Opening Vehicle Doors

Question

Roberto asked: Today I got hit by a cab driver opening his door to incoming traffic. I was in between the lanes because there was absolutely no space to ride through on the far right side of the lane. This was before an intersection where there were 3 lanes. The car I crashed into was on the far right lane I was traveling between lanes to the cabs drivers left side while they were waiting for traffic to move so they could continue on. He opened his door without looking back and during the impact I broke one of my fingers trying to evade the door, and on top of that I got a ticket for a cycling infraction. What do you recommend I do? Should I try to take it to court or am I just wasting my time because I was in between lanes? Please let me know what to do, and who I can talk about it.

Answer

You were apparently in violation of statutes that you can see at these posts about overtaking and passing.

http://flbikelaw.org/tag/overtaking-and-passing/

The cab driver was also in violation of this statute.

s. 316.2005 – Opening and Closing Vehicle Doors

No person shall open any door on a motor vehicle unless and until it is reasonably safe to do so and can be done without interfering with the movement of other traffic, nor shall any person leave a door open on the side of a vehicle available to moving traffic for a period of time longer than necessary to load or unload passengers.

We won’t give legal advice or speculate about your chances of success.  Whether or not to pursue it in court is your decision.  These statutes may help you.