A female cyclist was knocked to the ground by the passenger of a taxi as he opened his door and refused responsibility for his actions. Courtesy: Seven News
CYCLING advocates are blaming taxi drivers for causing “dooring” incidents in Melbourne’s CBD after a woman was knocked off her bike in Collins St.
But Victoria’s taxi industry body says cab drivers are not any more at fault than other drivers when it came to collisions with bike riders.
Police are investigating after a cyclist was abused by a group of men who opened a taxi door in her path on Monday, causing her to crash.
The incident was caught by a camera mounted on her handlebars.
Footage shows her riding past several cars before the taxi door is flung open and she crashes heavily into it and falls to the ground.
Video still of ‘dooring’ incident in Collins St, Melbourne.
Police spokeswoman Leading Sen-Constable Julie-Anne Newman said a 65-year-old man from Brighton has come forward to police after seeing the footage on the news.
He is believed to be the man in the video, shown leaving the taxi through the passenger-side rear door and dooring the cyclist, but police would not confirm this.
The City of Melbourne said there was no dedicated bike lane on the part of Collins St where the crash occurred, only line marking to encourage drivers to stay to the right of cyclists.
But Bicycle Network of Victoria spokesman Garry Brennan said the fact there was no bike lane made no difference in the incident, adding the taxi was at fault for not pulling in close enough to the kerb.
“Collins St (has) a higher rate of dooring because there are so many taxis dropping passengers off … when they have not pulled up into a kerb,” he said.
A shot from the camera on the cyclist’s handlebars.
“A passenger should not get out of a vehicle unless it is parked.”
Mr Brennan said taxi drivers had “been a problem” for cyclists in Melbourne for a number of years because they were not “properly trained” due to a high turnover rate in the job.
He said cyclists could reduce the risk of hitting a car door by riding at slow enough speed that they would be able to stop should a door swing open.
Separated bike lanes and wider bike lanes could help reduce dooring incidents, Mr Brennan said.
“We need more bikes on the road in Melbourne, not less, because that lessens congestion and makes life easier for those who must drive,” he said.
Victorian Taxi Association chief executive David Samuel cab drivers were encouraged to pull up as close to the kerb as possible, and to look in their mirrors for cyclists when they stopped.
“I’m sure the taxi driver (involved in Monday’s incident) thought he was closer to the kerb. He may have made a simple mistake, as we all do from time to time,” he said.
“It’s an unfortunate accident.”
Mr Samuel said taxi drivers were “thoroughly trained” in all road rules.
“To try and single this out on the taxi industry and taxi drivers is unwarranted,” he said.
“It’s not an issue where taxis are disproportionately represented.”
Road trauma lawyer at Maurice Blackburn, John Voyage, said he had seen a recent increase in dooring cases.
Mr Voyage said the consequences of such collisions could be “terrible”, and not just for the cyclist.
“I’ve seen examples where cyclists have been knocked off their bikes into the traffic and suffered horrific injuries,” he said.
“This brings in a number of victims — of course the cyclist, and the driver of the vehicle who strikes the driver has also been pulled into an unavoidable incident.”
Mr Voyage said road users needed to be better educated about the dangers of dooring.
“There is a fine margin between someone getting injured and someone walking away from an incident,” he said.
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