Chicago High School Student Finds Inspiration From Dooring Incident

Maxine Soss

The hastily opened car door affected two Chicago bicyclists in very different ways.  For one, the inattentive driver's action inflicted hideous harm.  For another, it released inspiration.

Thirteen year old Maxine Soss was riding her bicycle with her mother north on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood at around 4:00 p.m. on July 10, 2012. As they pedaled passed Lincoln's intersection with West Webster Avenue there was another cyclist riding about 25 feet in front of them.  He was 34 years old and riding his daily commute home from work in Lincoln's dedicated bike lane. Maxine saw the car stopped along the curb to the right of the bike lane.  She saw the door spring open and slice through the man's lower right leg.  She and her mom raced ahead and stopped.  The driver was screaming.  Blood was pooling.  Maxine could see the exposed bones in the man's lower leg.  She and her mom helped quell the bleeding and waited with the fallen cyclist for help to arrive.

As the weeks passed, the images and sounds of those terrible moments refused to leave Maxine.  But the events of that July day did not just leave a dark mark on her memory. They challenged her.  They presented a problem in need of a solution; one that she would not just leave to others to solve.  What can I do to prevent another person from getting doored?  The student science fair at Whitney Young High School presented Maxine with the platform she needed.  She decided that her project would be to find an engineering solution to the threat of dooring.  She reflected intently on what could be invented to alert a driver that a cyclist was approaching. 

"After research, meeting with a few physics teachers, and some consultation with a local engineering executive, she came up with an alarm system that could be produced on a small scale, and built a model," said Maxine's mom, Kelly Friedl.

Maxine's display at the Whitney Young Science Fair

Like most good ideas, Maxine's was relatively simple.   "By utilizing the general physics principals of a proximity sensor system, she rewired the mechanics of a cordless doorbell system," said Ms. Friedl.  "On her scale model, she inserted proximity reader mechanics inside of a toy car.  She then attached a proximity sensor (a magnet) to a model bike.  As the bike approached the car, an alarm would sound" to alert the driver.  In the real world, a small magnetic band would be placed on the bicycle and would communicate with the sensor of a vehicle implementing the system.  Maxine and her mom imagine selling the system very cheaply, or even giving it away for free at cycling events, to bicyclists who also drive.  The hope is that the bicycling community would help get the project off the ground, creating momentum by using the system on their own vehicles.

The science fair has come and gone, but Maxine plans to continue her project.  She intends to repeat the same project next year, and hopefully start testing it in the real world.  Funding is needed to take it to the next level, but her youth and desire to do good fuel a boundless optimism.

Maxine can be reached at maxinesoss@gmail.com.  Her mom can be reached at kelly@urbaninfant.com.

Chicago Bicyclist Doored By Uninsured Driver To Receive Compensation

The bottom edge of the car door sliced into the bicyclist, a huge bloody curtain of skin and muscle drawn back revealing the two large bones of his lower right leg.  It seemed as if a shaky surgeon cut a large slab from the side of his leg below the knee.  Minutes later an ambulance would rush him to the hospital to undergo surgery.  Weeks later he would have insult added to injury:  The driver that doored him was uninsured.

At around 4:00 p.m. on July 10th, a 34 year old male cyclist was doored on his way home from work on North Lincoln Avenue, just north of West Webster Avenue, in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. He was pedaling at a leisurely pace in Lincoln Avenue's dedicated bicycle lane when the driver of a 2002 Mitsubishi parked along the curb carelessly open her door just as the cyclist was riding by.  The bottom of the door sliced open the man's leg as he passed and caused him to crash hard to the street.  Thankfully, he avoided being hit by passing vehicles.  The wound to his leg was very serious however.  He was rushed via ambulance to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center where he underwent surgery that evening.

The bicyclist incurred over $25,000 in medical bills.  At first he tried to resolve the matter with the driver himself.  However, when he learned that she had let her auto insurance coverage lapse before the crash, he contacted my law firm for help.  We immediately notified the bicyclist's own auto insurer that he was injured by an uninsured driver.  If an injured bicyclist has his or her own motor vehicle insurance policy, or is covered under another family member's policy, the cyclist may look to the uninsured or underinsured motorist provision of that policy. This is permitted even though the victim was riding a bicycle and the accident did not involve his or her own motor vehicle. Generally, your uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage protects you even when you are injured by a motor vehicle while a bicyclist or pedestrian.  Yesterday, after some hard work and diligence we were able to resolve the bicyclist's uninsured motorist claim for the full amount of coverage, $100,000.

Chicago Bicycle Suffers Serious Leg Injury After Dooring

As the bicyclist lay in the street he looked down at his limb and saw a huge bloody curtain of skin and muscle drawn back revealing the two large bones of his lower right leg.  It seemed as if a shaky surgeon cut a large slab from the side of his leg below the knee.  The instrument of this carnage, however, was a car door.

At around 4:00 p.m. on July 10th, a 34 year old male cyclist was doored on his way home from work on North Lincoln Avenue, just north of West Webster Avenue, in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. He was pedaling at a leisurely pace in Lincoln Avenue's dedicated bicycle lane when the driver of a 2002 Mitsubishi parked along the curb carelessly open her door just as the cyclist was riding by.  The bottom of the door sliced open the man's leg as he passed and caused him to crash hard to the street.  Thankfully, he avoided being hit by passing vehicles.  The wound to his leg was very serious however.  He was rushed via ambulance to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center where he underwent surgery that evening.

After extensive treatment, the bicyclist retains an ugly scar on his lower leg and suffers from numbness that radiates into his right foot.  He has recovered full use of the leg, however.

My law firm has been retained to represent the bicyclist.