LondonSkaters Speed Team - Speed Skating & Rollerblading Club in London

Mikey-two-Names · Joined: 24 Feb 2004 Posts: 4107

Last night on the ICIBIN skate one skater was very nearly doored. He only missed by inches after a pretty incredibly agile leap, and that prompted me to write this article:

Dooring and the door zone.

It's not the first time I've seen skaters going IMO way too close to parked cars. Don't do this, it's an excellent way to get injured by hitting the door, or being thrown or swerving into passing traffic. Same goes for cycling.

tanya g · Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 11:57 am Subject:

That was indeed an incredibly agile leap. I would guess that the majority of the other skaters there (who were all v good) wouldn't have made it. A few skaters had already moved past the car and half the pack were still behind, so the person should have seen us.

I know a few skaters that have had doors smashed into them, one even got hit when they were moving through traffic that was stopped for lights and a passenger decided to get out.

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

Twas me in november or december.

Mikey-two-Names · Joined: 24 Feb 2004 Posts: 4107

Yes, sorry to post it here as well as SR.com, but I'd rather make sure everyone got to know how dangerous dooring really is.

tanya g · Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:18 pm Subject:

Ok, I know two people then Sad

Mikey-two-Names · Joined: 24 Feb 2004 Posts: 4107

Faris was lucky it was you he jumped in front of, not a car.

dan_b · Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 2428

I am aware that for some (or more likely, no) reason I'll do much more filtering on skates than I ever did on a bike. Mostly though I'm not moving much faster than walking pace if I'm inside the door zone.

But the lovely lovely thing about skating is that with a reasonable stride, when I want to take a lane (most of my commute to work I'm moving at the same speed or faster than the traffic) it stays taken. Theory of Big, innit

lemming · Joined: 05 Jan 2005 Posts: 693 Location: Reading, UK

Just out of interest, if it was timed right and you went into a door that was open ('cos someone opened it on you and you didn't have time to move or whatever) do you think you could rip it off, or bend it back and damage the car?

Not sure whose responsibility this would be in that case? could make for an amusing situation
:edit: OK, so I've read Mike's thing now, so it would be their fault.

Angry car owner going you've broken my door off and skaters going well you shouldn't have opened it on me then...

Mikey-two-Names · Joined: 24 Feb 2004 Posts: 4107

Theory of big is very good, works well on bikes. I'm less sure on skates though, sometimes the cagers seem to come awfully close to my foot at the end of a stride.

lemming · Joined: 05 Jan 2005 Posts: 693 Location: Reading, UK

It probably isn't so applicable 'cos of teh motion - our legs swing out a lot furthe than our bodies, so it's harder to know how close to pass by..

I like theory of big though.

peterc · Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 1284 Location: M3 somewhere

dogsbody · Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 11:08 pm Subject:

This happened to me on a bike many years ago, I still have the lump in my collar bone to prove it Confused

She was a driving instructor and asked "where did you come from?" I wasn't in the best of moods but mainly as she had made me squash the KFC I had just picked up and had in my rucksack! Rolling Eyes

Natasha · Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 2973 Location: Basingstoke

dan_b · Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 2428

Supposed to be the "I Can't Believe It's Not Suicide" Skate. Dunno where the extra "I" came from.

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

Sometimes it's appropriate. There were certainly ICey BINS this morning.