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Cyclist Gets Doored, Calls Cops, Gets Tickets
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 1, 2010
Modified Apr 1, 2010
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Courtesy Streetsblog
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 1, 2010
Modified Apr 1, 2010
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Here, have a cup of outrage: On the morning of March 22nd, one Rodney Seymour was riding his bike by 10th Street on Third Avenue when the door of a box truck swung open, knocking him to the street. Unlike last month's tragically fatal cyclist dooring in the Bronx, Seymour survived, but he hurt his shoulder and head in the fall. "I was in a little pain and the truck driver suggested I call the cops," Seymour tells Streetsblog. "He was very cooperative." Care to guess who wasn't so cooperative?
When Seymour told cops at the scene that he wanted an accident report—which Seymour's attorney says is necessary in order to get the motorist to pay a victim's medical bills under New York's no-fault law—the unidentified officers were irritated. "He got very upset because I was insisting on having a police report," said Seymour, who claims one officer asked him, "You want a report? You want a report? I'll give you a report!" :
The officer then walked back to his vehicle, Seymour said, returning ten minutes later with the report in hand. But that wasn't all. He'd also brought over two summonses. The first was for riding a bike without a bell, which Seymour admits he lacked. The second cited Seymour for riding without reflectors on the wheel. According to Seymour's lawyer, the law only requires reflectors on new bikes for sale. Seymour noted that his bright orange reflective vest and reflective helmet should have made him perfectly visible—that and the fact that it was just before 10 a.m.
That's what you get for making them fill out paperwork! "Dooring" is against the law in New York state, but according to Seymour the driver didn't get a summons, just a "sorry for your inconvenience" from the officer. Transportation Alternatives spokesperson Wiley Norvell tells us, "Filing reports at the scene of a crash is the most basic element of traffic enforcement. When an officer doesn’t take something like 'dooring' seriously, it reverberates down the chain. People can’t pay for getting injuries treated. Crash statistics get thrown of whack. And people start questioning the purpose of calling 911 at the scene of a crash in the first place."
The worst part of Seymour's story? Wwhen he "got back from Beth Israel hospital to pick up his bike, which he had locked up before getting into the ambulance, it was gone—stolen."
Tagged
bike
cycling
dooring
summons
tickets
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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