Toronto cyclists fed up with falling victim to so-called "doorings" and want the City to step in to help.
There have been 171 reported cases of cyclists colliding with opening car doors so far this year. Toronto Police believe the number of collisions may even be higher, as many cases go unreported. Dooring incidents can leave cyclists with injuries serious enough to require hospital treatment.
"We've seen people with broken wrists," says cyclist and TDSB Trustee Chris Glover.
"One person actually got thrown under a truck and he's had 12 operations since then."
The Public Works and Infrastructure Committee is looking at ways to reduce these incidents. As a cyclist, Glover knows the impact of doorings first-hand.
"An Uber driver pulls past me, lets her passenger her out, she was three feet out from the kerb, he opens the door -- and I got doored." He is asking the City to petition the province to reclassify doorings as accidents, not incidents.
It's a move supported by Cycle Toronto's Jared Kolb, who says the cases would have to be reported to police.
"The fact this is effectively demoted to an 'incident report' means the Toronto Police don't take it with the level of gravity and seriousness that it deserves," Kolb told the Committee on Wednesday.
Currently there is no legal obligation to report dooring incidents to police. Glover is also pushing to educate drivers about a technique known as the "Dutch Reach".
"Normally when you're driving your car, you open the door [to get out] with your left hand. The Dutch Reach, you use your right hand, reach over, it makes you swivel in your seat and do a over-shoulder check to see if there's an oncoming cyclist." Other ideas include pushing all vehicle-for-hire operators to make use of rear-view mirrors on rear passenger doors.
Council officials will report back on the issue as part of an update on the ground transport industry.