Doored!

Well, it finally happened. I got doored today down in Fisherman's Wharf while riding home. I was riding along Beach St. towards the bridge. As I got to Hyde, there was a line of cars waiting at the light, one of which was signaling a left turn. This street has one lane in each direction, so I started riding along the right side of the stopped cars in the (fairly decent sized) gap between the passenger side of the cars and the edge of the roadway. There is no sidewalk here, just an iron railing which guards a 6 foot drop down to a sunken walkway behind a commercial building. So basically there is no place for a car to pull over, no place for a pedestrian to walk here, nor is there any spot for a passenger to exit a stopped car.

Of course this did not stop the guy who decided at the very moment I was riding past, to throw open the back door of the taxicab (4 back from the stoplight, in the middle of the lane) and T-bone me directly on the left arm, leg and handlebar. I bounced off, careened into the iron railing and snapped out of my pedals as I fell to the ground. After some hyperventilating and adreneline-influenced shouting and finger pointing, I calmed down to make sure I wasn't injured (and more importantly, that my bike wasn't injured). We weren't.

So the taxi rode off. The passenger walked off, and I nursed my bruises all the way home. Incidentally, I saw the guy cross the street and walk into the Buena Vista, presumably for a St. Patrick's Day whiskey. Was probably drunk when he flung the door open on me.

I played over in my head whose fault this accident was. In some ways we were probably all a little bit negligent here -- the passenger for not looking to make sure the roadway was clear before opening the door, the driver for letting the guy out in the middle of the goddamn street, and me for not demonstrating the proper respect anytime you ride your bike in proximity to a taxi cab -- especially in a touristy part of town. I think I had the legal right to ride alongside the cars (California law seems to allow multiple "vehicles" per lane, and requires bikes to ride on the right), but even if that's true there's a big difference between being "right" legally and being "wrong" based on the damage a car door can do to you.

Be careful out there. I got lucky this time.