Montreal police say they take dooring 'very seriously'

Montreal police are defending their approach to bike safety in the face of criticism over a dooring incident that went unticketed and a string of serious collisions involving cyclists this summer. 

Insp. Andre Durocher, a veteran officer in the road safety division, said police have handed out more tickets for dooring — the common way to describe when someone opens the door of a stopped vehicle without shoulder-checking and hits a passing cyclist — in recent years.

In 2012, police gave out 30 tickets. In 2015, they gave out 85.

"The message is out there," he told CBC Montreal's Daybreak.

"It's something that's being taken very seriously."

• Plateau, Rosemont push city for road safety changes in wake of bike accidents
• Father of dead cyclist decries government inaction

Durocher was responding to criticism from a bike messenger who told Daybreak that police refused to ticket a woman after she opened the door on him downtown, damaging his bike and sending him flying.

He wouldn't comment on the specific incident, however.

"Having been a police officer on the road for many years myself, there's often a lot of reasons why a ticket is not being given in a particular case," he said.

Changes this summer to Quebec's Highway Safety Code mean dooring now costs drivers between $200 and $300, up from $30.

'Shared responsibility,' Coderre says

When asked if additional measures would help make cycling safer, Durocher said that if drivers, cyclists and pedestrians followed the existing laws, there would be far fewer problems on the roads. 

"Very often when there's a collision it's because one of the two parties did not respect the Highway Safety Code, so if everybody starts by respecting the laws already in place that goes a long way," he said.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Mayor Denis Coderre said the city is looking at making the roads safer — and that safety is a "shared responsibility" between cyclists and drivers.  

Coderre has faced criticism from Projet Montréal, the Opposition at City Hall, for not doing enough to make cycling safer. 

On Tuesday, the mayors of Plateau–Mont-Royal and Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie announced plans to narrow streets and reduce speed limits in their boroughs, and they called on Coderre to make changes across the city.