Hello…
I just got home from the hospital where i was treated for a fractured wrist and some severe bruising and road rash. I was riding along college avenue approaching the bart station when a woman opened her car door I was stuck squeezed in between the parked cars and motorists stopped at a red light and without adequate time to break I did what would soon learn too many bikers do too often I slammed into her door and flew over the top of it breaking my wrist and doing some serious damage to my body in the meantime. Instead of immediately getting up and putting the person responsible for my pain in equal misery I laid down and allowed myself to be comforted by Liz an angel that made the shock go away and the pain subside she helped me see through the red and calmly wait for emergency services. While laying on the ground I heard the woman responsible for my accident say it wasn’t her fault that it wasn’t her door I hit but a car stopped in the roadway she changed her tune after the officer pointed out the dents and scratches on her vehicle that my new bike caused. I laughed and thought I had nothing to worry about. She was wrong I had the right of way her insurance company or a judge would see to it that my medical bills bike repair costs and personal damages would be covered under the law. After coming home and doing some extensive research online I found that there is no specific legislation that protects us if we are “doored” by a motorist. Let’s get this going let’s get a petition and make a law that protects us from people being careless and putting our lives at risk. The what-if game isn’t even far fetched here because people have hit doors been flipped into oncoming traffic and then run over. Hopefully the cop trying to ticket me for riding in the middle of the lane around Lake Merritt or down busy streets such as Telegraph and College will understand.