Bike Cop Doored In JP
Written by Boston Biker on Sep 27
Two Boston Police officers on bikes collided in Jamaica Plain after one crashed into an open car door on Centre Street.
The crash happened at around 12:30 p.m. when the first officer hit the door. The other officer, riding behind him, crashed into the first officer.
Both suffered minor injuries.
I wonder if this means they will start a better appreciation among the cops for this sort of danger, and encourage them to ticket motorists more for this behavior. To add insult to injury got him right on a sharrow…pay attention motorists!
PS. It is illegal in MA to open your door if ANY traffic is approaching (car/pedestrian/cyclist). You can be given a ticket right there on the spot…if the cop chooses to.
Add to Reddit. Tags: cops, doored, JP
Posted in news | 10 Comments »
10 Responses
to “Bike Cop Doored In JP”
Sorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.
By Erik on Sep 27, 2011 | Reply
Who took that photo? Did Fox25 have a chopper hovering over JP or something?
By Nick on Sep 27, 2011 | Reply
Presumably they were doored and didn’t just bike into an open door. Why did Fox phrase their headline to suggest this was the officers’ fault? (“Two Boston police officers collide on bikes”, no mention of dooring or 3rd party) Either it’s a very poorly worded headline or the officers weren’t watching where they were going. I suspect the former.
By William Furr on Sep 27, 2011 | Reply
This is a reminder not to place much faith in the placement of sharrows and bike lanes around here. They’re a nice acknowledgement of my right to be on the road, but often they will lead you astray, sometimes right into a car door.
By William Furr on Sep 27, 2011 | Reply
@Nick: I wish I was surprised by the shitty wording in the Fox article, but that’s how newspapers roll. I bet the Herald does even worse when/if they cover it.
By patrick on Sep 27, 2011 | Reply
@Nick, I was about to make the same point. Also, note that they don’t report that the officers were wearing helmets. If they weren’t, it would’ve been reported. In some stories (see: Doug Most) this is used to imply the cyclist’s injuries are their own fault.
By Rebecca on Sep 27, 2011 | Reply
The bike lanes I have seen in Boston are all in the door zone. A cyclist needs to ride 5 feet from a parked car to avoid being doored, not the 3 or 4 feet as is commonly cited. Here’s why – 3 feet for the open car door on a 4-door car, 4 feet on a 2-door car plus 1 foot for half the width of a bicycle handlebar & an additional foot to avoid instinctively swerving should the car door open. That comes to 5 feet clearance from a parked car or 6 feet clearance from a 2-door car. The only safe place to ride in the bike lanes is along the outer white line. Unfortunately that puts a cyclist very close to moving traffic:(
I’m always sorry to hear about anyone being doored. Rather than blaming the car driver I think fault really lies with the placement of the bike lane. To make bike lanes safer a traffic lane or a parking lane would need to be removed. That would take a lot of political courage. If that were done I think we would see a huge increase in cycling from people who are now uncomfortable with riding so close to traffic.
By gpo on Sep 28, 2011 | Reply
Good points, all.
26 inches is not wide enough for a safe bike lane in my opinion.
For me, I always tell my kids to ride in the lane of traffic and that the first priority is to stay far away from the doors. If that places you within a marked lane or sharrow, I tell them, fine. If not, don’t worry about it. But under no circumstances should you simply obey the markings as telling you where to ride. If you do you will get hurt.
By Phil Lindsay on Sep 28, 2011 | Reply
Probably the same fine officers I saw riding up Seaverns Street the wrong way… Feel bad for them though. Wish more cops were out there on bikes for sure as they’re oblivious in their cruisers thanks to the huge screens on their lap tops they have…
By William Furr on Sep 28, 2011 | Reply
Talked to some cops hanging out near that spot on Centre. From the way they described it, it was definitely a dooring and not just carelessness on the part of the cops. Flung open right in front of them with no time to react.
I hope they issued that person a ticket after they had a chance to calm down.
By Lyzard on Sep 28, 2011 | Reply
This is the reason I feel all ‘beat cops’ should have to ride bikes on duty. Not every shift but even 1 out of 10 shifts.
No word if this lady received a ticket?
A big one? A look at her record to see if she has a past offense?
I only say ‘her’ because I see a lady with a purse in the photo.