Dooring Accidents

What is a Dooring Accident?

Dooring or Car-Dooring accidents happen when a driver or passenger suddenly opens a car door directly in front of a passing motorcycle, bicycle, or another car, causing you to be “doored.”

In New York, the driver or passenger who opens the car door is almost always 100% at fault (see below) for causing a dooring accident, but you’ll need an experienced motorcycle lawyer in New York to prove it.

Where Do Dooring Accidents Happen?

Dooring accidents most often happen in New York City, but we have also represented motorcyclists and bicyclists on Long Island and upstate New York.

Passengers are usually the ones who cause dooring accidents in New York City, while drivers are the ones who cause dooring accidents on Long Island.

In New York City, taxis and car service cars such as black cars, Uber, and Lyft cars are everywhere, picking up and dropping off passengers. Passengers frequently open the car door without looking.

On Long Island and the suburbs, dooring accidents usually happen when a driver is getting out of a parked car that is parked on a street with a lot of other parked cars.

New York City’s TV commercial (The New York Twist) teaches people how to avoid causing motorcycle and bicycle accidents with severe injury when opening a car door from the back seat to get out of a car or taxi (drivers should also be careful when getting out of a car.)

Why Do Dooring Accidents Happen More Often With Bicycles and Motorcycles?

When drivers and passengers open a car door, they look for other cars, probably because they’re worried about getting injured, but drivers and passengers don’t look for bicycles and motorcycles, so dooring accidents happen more frequently with bicycles and motorcycles.

What Kind of Lawyer Do I Need for a Dooring Accident in New York?

People injured in a dooring accident are usually riding a bicycle or motorcycle, although it occasionally happens with another car. If you’re injured in a motorcycle accident caused by dooring, you should hire a motorcycle accident lawyer.

If you’re injured in a bicycle accident caused by dooring, you should hire a motorcycle accident lawyer or a bicycle accident lawyer.

Motorcycle accident lawyers are experienced with dooring accident cases, and because motorcycle accidents in New York involve different laws than car accidents or bicycle accidents, you should hire an experienced motorcycle accident lawyer in New York.

We saved several clients from losing their settlement money to medical insurance liens because their previous personal injury lawyer wasn’t knowledgeable about special laws regarding medical liens in motorcycle accidents.

While bicycle accident lawyers are usually not highly experienced with motorcycle accidents, we are also experienced with bicycle accidents. We are highly experienced motorcycle accident lawyers and bicycle accident lawyers in New York.

Do Dooring Accidents Cause More Severe Injuries?

Dooring accidents often cause more serious injuries than other types of accidents involving bicycles and motorcycles because of three reasons:

1.  When a bicycle or motorcycle runs into a car door, the bicycle or motorcycle hits a stationary object.
2. The bicyclist or motorcyclist hits a car door with an irregular-shaped edge that causes more severe injury than the flat or blunt side of a car.
3. The bicyclist or motorcyclist is often hit by another car or truck after being thrown into the roadway, causing additional and even more severe injuries.

How Do Dooring Accidents Happen?

A dooring accident happens when without looking for oncoming traffic:

• A Driver or passenger in a parked car, van, or truck opens a door;
• A Taxi or car stops near the curb to drop off a passenger, but the passenger opens a door on the roadway side; or
• A Taxi or car stops in the middle of the street or too far from the curb to let a passenger out.

Can You Get Money if You Were Doored on the Right Side of a Car?

If you were passing a car on the right side and got doored, we will be able to get you money from a personal injury settlement if we can prove that the driver or passenger violated the law. Even if you were negligent at all for passing on the right, the driver, owner, and passenger will be responsible for causing your injury.

We represented an injured motorcyclist in the Bronx who was doored when he passed a car on the right side of the car, and a passenger opened a door in front of the motorcycle. Although he passed the car on the right, the car stopped in the middle of the street to let a passenger out.

The car was rented from Enterprise and was insured for $100,000. The case was settled for the entire $100,000 insurance policy.

Does It Matter if I Hit the Car Door or if the Car Door Hit Me First?

No. When determining who is at fault in a dooring accident, it makes no difference who struck who first. For more information about why it makes no difference, see Does It Matter Who Hit Who First In an Accident?

Who Is at Fault In Causing Dooring Accidents?

The driver and/or passenger of the car opening the door is almost always 100% at fault for causing a dooring accident because of a violation of NYS Vehicle & Traffic Law § 1214.

NYS Vehicle & Traffic Law § 1214 Opening and closing vehicle doors, states:

“No person shall open the door of a motor vehicle on the side available to moving traffic unless and until it is reasonably safe to do so, and can be done without interfering with the movement of other traffic…”

In Williams v Persaud, 19 A.D.3d 686, 798 N.Y.S.2d 495, 2005 N.Y. Slip Op. 05588, The plaintiff was injured when she opened the door of her parked car and struck an oncoming car in the right lane. The Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court found that the driver of the parked car violated New York State Vehicle & Traffic Law § 1214 by opening the door on the side adjacent to traffic when it was not reasonably safe to do so. The driver of the oncoming car was not liable for the injuries to the driver of the parked car.

Although New York law prohibits opening the door on the side available to moving traffic and does not say anything about opening the door on the opposite side where people may be walking, the fault for the accident will still usually be with the person opening the car door.

We settled a case for the entire insurance policy for someone who broke her nose when she walked into a car door that was opened on the passenger side of the car.

Taxis, Uber, Lyft, and Black Cars Often Cause Dooring Accidents in New York City

According to the Gotham Gazette, there were 28 bicyclist deaths in New York City in 2019, and at least three (11%) of the deaths were killed because of dooring accidents.

Unfortunately, the article doesn’t indicate how many of these dooring accidents were caused by taxis.

NYC Taxi Rules To Prevent Dooring Accidents

New York City Title 34, Department of Transportation, Chapter 4, Traffic Rules, (page 50) Section 4-11 (c) Pickup and discharge of passengers by taxis, commuter vans, and for-hire vehicles states in part:

Taxis, commuter vans, and for-hire vehicles, while engaged in picking up or discharging passengers must be within 12 inches of the curb and parallel thereto, but may stop or stand to pick up or discharge passengers alongside a vehicle parked at the curb only if there is no unoccupied curb space available within 100 feet of the pickup or discharge location; however, picking up or discharging passengers shall not be made:

(1) Within a pedestrian crosswalk.
(2) Within an intersection…
(3) Alongside or opposite any street excavation when stopping to pick up or discharge
passengers [and] obstructs traffic.
(4) Under such conditions as to obstruct the movement of traffic and in no instance so as to leave fewer than 10 feet available for the free movement of vehicular traffic.
(5) Where stopping is prohibited.
(6) Within a bicycle lane.
(7) Within horse-drawn carriage boarding areas.

Dooring accidents involving a taxi are usually the result of a violation of this rule.

NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission § 54-13 requires that Taxicab Drivers (and any authorized Driver of a Street Hail Livery) must comply with all applicable traffic laws, rules, and regulations. [such as NYC Section 4-11 (c)]

Dooring Accidents Cause More Serious Injuries

Dooring accidents always cause severe injuries to motorcyclists because even when traveling at a low speed, the weight and mass of the motorcycle cause substantial forward momentum and impact with the door. Additionally, the motorcyclist may be thrown into traffic and hit by an oncoming car.

Although bicycles have far less mass, dooring bicycle accidents with severe injuries are common. In New York City, between 1996 and 2005, 3% of bicyclist fatalities were from impacting an open door or swerving to avoid a door.

What Happens in a Dooring Accident

This video shows what happens when a bicycle is doored and why a dooring accident can cause severe injuries to a bicyclist. The video also applies to a motorcycle that is doored.

Do I Need a Dooring Accident Lawyer?

If you were not injured in a dooring accident, you do not need a Dooring Accident Lawyer. If you were injured in a dooring accident, you will need a dooring accident lawyer in New York.

There really is no such thing as a Dooring Accident Lawyer, but motorcycle accident lawyers are most familiar with litigating dooring accident lawsuits because injuries are not usually caused in a dooring accident between two cars but are always caused in a dooring motorcycle accident.

Why do you need a dooring accident lawyer? First, the liability or who is at fault for a dooring accident is often misunderstood by insurance claim representatives.

Second, Injuries are almost always caused in dooring accidents involving a motorcycle or bicycle that hits a car door that was suddenly opened in front of them.

Articles Related to Dooring Accidents

Double-Parked Cars and Trucks That Cause Motorcycle Accidents

When Taxis Cause Motorcycle Accidents

Bicycle accidents are different than motorcycle accidents in New York

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