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My car has red reflective stripes on the inside of the door edge, so they can be seen from behind as soon as the door is ajar. I put them on myself, since as a

My car has red reflective stripes on the inside of the door edge, so they can be seen from behind as soon as the door is ajar. I put them on myself, since as a cyclist I'd like them on all cars. I don't know why cars don't fit lights and reflectors as standard there. There's always power in modern doors for an LED. At night, that extra second or two of "there's a door opening ahead" could be critical. Only works on bikes with lights, of course. But I'm not very sympathetic to bikes without them.

awhitby 5y ago
My guess is the kind of careless people who don't check for cyclists tend to be the kind that throw their doors wide open in one movement, so while this doesn't hurt, it gives cyclists a split-second's warning at best.
- adhesive_wombat 5y ago
  Certainly, it gives a cyclist a split second if someone opens a door suddenly. That's not what it's really for - nothing can prevent that. For people opening a door sensibly (most people), it gives a unambiguous warning that a door is ajar ahead maybe 5 or 10 seconds before the door opens more. In the dark, where reflectors work, that's a lot more than you might get if you don't notice the door is ajar.
rtheunissen 5y ago
Isn't the problem more the car not seeing the cyclist, than it is the cyclist not seeing the door opening?
- adhesive_wombat 5y ago
  Absolutely it is (I always double check the mirror and crack the door first, even as a passenger) but it's defense in depth, and as a cyclist, if someone's going to open the door anyway, I'd rather be able to see it that assume they've seen me. I have lights, but as a driver, I also know that even the brightest bike lights can by surprising easy to miss. Also, speaking as a cyclist, it can be surprisingly hard to see an opening car door in the dark. The side of the inside of a door is the same colour as the bodywork, so this is not as obvious as you might always expect. It's also not only cyclists who can see this - cars with their light on will see it too, and since I'd quite like my car to continue to have a full set of doors, this is a win for me too. Also, the car carries passengers and is not always driven by me. While obviously, I am completely perfect and am obviously physically incapable of fucking up, I cannot guarantee they will not open their doors badly, so I might as well make an effort to mitigate it in case they do.

awhitby 5y ago

My guess is the kind of careless people who don't check for cyclists tend to be the kind that throw their doors wide open in one movement, so while this doesn't hurt, it gives cyclists a split-second's warning at best.

adhesive_wombat 5y ago
Certainly, it gives a cyclist a split second if someone opens a door suddenly. That's not what it's really for - nothing can prevent that. For people opening a door sensibly (most people), it gives a unambiguous warning that a door is ajar ahead maybe 5 or 10 seconds before the door opens more. In the dark, where reflectors work, that's a lot more than you might get if you don't notice the door is ajar.

rtheunissen 5y ago

Isn't the problem more the car not seeing the cyclist, than it is the cyclist not seeing the door opening?

adhesive_wombat 5y ago
Absolutely it is (I always double check the mirror and crack the door first, even as a passenger) but it's defense in depth, and as a cyclist, if someone's going to open the door anyway, I'd rather be able to see it that assume they've seen me. I have lights, but as a driver, I also know that even the brightest bike lights can by surprising easy to miss. Also, speaking as a cyclist, it can be surprisingly hard to see an opening car door in the dark. The side of the inside of a door is the same colour as the bodywork, so this is not as obvious as you might always expect. It's also not only cyclists who can see this - cars with their light on will see it too, and since I'd quite like my car to continue to have a full set of doors, this is a win for me too. Also, the car carries passengers and is not always driven by me. While obviously, I am completely perfect and am obviously physically incapable of fucking up, I cannot guarantee they will not open their doors badly, so I might as well make an effort to mitigate it in case they do.