Killed by a car door.

[JTE83]

ABC7 Chicago News -

A bicyclist injured when a car door opened in front of him on Monday evening has died. Clinton Miceli, 22, of Bloomington, was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Monday night. Police say Miceli was heading north in the 900-block of North LaSalle Drive when a driver opened a car door. Miceli crashed into it and was thrown from his bike. He was struck by a passing vehicle.

The motorist who opened the door was cited for opening a door in traffic, according to Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli. The other driver was not cited.

The accident is under investigation.

- Opening car doors by idiots happen a lot in Chicago. I got doored twice, one floored me.

 

[Yojimbo_]

Unfortunately, the same thing happened here in Toronto about 3 weeks ago. The cyclist was 57.

The police were calling it an accident, and weren't going to cite the driver who opened the door. There was quite an outrage over that, but I'm not sure if the door opener was eventually charged. The other driver (in a cube van) was not charged.

Very sad, and so avoidable.

 

[JTE83]

That's why in Chicago I bike clear of doors, if I don't I go less than 17.5 mph.

 

[Crankyfeet]

I'm sorry JTE83... after your coming out... I am struggling to respond seriously without thinking of a dozen or so smartass one liners...


Even with something as tragic as this.


I don't know about everyone else... but I always try (but don't always succeed) to keep as far away from parked cars when passing as I can... and I try to look inside the car to see if anyone is occupying it when it seems risky (in a tight laneway). One danger I think is swerving off line behind parked cars towards the kerb when they have gaps between them. This puts you in a blindspot if anyone is looking in their sideview mirror before opening their car door.