There is nothing you can say that can convince me that the fault does not rest with the cyclist.
I don’t know; but a biker can be very careful, and still crash if a door opens abruptly in front of them. (Some versions indicate that the car stopped suddenly in front of the biker.)
I guess we’ll see; but if anyone is accused of being guilty of causing the accident, I believe it will be the driver.
I’m with you. Bicyclists in traffic should be treated like they are cars. If she were in a car and the car stopped in front of her she wouldn’t blow by close to the left side of the car. (I assume it is on the left side, if it were the right side on the sidewalk it would really be bad.) If she had just stopped, waited for the people to exit, she would be alive today.
Another point is a bicycle doesn’t have a lot of visibility.
I have seen bicycles speeding between two lanes of stopped traffic because they think they have enough room. I have seen motorcycles do that on the interstate as well. If someone were to open their door it would be a bad accident.
Yes, even if the driver looks into the mirrors before he opens the door, or the passengers open theirs, some speeding bicyclists can still appear, seemingly out of the blue…sometimes with tragic consequences 😔
Still, I have taught myself to open the car door from the inside with my right hand - or with the left when I’m sitting on the right hand side of the car.
Thus, I am turning backwards automatically to take a look🙂 for bicyclists or other vehicles.
The Dutch even teach this way of handling a vehicle door in their driving schools.