According to a New York City statistic (I would have given you one from Bucharest, but nobody keeps a record here), 31% of bicyclist fatalities are caused by colliding with open car doors. From my own experience I know how dangerous open doors can be, luckily my efficient brakes and cat-like reflexes managed to keep me out of harm’s way.

Drivers in Bucharest are not used to having bikes around them. Here, bikes are out of place: drivers would like bikes on the sidewalk, while pedestrians would like bikes on the road. The bike lanes are a joke (literally). With all this negative attitude, it’s no wonder drivers opening their front doors don’t look out for bikes – they do check for vehicles, but bikes seem to be invisible (again, thank you, efficient brakes and cat-like reflexes!).

So I would like to propose a solution:

Yup, scissor doors! I propose introducing a “bicycle risk” tax for Bucharest cars without front scissor doors. The advantages of scissor doors are:
– a drop in bike-door collisions, from _unknown_% to 0%- happier drivers
–  scissor doors are cool
– more jobs – a good news for unemployed ASE graduate sisters
– more parking space – since cars would be able to park closer to each other
– last but not least, scissor doors would become a touristic attraction and a city symbol, much like the suicide doors (crazy name, right?) found on London cabs

So come on now and sign the Scissor Doors petition – for a better Bucharest!