B.C. drivers are being urged to look carefully before they open their car door as the fine for “dooring” a cyclist is set to quadruple in September.
In a Thursday news release, the transportation ministry announced the fine for dooring was going up more than four times, from $81 to $368. This brings the penalty in line with distracted driving offences, as well as driving without due care.
According to Spencer Chandra Herbert, MLA for Vancouver-West End, “dooring can kill or severely injure a person.” Statistics from the Insurance Corp. of B.C. show that one in 14 crashes involving cyclists are the results of dooring, while the statistics worsen to one in seven for Vancouver.
North Vancouver-Lonsdale MLA Bowinn Ma, whose riding saw a cyclist killed in a dooring crash in 2019, said she hoped the increased fine would demonstrate to drivers the importance of shoulder-checking before opening their door.
“It is enormously dangerous to carelessly open a door into the pathway of a person moving on a bike,” Ma said. “This increased fine sends a strong signal of the level of accountability that is expected of people who are operating a vehicle, even when the engine is off.”
The new fine takes effect on Sept. 21.
READ MORE: The scary truth about ‘dooring’
ALSO READ: Another $1 billion borrowed for B.C. municipalities, transit
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