If you are even a part time bicyclists you have probably noticed that drivers don't give bicyclists much respect on the road. In some cities and towns, bicyclists have a special lane marked out on the road, carrying a picture of a bicycle. But even with these present, cars will honk at bicyclists that are traveling along the road, not give them a chance to go at four ways stops and in general pretend that they don't exist. One common problem is when motorists open their door on a bicyclists who is riding by, causing their bike to tip over or stop suddenly, and a potentially serious crash to follow.

When drivers open their car doors on the driver side they can either hit a passing bicyclist or simply block their passage alongside the car. If the bicyclist does not have time to swerve out of the way, they could hit the open door and fly over their bike causing injury. This scenario is more common than you think. A bicyclist riding along a street cannot know when someone is opening their car door, and they may be trying to stay to the right of the road as much as possible as to stay out of the way of other cars traveling in their lane.

What typically happens when a car door hits a passing bicyclist is that the force of the door hitting them on one side will cause them to fly off of their bike on the opposite side, which can mean that they hit the pavement hard and suffer injuries that way, or in the worse-case-scenario, they are thrown into the lane of traffic which can cause them to be hit by another car who has not time to slow down or stop to minimize injury. This can be a very bad situation for you, the bicyclist, and can result in serious injuries from either scenario.

The other type of situation involves a car door opening and the bicyclists hitting it. A collision with a parked car is the number one type of bicycle crash in some areas, for instance, Santa Barbara here in California, and most motorists aren't aware of bicyclists passing them when they go to open their door. If the bicyclist hit the door and flies forward then they may simply suffer some cuts and bruises, but if they fly over the handlebars of the stopped bike and hit their head – with or without a helmet – it could result in serious brain injury.

Most motorists don't check their rear view or side mirrors when exiting their vehicle, and many don't even notice that there is a bicyclist that is riding nearby. If you have been involved in an accident because a driver opened a door and you could not avoid a collision then you might have compensation coming. Contact Emery Ledger, a personal injury attorney with more than ten years of experience dealing with car accidents and personal injury cases. The first consultation is at no charge and in many cases no fees are collected unless you collect money.