then a House transportation subcommittee, the House transportation committee voted 7-7 Tuesday on the question of reporting it to the full House. And a tie is as good as a loss in the Virginia General Assembly, so Virginia will remain one of only 10 states in America that do not prohibit “dooring.”"

The full story is on the Washington Post website at http://tinyurl.com/b6pr5zv

Stay safe,
John

[MattTuck]

I'm not a legal scholar, but wouldn't that fall into the category of negligence and/or battery?

Regardless, never ride that close to a line of parked cars. ALWAYS stay away from the door zone, and check those side mirrors while you're riding.

[Gummee]

I'm not a legal scholar, but wouldn't that fall into the category of negligence and/or battery?

Regardless, never ride that close to a line of parked cars. ALWAYS stay away from the door zone, and check those side mirrors while you're riding.

Which leads to the other thread... the one that starts 'why drivers hate cyclists.'

M

[bobswire]

Which leads to the other thread... the one that starts 'why drivers hate cyclists.'

M

Yep, darned if U do, darned if U don't.

[nebraskacycling]

This is terrible. I just saw this on the local google group. At least someone tried to do something useful in the Senate though :/

[Tony T]

I'm not a legal scholar, but wouldn't that fall into the category of negligence and/or battery?

It think that it would fall into the category of "accident".

Cyclists also sought the law so that insurance companies could not reject their medical claims by saying that no fault had been assessed by police after a bike-vs.-car-door accident.

[slidey]

The whole thing is farcical...speaking of which, who's that at the door? (http://youtu.be/qC8Enmrm2B8)

[djg]

I'm not a legal scholar, but wouldn't that fall into the category of negligence and/or battery?

Regardless, never ride that close to a line of parked cars. ALWAYS stay away from the door zone, and check those side mirrors while you're riding.

Sure, it could. People are doing stuff. Something bad happens and somebody gets injured. The injured party then gets to consider bringing a claim under Virginia civil law if he or she thinks (can argue, or can hire/appoint somebody to argue) that the other guy did something that Virginia's version of the common law considers culpable. Maybe that's being "negligent" with your car (failing to take reasonable care . . . reasonable under the circumstances . . . failing to take the level of precaution that a typical or normal person would take in that type of activity or circumstance). Nobody has to prove a code violation (he was ticketed or arrested for violating the Commonwealth's "anti-dooring" law) for the civil case to go forward. On the other hand, having such a thing (a code violation, a documented violation of the State's civil or criminal code) might do pretty nicely to shift the burden of proof onto the driver. Bike guy says car guy didn't take reasonable care under the circumstances because blah, blah, blah; car guy says he did, because blah, blah, blah, plus, the bike guy was riding crazy, because blah, blah, blah so it was his fault; bike guy says, "oh yeah, what about the citation issued by the Virginia State Police saying that you broke the law, Mr. "took reasonable care under the circumstances"?

[zuzu27]

I guess killing this thing shouldn't be a surprise in VA. My old state sure is conservative.

[Tony T]

I'm not sure if conservative is the word I'd use:

"...the House transportation committee voted 7-7"
"But seven members of the transportation committee didn’t show up for the vote..."

[zennmotion]

I'm not sure if conservative is the word I'd use:

"...the House transportation committee voted 7-7"
"But seven members of the transportation committee didn’t show up for the vote..."

Yes, conservative fits the description. I called the bill's sponsor this morning to thank him for trying and encourage him to keep pushing next year. The staffer who spoke to me said that at least in a couple of cases the non-voters "unavailable" status was no accident and it was part of some payback for the past few contentious weeks. It seems few issues are really debated on the merits anymore, especially at the Virginia legislature zoo, it's a pissing contest.

[zennmotion]

I'm not a legal scholar, but wouldn't that fall into the category of negligence and/or battery?

Regardless, never ride that close to a line of parked cars. ALWAYS stay away from the door zone, and check those side mirrors while you're riding.


Not a legal scholar, but you're a cyclist, and surely you've had or at least can imagine a close call with a dooring- even staying out of the door zone (which is not always an option). Maybe you just don't ride or commute on congested N. Virginia streets, but if you did my daily commute once or twice I think the problem would be more obvious. In VA, we have no possibility of making an insurance claim against a driver for a dooring accident, because there is no rule on the books. I made a round of calls today to thank or vent about this. I had a civil but ultimately frustrating conversation with one of the key no voters mentioned in the article (the guy who worried about his 10 year old getting ticketed). The guy (Scott Garrett) is a Trauma Surgeon- not a typical Virginia mouth breather, a self described "safety advocate". But his district (Lynchburg) is mostly rural. He just didn't believe that dooring accidents ever happen. He clearly had no experience or sense of reality from a commuter or urban biker perspective- just didn't or couldn't get it. He needed to hear from cyclists, especially those who've had a dooring accident. He needed evidence that there is a problem. Ideally, he needed numbers and stats, although conceded my point about a catch-22 (cops don't ticket because no rule, so therefore no stats).

I think part of the problem is us- cyclists. Because we didn't speak up, make the right kind of noise to the right people at the right time. Venting your spleen in the comments section of an article doesn't do it. Can I please please please urge all of you to support cycling advocacy in some way? At least join your local and/or state advocacy group with a membership. Some are better than others, do your homework first. WABA in the DC area is awesome, and there are a couple of others in the area as well. If nothing else, just join and be counted. Bonus points for writing a quick Email once or twice or making a call. It can make a difference especially at the state and local level. This guy I talked to today could have voted the other way if he had just heard from a couple of us before the vote- these were his words to me. And VA would now be on the way to a dooring law. What a shame, my fault as much as anybody, I (and my VA velo sisters and bros) weren't paying attention until it was too late. Missed opportunity. Damn!