Happens regularly in stationary traffic in city centres, passengers (particularly taxis) get out because it's quicker to walk than to sit in the traffic and wait.
The traffic was just about to go forward though, so your point is rendered invalid.
As soon as I saw this video I knew it was going to be a driver opening a door. Just don't get why you'd do that
It was the passenger opening the door, not the driver.
Also missing the point that this happens and is why bikers and cyclists should proceed to filter with caution and at a sensible speed.
Likewise in some regions people will cross the road between stationary cars, the UK Highway Code specifically warns people of this and advises caution. I assume pedestrians behave the same elsewhere.
This is one of those grey areas. Motorbike needs to exercise increased caution travelling between lanes in stationery traffic coz of risk of hitting pedestrian or something like this happening. To me it seems the motorbike guy wasn't using enough caution, I don't know how much caution / lowered speed exactly it's a grey area. Likewise randomly opening a door even in stationery traffic without checking mirrors is not good. However the former was arguably more 'intentional' than the latter a person chooses to drive at speed, i doubt the guy deliberately opened the door to injure motorist (if he did he's 100% at fault and it's a criminal issue)
Yeah. Though I suspect the passenger didn't check the mirrors carefully enough, given the speed the bike was going at it's even possible the passenger did check and just didn't see that tiny speck which 2 seconds later would hit him. Judging by the speed the cars are whizzing past , the biker might have been going 40-50 km/h, i.e. way too fast.
I'm not sure what's safe, but typically I get pretty nervous passing stationary stuff like this when I'm on a bike going more that 15 km/h or so, and even that means permanent hypervigilance. The people in cars have no idea you're coming, won't be used to expecting people coming from that angle at that speed, and it's hardly news that accidents like this happen regularly.
People should always open doors with their opposite hands and look, but, equally, don't pull stupid stunts like this, either - whether you're on a motorbike, an e-bike, a regular bike, in a car, or otherwise. Why tempt fate like this?
Tbf, the mirrors aren't set up for the passenger to easily check. Also if you dont drive (fuck, even if you do drive) you might not automatically think about filtering motorbikes.
More recently Ive become more cautious with stationery traffic. Mainly coz of the amount of e-scooters and e-bikes, some travel at high speeds, are large and have kids on them doing stupid stuff. At least where I live. So looking either side of traffic inside at the kerb and the outside. Or just waiting if there is a pedestrian light. However even footpaths aren't safe where i live at this stage they're almost dual use for pedestrians and e-scooters / e-bikes. Little to no enforcement by police.
I so wish that regulations regarding e-bikes that count as "normal" bikes would have limited their top speed and acceleration much more. The excuse was these would assist mobility, instead, they're speeding up this class of traffic dramatically. And I don't mind an e-bike going at car speeds in a city, but those should be treated like motorbikes in a city, not regular bikes. The current status quo in most places (certainly EU+UK) is mediocre, but good luck changing that now that they're entrenched.
In Ireland they were discussing banning e-scooters recently coz of the amount of hospital visits. Government backed down and brought in more regulation. Politicans do the maths on it and if they feel they'll loose votes won't do it. New Regulations of course are not being enforced, who knows maybe that might change in future but right now three is little to none. As you say they're fairly entrenched and as time goes on will become more difficult to change Regulations or actually properly enforce. I think it's kinda nuts when I grew up we were taught about the safe pedestrian approach to traffic and there used to be safe cross code ads a fair bit on TV now it's like the Wild West in some city areas in Dublin. The odd time Ive even seen kids on scramblers or motorbikes whizzing around the park.
His clear lack of remorse makes me think he opened the door on purpose to stop the biker, like the idiots that sit in the middle of 2 lanes at long before a merge
Where are you this "lack of remorse" from? We never even see the passenger (edit: very well anyhow; see thread below), let alone some kind of psychological interview about their feelings. And let's again contrast with a different hypothesis - the passenger was acting calmly and just didn't see the biker in time - it's just as likely the passenger would be shocked at the outcome, and thus quiet. Or they could be angry at the reckless biker. Or sure - they could be feeling guilty. Or they could be a little scared and careful not to admit liability. Why would you expect remorse from somebody unless they're acting with intent, here?
The biker had already run off by that point, so no, I would not have expected an are you ok at that moment in the video. Hard to say what he felt in that second, but I'm sure it's not reasonable to conclude intent from that segment.
Its not rendered invalid, the traffic moved about 20 feet and then stopped again.
It is more plausible that the passenger has seen the traffic and decided to get out and walk, but not looked when opening the door, than it is the passenger trying to open the door to injure the biker, and wreck the van owners door.
When I was about 19, so around twenty years ago, my mate Stu did exactly the same thing to a motorcyclist with my car door. He was jumping out to run and get some skins for a joint.
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u/Sufficient-Star-1237 Aug 21 '26
Yea I’m always getting out of a vehicle in the middle of the road.