News / Transport
Police to act on car doors injuring cyclists
Police in Bristol have promised to help reduce incidents of injuries to cyclists resulting from motorists opening car doors into cycle lanes.
Superintendent Richard Corrigan of the Avon and Somerset Police has said they are aware of the growing issue “and have discussed it with a number of cycling groups.”
His comments followed statistics released by the Bristol Cycling Campaign showing 128 incidents involving injury last year, with only nine prosecutions.
Corrigan encouraged cyclists to report incidents, adding that police are “committed to pursuing prosecutions for road traffic incidents where injury has been caused wherever possible”.
The Bristol Cycling Campaign has reported that up to 20 per cent of road traffic accidents involving injury to cyclists are a result of motorists opening car doors into the path of a cyclist.
Over the past five years, 17 Bristol cyclists have been hospitalized as a result. Drivers leaving parked cars are not the only issue, however, as incidents can involve passenger doors opening in stationary traffic.
Motorists are committing an offence under section 42 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 in either situation.
The Highway Code states: “You must ensure you do not hit anyone when you open your door. Check for cyclists and other traffic.”
Some cycling groups recommend that cyclists keep “a door and a bit” away from parked cars to be safe.
Some Bristol cyclists have responded to the statistics, singling out St Stephen’s Street, a one-way road for cars but also with a cycle lane heading the opposite direction, as a “lethal” route.
Corrigan pointed cyclists to a new part of the Avon and Somerset Police website where near misses can be reported.
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