Bicycle Dooring Accident Lawyers in New York

Dooring happens when someone opens a vehicle door into a cyclist's path. New York traffic law makes it illegal to open a door without checking that it's safe, so a dooring crash usually establishes the driver's or passenger's negligence.

You are riding in the bike lane, holding a straight line, and a parked car’s door flies open a few feet ahead. There is no time to stop. You hit the door, or you swerve into traffic to miss it. Dooring injuries are severe precisely because the rider has no warning: face and dental trauma, broken wrists and collarbones, shoulder tears, head injuries, and the secondary crash that comes from being thrown into a moving lane.

The law is on the cyclist’s side

New York traffic regulations make it illegal to open a vehicle door on the traffic side unless it is reasonably safe to do so and can be done without interfering with traffic. That rule covers cyclists. When a driver or passenger swings a door open without looking and hits a rider, they have violated the law, and that violation is powerful evidence of negligence. Unlike many bike cases where fault is murky, dooring often starts with the liability question largely answered.

Who is responsible

The person who opened the door, whether the driver or a passenger, for failing to check.
A rideshare or taxi passenger dumped curbside into a bike lane, along with questions about how the vehicle stopped.
A commercial driver or delivery worker who opens into traffic without looking.

No-Fault, the threshold, and proof

Even though a bicycle has no No-Fault coverage of its own, a doored cyclist can usually access the striking or associated vehicle’s No-Fault benefits for initial medical bills and lost wages. To recover for pain and suffering you must meet the serious-injury threshold under §5102(d), which fractures, dental injuries, and surgical shoulder or wrist injuries frequently satisfy. We prove the case by locating the vehicle and occupant, pulling any street or business camera footage, identifying witnesses, and documenting the door damage and your injuries. Because a dooring claim arises from the use of a motor vehicle, New York’s modified comparative negligence rule applies: even if the defense argues you rode too close to parked cars, you can still recover as long as your share of fault is not greater than the occupant’s.

What drives value

Facial and dental trauma, fractures needing hardware, shoulder surgery, and any head injury raise value, as does a clean liability picture where the door opener plainly failed to look. Dooring is a constant hazard for Citi Bike riders squeezed between traffic and parked cars, and every one of these claims sits within our bicycle accident practice. Doored in New York? Contact us for a free review. No fee unless we recover.

Dooring accident questions New Yorkers ask

Is the driver automatically at fault for dooring me?

Not automatically, but New York law makes it illegal to open a door into traffic when it isn’t safe. That violation is strong evidence of negligence, which is why dooring cases often start with liability largely settled.

A passenger opened the door, not the driver. Who do I sue?

The person who opened the door can be responsible regardless of whether they were driving. Depending on the circumstances, the driver and, for a taxi or rideshare, the operator may also share liability.

Does No-Fault cover a doored cyclist?

Usually. Even without insurance on your bike, you can typically access the associated vehicle’s No-Fault coverage for medical bills and lost wages. To sue for pain and suffering, you must meet the serious-injury threshold.

What if I swerved and crashed without hitting the door?

You may still have a claim. If an unsafely opened door forced you into a crash, the person who opened it can be liable for the injuries that followed.