Cyclist on life-support after 'dooring' accident

A 56-year-old man is being kept artificially alive after he slammed into the door of a car which was parked on Van Horne Avenue in the Montreal borough of Outremont.

The accident, called 'dooring', happened at 1:45 p.m. ET on Sunday just east of Wiseman Avenue.

The man was riding his bicycle along Van Horne when the driver of the parked car opened his door.

"The cyclist hit the open door of the parked car and the man had a very dramatic fall," said Const. André Leclerc.

The man was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.

Police questioned the driver of the parked car but don't plan to lay charges because it was an accident.

"Cyclists and also drivers have to be careful when one is opening the door," said Leclerc. "It's a two-way responsibility."

Leclerc said the man was placed in an induced coma until his family could be notified.

Cycling groups say 'dooring' all-too-common

"You have to allow cyclists to get from point A to point B ... without encountering car doors," said Daniel Lambert, of the Westmount Walking and Cycling Association.

He said the city must create safer, wider bike paths so that cyclists don't have to swerve into traffic to avoid being hit.

'Dooring' has become such a problem in the states of Illinois and Massachusetts that it now carries a fine of up to $100.00.

"It's not necessarily, so much, the amount," said David Watson with the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition.

"The idea is really to encourage people to look behind them before opening their doors rather than to punish them after."

Watson's group helped spearhead the new Bicyclist Safety Act in Massachussetts but said police only started enforcing the new law in January, so it's too early to tell whether it's having an impact.