Taxi doorings can happen to anyone on a bike, including yours truly. About 20 years ago I was cycling southeast on Lincoln toward Fullerton, pulling up to the late, great rock club Lounge Ax for a Jesus Lizard show. A cabbie came to a sudden stop in front of me and his passenger popped open the rear right door in my path, sending me flying onto the pavement. Unbelievably, I was unhurt, but my bent front wheel resembled a Pringles potato chip. The taxi driver sped away, and when I asked the passenger who doored me for $20 to cover repairs, he sneered and disappeared into a sports bar.
Local design firm Minimal studios created the decals after employee Neill Townsend, 32, was fatally struck in 2012 by a semitruck driver when Townsend swerved on his bike to avoid an open car door near Walter Payton High School. Four years earlier 22-year-old art director Clinton Miceli had been killed in a similar incident three blocks southeast on the 900 block of North LaSalle. An SUV driver opened a door in the cyclist’s path, and he was thrown into the street and run over by another motorist.
Indeed, this seems to be a widespread phenomenon. Fifteen cyclists responded to my recent query on Facebook, reporting that they’d sustained minor-to-moderate injuries while biking after a cabdriver discharged a customer somewhere other than the curb. Several of the crashes occurred on Milwaukee south of North Avenue in Wicker Park, a narrow, congested stretch where it’s common for taxi drivers who are stuck in traffic to drop off passengers, blocking the bike zone.
Dave Kreisman, spokesman for the Chicago-based union Cab Drivers United, which represents several hundred Chicago cabbies, told me he didn’t believe that was the case. “My understanding is that they changed these rules to streamline them and get rid of micromanaging.”
In the meantime, when you’re a passenger in a cab or ride-share vehicle, politely insist that your driver pull up to the curb to let you off and, as the sticker says, look before you open the door. Someone’s life could depend on it. v
