The Met Police have issued an average of 7-9 Fixed Penalty Notices per year for car dooring during the last seven years. This is despite a Transport for London study finding that drivers opening doors accounted for 8% of the cyclists killed and seriously injured in 2007. This would be the equivalent of 46 cyclists killed or seriously injured last year.
The MPS Traffic Criminal Justice Operational Command Unit have dealt with 427 offences since 2006 that arose from collisions or police reports relating to vehicle doors being opened in circumstances that would endanger others.
Green Party Assembly Member Jenny Jones said:
“Cyclists being killed or seriously injured by drivers opening their car doors is remarkably common, yet it has received very little attention from the police or the Mayor. A lot more focus is given to cyclists jumping red lights, despite the fact that it accounts for fewer serious casualties. The Met Police and the Mayor need to urgently launch a major awareness campaign and make clear that car dooring will be automatically prosecuted.”