This door zone thing...

[Red Light]

I cycle on a road with a whole series of central island pinch points. I find what works is not to move from secondary to primary too soon before the pinch point - I tend to drift slowly outwards into primary position 10yds or so before the pinch point but then as soon as I am through make a very deliberate swerve back into secondary to indicate why I was doing it. You will always get a few numpties but the majority are fine. If you are worried about holding people up then 20 yds at 30mph takes ~1.3s and at 10mph 4.0s. So do you consider your safety worth more than delaying them all of 3 seconds in their journey?

 

[akb]

The best way to think about it is this - Prioritise your way of thinking like this:

Your own safety
Your own convenience
Car driver safety
Car driver convenience

End of the day, they're in a big metal box weighing upwards of a tonne, you're on a 10-15kg bit of metal with a squishy thing riding it. If they can't be bothered to wait for a few seconds while you slow them down so you don't end up dead, then bollocks to them.

Safety, 100% agreed on; Convenience, not so much. The way I see it, if i can move over SAFELY to allow cars to pass then i will do. Especially at rush hour, when drivers are not driving at their safest while they rush to work. The drivers of the forum have all been there. Saves hassle for both the driver and myself to just move over and let cars pass if safe to do so.

 

[Tommi]

Quite:

"A recent study in Helsinki showed that it is safer to cycle on streets amongst cars than on our two-way cycle paths along streets. It is hard to imagine that our present two-way cycling network could be rebuilt. But in those countries and cities which are just beginning to build their cycling facilities, two-way cycle paths should be avoided in urban street networks."
The risks of cycling
Dr Eero Pasanen
Helsinki City Planning Department
Traffic Planning Division

​

​

Ah, the debunked Helsinki report trying to make a comeback again.

 

[betty swollocks]

It is difficult and sometimes intimidating, asserting yourself at dangerous pinch points.
Get yourself an amusing cycling top.
This shows the impatient motorists that you're a human being with a sense of humour and not merely an impediment.

 

[Wankelschrauben]

 

[Norm]

I am not fast, I struggle to even be medium sometimes, but I've never had a problem.

I check before pulling out and frequently glance behind when in primary, pulling over and, depending on circumstances, stopping to let others past and it seems to work.

Assertive is not the same as aggressive.

 

[Origamist]

Generally speaking, the door zone is not something that is widely understood and many some road users are not sympathetic to cyclists who avoid it.

There are many different scenarios that potentially put you into conflict with car doors and other road users. Pulling out to pass a single, stationary car with 5ft of clearance is unlikely to engender too much hostility from following traffic, pretty much regardless of your speed (although last sec swerves are inadvisable). Cycling 4-5ft out along a road with on-street parking on both sides (with two way traffic but no central lane marking) for 300m at 12-13mph will be far more likely to garner beeps, shouts, tailgating etc. If you understandably feel intimidated, you might want to indicate, check the parked vehicles as best you can for occupants/signs of movement and stop next to a parked car. In the same situation, if a car heads towards you, you will need to enter the door zone to stop or slow dramatically, if there is not a convenient gap to pull into. Filtering through traffic that has come to a standstill might put you in the door zone if traffic is dense in both directions – in such situations you need to be moving very slowly in order avoid or mitigate the consequences of a car door being opened in front of you, or just hang back depending on the length of the queue. Same direction lane splitting gives you twice the opportunity to get hit by a car door etc etc etc

 

[upsidedown]

I go past a train station every night where there's a layby with cars waiting to pick passengers up. It's quite a quick road but i make quite an exaggerated pull-out as i get to it, then make a point of watching the doors, then pull straight in after; it's pretty clear to following cars what i'm doing.

At the other end of the commute there's a very congested uphill dooring zone. I can normally see in all of the windows and i'm going slowly uphill so i can anticipate and stop if a door opens.
I would never (i hope) go at speed through the door zone, if i can't get out of it i go slowly enough that there will be no damage if it happens.

 

[wiggydiggy]

..............make a very deliberate swerve back into secondary to indicate why I was doing it..............

This.

I do that too.

 

[BentMikey]

The best way to think about it is this - Prioritise your way of thinking like this:

Your own safety
Your own convenience
Car driver safety
Car driver convenience

End of the day, they're in a big metal box weighing upwards of a tonne, you're on a 10-15kg bit of metal with a squishy thing riding it. If they can't be bothered to wait for a few seconds while you slow them down so you don't end up dead, then bollocks to them.

Almost right - the correct order is:
My safety
Your safety
My convenience
Your convenience

 

[John90]

Useful comments on here. It's more complicated than just asserting the right to primary position. One point the OP made that rang true was concerning those roads where you can take primary but cars can still overtake you - just - when the oncoming lane is clear. Drivers often give you inches at best on those overtakes.

 

[Hip Priest]

I ride past a busy door zone everyday. It's the road that goes past the RVI in Newcastle if anyone knows it. My tactic is:

1) Take primary
2) Keep a decent pace (I can often stay with the car in front, depending on traffic)
3) Give a thumbs up to any driver who waits patiently behind until the door zone ends or a safe passing opportunity presents itself.

 

[ianrauk]

I ride past a busy door zone everyday. It's the road that goes past the RVI in Newcastle if anyone knows it. My tactic is:

1) Take primary
2) Keep a decent pace (I can often stay with the car in front, depending on traffic)
3) Give a thumbs up to any driver who waits patiently behind until the door zone ends or a safe passing opportunity presents itself.

This goes a long way I feel.

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

I mentioned this in another thread recently, but I think it is worth mentioning again here. If you are riding just outside the door opening zone, then you are in secondary position. Primary position is the centre of the main traffic flow, so if the main traffic flow is passing parked cars and leaving one car door's width, then primary position will be about 2.5 to 3 metres away from the parked cars.

It is sometimes important to realize this if you want to avoid idiots squeezing through when you are passing parked cars. I illustrated that in this blog post.

It can be difficult to do, and you can't eliminate every single problem with impatient drivers, but the key is to plan well in advance, check back and if possible make eye contact with any following drivers (though it's not alwasy possible), signal clearly, do not make sudden movements, and keep looking back. Then thank the patient driver with a thumbs-up.

 

[Hip Priest]

I mentioned this in another thread recently, but I think it is worth mentioning again here. If you are riding just outside the door opening zone, then you are in secondary position. Primary position is the centre of the main traffic flow, so if the main traffic flow is passing parked cars and leaving one car door's width, then primary position will be about 2.5 to 3 metres away from the parked cars.

Good point - I'd not thought of it like that.