‘Dooring’ incidents affecting cyclists on the rise, according to advocacy group

Cycle Toronto says the crashes, caused when a driver opens a car door into the path of a cyclist, increased 58.3 per cent between 2014 and 2016.

Thestar.com
March 8, 2017
By Ben Spurr

Urban cyclists live in constant fear of it: the click of a car door opening just as they ride by, followed by an impact that sends them hurtling off their bike and into the street.

According to statistics obtained by bike advocacy group Cycle Toronto, incidents of “dooring” are on the rise.

Data provided to the group by the Toronto police show that last year there were 209 collisions caused by dooring.

(“Dooring” is a term used to describe an accident in which an occupant of a parked vehicle opens his or her door and hits a passing cyclist.)

Last year’s number of doorings was up from 175 incidents in 2015, and 132 the year before that.

Between 2014 and 2016, there was a 58.3-per-cent increase in the number of doorings.

“These are life-changing collisions that can result in serious injury or death,” said Jared Kolb, executive director of Cycle Toronto.

He speculated that dooring is happening more often, in part, because more people are choosing to ride a bike for their everyday trips.

But, he argues, “the pace of the rollout of cycling infrastructure in Toronto hasn’t kept up with demand.”

“We still don’t have a downtown minimum grid, let alone a city-wide minimum grid of protected bike lanes ... We have to really double down and invest in cycling with protected bike lanes in the downtown core,” he said.

Kolb added that, because the data only capture incidents reported by the police, the figures “should be considered a minimum.

“Likely the real number is much more than that.”

Cycle Toronto is making several recommendations to the city and provincial government to cut down on dooring. These include installing separated bike lanes on major streets such as Bloor St. and Yonge St., and giving consideration to removing on-street parking on roads with streetcar tracks to make room for bike infrastructure.

The group is asking the city to consider banning taxi and ride-share pickup and drop-off at busy areas. It’s also asking it to include dooring counter-measures in the official road safety plan, and to launch an education campaign to get drivers to open their doors using their right hand, a manoeuvre known as the “Dutch reach.” Advocates say this move forces drivers to look behind them for approaching bicycles before they exit their cars.

To improve tracking of the incidents, Cycle Toronto wants the province to put dooring back into official motor vehicle accident reports; the category was removed from the reporting form in 2011, the group says.

Councillor Jaye Robinson, who is chair of the public works committee and the city’s point person on the road safety plan, said the dooring numbers are “alarming.”

But she took issue with Cycle Toronto’s assertion that the city isn’t addressing the problem. She said that the road safety plan approved last July includes several measures to protect cyclists, including building separated bike lanes. She pointed out that, last June, council passed a $153.5-million, 10-year cycling plan that would add more than 400 km of new bike infrastructure.

Councillor Robinson (Ward 25, Don Valley West) said that there is also information on the city’s website and its cycling handbook on how to prevent dooring, and pledged that the issue would also be addressed in an upcoming safety education campaign planned for later this year.

“I think cyclists live in fear of being doored. So I take this information very seriously,” Robinson said.

The road safety plan “does address cycling safety and dooring .... This is top of mind for both staff and me.”

While dooring can be hazardous for cyclists, it can cost drivers; in 2015, the province increased the penalty for dooring to a fine of $365, and three demerit points.

According to the police, there were 1,070 collisions involving cyclists last year.

Cycle Toronto said that number doesn’t include dooring incidents. If they are included, the number of reported bike crashes in 2016 was 1,279, the group says.