How can dooring lead to serious injury?

Dooring is a term that many cyclists know. This situation can end up causing a lot of potential damage to the victims who suffer through it.

What is dooring, exactly? And how can this act lead to a potentially serious injury?

What causes dooring?

We Love Cycling discusses the dangers associated with dooring. First and foremost: what is dooring? Dooring happens when a parked car opens its door into the path of a bicyclist.

Two primary reasons lead to this. First, a cyclist may ride too close to the cars. Generally, a cyclist should keep the distance of a door’s span between his or herself and any parked cars on the road as a precautionary measure, as it is impossible to guess when one may open its doors.

Drivers also tend to park too close to the bike lane. On top of that, many do not check properly before opening their doors, leading to missing an approaching cyclist.

Serious injuries due to dooring

Unfortunately, dooring can and often does lead to dangerous situations and serious injury. Victims can propel over the top of a car door, leading to crash injuries with the pavement ahead. They may even end up toppling into oncoming traffic, who might not have the time or space to brake before hitting the cyclist.

Dooring itself can also lead to broken bones and bruising, or even brain injuries in some cases. Whiplash also occurs often, which can decrease the quality of a sufferer’s life due to nerve damage, chronic headaches and more.

Thus, dooring is an avoidable issue with serious consequences and steps should happen to reduce its occurrence.