Doored – Bike Hit a Car Door Causing Serious Injuries

Bicycle Dooring Crashes: When an Open Vehicle Door Injures a Cyclist

A bicycle dooring crash happens when a driver or passenger opens a vehicle door into the path of a person riding a bicycle. The bicyclist may strike the door, be thrown over it, fall into the roadway, or swerve into moving traffic. These crashes can cause traumatic brain injuries, spinal injuries, fractures, internal injuries, permanent disability, and death.

Minnesota law directly addresses this danger. Under Minnesota Statutes section 169.315, no person may open a motor-vehicle door unless it is reasonably safe and can be done without interfering with moving traffic. The person opening the door must look for approaching bicyclists, motorcycles, scooters, pedestrians, and vehicles and wait until the door can be opened safely.

Why Dooring Crashes Cause Severe Injuries

A bicycle and rider may be moving at normal traffic speed when a rigid door suddenly blocks the travel path. The bicycle can stop almost instantly while the rider continues forward. Even when the rider avoids direct contact, an evasive move can lead to a fall or place the rider in the path of another vehicle.

Head injuries require particular attention. A person can sustain a concussion, brain bleed, skull fracture, or other traumatic brain injury without obvious external injury. After any significant head impact, seek emergency medical care and follow the treating clinician’s instructions. Learn more about bicycle crash head injuries.

Bicyclists May Ride Outside the Door Zone

Minnesota does not require a bicyclist to ride dangerously close to parked vehicles. Section 169.222 allows a bicyclist to move left when reasonably necessary to avoid vehicles, fixed objects, surface hazards, narrow lanes, and other unsafe conditions. The safe distance varies with the vehicle, door length, parking position, lane width, traffic, and roadway design; it should not be reduced to one universal number.

Who Is Responsible for a Dooring Crash?

Liability depends on the facts. The investigation should determine who opened the door, what that person could see, whether mirrors and a shoulder check were used, how long the door was open, where the bicyclist was positioned, whether another vehicle affected the rider’s path, and whether road or parking design contributed. A violation of Minnesota’s door-opening rule can be important evidence of negligence, but each claim must be evaluated from the complete evidence.

A police decision not to issue a citation does not prevent a civil claim. Insurance coverage and civil responsibility are determined under different standards. An injured bicyclist or a family should preserve the bicycle, helmet, clothing, vehicle, photographs, video, witness information, and electronic ride data as soon as possible.

Compensation After a Dooring Injury or Death

Depending on the facts, compensation may include medical expenses, wage loss, replacement services, pain, disability, disfigurement, loss of earning capacity, and other harm. When a bicyclist dies, a court-appointed trustee may bring a Minnesota bicycle wrongful-death claim for the surviving spouse and next of kin.