The B.C. government announced Thursday it will be quadrupling the fine for anyone who opens the door of a parked car when it is not reasonably safe to do so.
The practise is known as “dooring.” The fine for “dooring” will be $368 starting Sept. 21. The current fine is $81.
“Dooring can cause serious injury, and the new fine reflects that,” Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Claire Trevena said in a statement.
“But it is preventable, which is why we are also investing in public education. We want to make sure everyone who uses the roads does so safely.”
The government said the higher fine, along with a public eduction and awareness campaign, will improve safety for cyclists.
“With cycling and other modes of active transportation becoming more popular, it’s important to have the right policies in place for people to safely commute and get around in our province,” Spencer Chandra Herbert, MLA for Vancouver-West End, said in a statement.
“Dooring can kill or severely injure a person. Making the offence of dooring equivalent to distracted driving and excessive speeding offences in terms of the fine is another necessary step to help keep our most vulnerable road users safe.”
Vision Zero, a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy and equitable mobility for everyone, is a goal set out in Move. Commute. Connect. – B.C.’s strategy for cleaner, more active transportation, a part of the government’s CleanBC plan.
According to the government, B.C. has the highest percentage of active transportation trips for commuting to work out of all the provinces. In 2019, 10 per cent of people who commuted to work in the province used active transportation.
Thirty-three per cent of school-age children primarily used active transportation, and eight per cent of all college and university students commuted using active modes of transportation, the government said.
B.C.’s Active Transportation Strategy seeks to double the percentage of trips taken by active transportation by 2030.
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