Dooring is the act of opening a motor vehicle door into the path of another road user. [1] [2] Dooring can happen when a driver has parked or stopped to exit their vehicle, or when passengers egress from cars, taxis and rideshares into the path of a cyclist in an adjacent travel lane. The width of the door zone in which this can happen varies, depending upon the model of car one is passing. The zone can be almost zero for a vehicle with sliding or gull-wing doors or much larger for a truck. In many cities across the globe, doorings are among the most common and injurious bike-vehicle incidents. [3] Any passing vehicle may also strike and damage a negligently opened or left open door, or injure or kill the exiting motorist or passenger.
Doorings can be avoided if the driver checks their side mirror before opening the door, or performs a shoulder check. Use of the Dutch Reach (or "far hand method") for vehicle egress has been advised to prevent doorings, as it combines both measures. As bicyclists cannot rely on motor vehicle occupants to use required caution on exiting, bicyclists are advised to avoid the door zone of stopped or parked vehicles. [4]
The term is also applied when such sudden door opening causes the oncoming rider to swerve to avoid collision (with or without loss of control), resulting in a crash or secondary collision with another oncoming vehicle or another vehicle that is directly next to the cyclist. The term also applies when a door is negligently left open, unduly blocking a travel lane. [5]
This section is written like a personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic.(September 2019) |
Many countries are aligned with the Vienna convention which states: "It shall be prohibited to open the door of a vehicle, to leave it open, or to alight from the vehicle without having made sure that to do so cannot endanger other road-users." (Article 24 — Opening of doors). [6]
Most areas have laws that require car users to check for all approaching traffic including cyclists before opening the door of their vehicle. [7] [8] Some jurisdictions also consider it a traffic code violation if vehicle doors are unnecessarily left open and thus continue to obstruct an adjacent travel lane. [9]
Despite such laws, serious injuries and deaths continue to be caused by occupants opening doors or by bicycle riders riding in the door zone. A 2015 British survey found that 35% of drivers self-reported that they did not check for traffic before opening their vehicle's door to exit. [10]
Dooring prevention has proven a difficult problem as incidents can occur wherever hinged vehicle doors are carelessly opened and suddenly obstruct travel lanes or sidewalks. Surveys of driver behavior upon egress, in the United Kingdom and the state of Florida, USA, found that 1⁄3 and 3⁄5 of drivers respectively did not check for oncoming road users before opening. [11] [12]
Cyclists are advised to avoid door zones and exercise great caution if in range of open doors from either side when in traffic. Motorists and passengers are advised to exercise heightened caution and vigilance before and during entry or egress from their vehicle. [13] Passengers are advised to exit curb-side only, and never when vehicles are paused in a travel lane.
Street planners are encouraged to avoid placing bike lanes in door zones, and to implement instead buffered, separated and/or protected bike lanes and tracks, or shared lane markings. [14] Motor vehicle bureaus and departments of transportation are advised not to restrict vulnerable road users into door zone bike lanes by force of traffic code.
Motor vehicle engineers and manufacturers are deploying new technologies to warn or prevent vehicle occupants from exiting in the presence of oncoming traffic. [15] Auxiliary side view mirrors are now available which fit on the B-pillar to assist rear-seated passengers preparing to exit. [16]
Road safety advocates also call for greater enforcement, fines and penalties, [17] while insurance companies and personal injury attorneys apply sanctions after the fact in the form of increased premiums and liability lawsuits.
Improved training in road sharing by motorists with vulnerable road users is recommended for all road users, done by means of upgraded driver licensing and education standards, curriculum and testing, and public education and behavior change campaigns to improve road safety conduct. [18]
Because it is rarely possible to see and react safely to a suddenly opening door, traffic cycling educational programs teach cyclists to ride in the safe zone [19] or travel lane well outside the door zone as measured from the tip of the handlebars.
As street planners often lay out painted bike lanes in the door zone, many bicycle safety advocates advise cyclists to maintain a safe distance from car doors nonetheless and disregard such markings to do so. [20] However riding on the margin of the bike lane places a cyclist in increased proximity to overtaking vehicles and also at risk of being squeezed closer into the doorzone. Other advocates therefore instruct bicyclists to take control of the full travel lane and adopt "vehicular cycling", to avoid dooring, considering this to be the safest position overall. [21]
Also to avoid doorings, bicyclists are advised to exercise vigilance, scan for the presence or likelihood of an occupied parked or stopped vehicle. Risk is increased especially in areas and at times of high parking turnover, on main arteries, during morning and evening commutes, and in retail, restaurant and entertainment districts with parallel parking. Bicyclists are also advised to assure their visibility to motorists and in mirrors both day and night by the use of bright and reflective clothing, vests, reflectors and front lights. Marked caution, slow speed and preparedness to brake when in the door zone are also counselled. [22]
Motorists and passengers – both front and rear – may be able to make dooring less likely by practising the "Dutch Reach" [23] [24] [25] – opening the car door by reaching across the body with the more distant hand [23] [26] which promotes a shoulder check – out and back – to scan for cyclists and other oncoming traffic.
Reaching across turns one's upper body and head outward. It encourages drivers and front passengers to use the side wing mirror, [27] look out to the side and then over one's shoulder to scan for traffic before opening. [28] Once the door is partly opened, as one leans out one's over-the-shoulder view is now clear, no longer limited by side pillar or door frame. [29] [30] Reaching across helps to curb wide, sudden opening as a further safeguard against dooring. [31]
Even as the maneuver is becoming known elsewhere as the "Dutch Reach", in the Netherlands driving instructors and driving school companies refer to it by description and not by a name. [32] [33] The far hand move is not literally specified by Dutch traffic code to pass the safe parking section of the road test. Rather, Dutch regulations for licensing set two standards to ensure safe exiting of vehicles to protect vulnerable road users (VRUs), viz: Articles 4e and 6a. [34] [35] As fewer than half of Dutch license applicants pass the examination on first attempt, [36] some but not all Dutch driving instructors and texts [37] for the theory examination teach the far hand maneuver as most assured to demonstrate safe exiting on both the written and road tests. [38] [32] [33]
The reach method is likely less practiced by Dutch motorists today than in the 1960s–1980s when Dutch road fatalities numbered in the thousands [39] and prompted the Stop de Kindermoord protest movement [40] [41] to end the carnage. Anecdotal reports date the 'reach across' practice to that era. But public awareness of the method in the Netherlands extends at least back to 1961. [42] [43] [44] Since then bicycling in the Netherlands is much safer. Innovative and extensive infrastructure improvements, separate and protected cycle tracks, [45] strict driver education and testing, popular use of bicycles for daily transport and dedication to road safety, [46] all contributed to its dramatic decline in road injuries and fatalities. Yet dooring injuries and even fatalities in the Netherlands still occur, [47] and the far hand method is still taught, though public awareness of it and its practice in the Netherlands has waned. [48] [49]
As noted above, the far hand technique does not have a Dutch name, but in 2016 an American physician in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, coined the term to promote [50] the Dutch method which was little known in the United States. [26] [51] [52] The "Dutch Reach" coinage reflects that the method was common to the Netherlands [53] [54] before being 'imported' to the U.S. It was described as a Dutch road safety measure in the American mainstream press in 2011 by the New York Times [55] and the Boston Globe in 2013. [46]
The method can be traced beyond northern Europe starting in the 2010s. From 2011 to 2016 several bicycle advocacy organizations and road safety agencies in the United States, Canada and Australia added advisories or launched anti-dooring campaigns which included or featured the far hand countermeasure. In New Haven, Connecticut, it was variously called the "Amsterdam", "European cities'" or "reach-across" method (2013). [56] In Fort Collins, Colorado, it became the "Opposite Hand Trick" (2014). [57] However the tip remained nameless in San Francisco, California (2015); [58] Montreal (2014), [59] and Vancouver (2016), [60] Canada; New Zealand (2015); [61] and Victoria, Australia (2012). [62] In Australia two slogans have emerged to prompt the habit: "Lead with your left" [63] (origin uncertain); and "Always Cross Check", [64] devised by a road safety organization.
In early 2017 the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (UK) endorsed the Dutch Reach as the recommended road safety practice to avoid dooring collisions. [65] In 2019, the National Safety Council (U.S.) and American Automobile Association began including the far hand reach in their respective defensive driving and novice driver course materials [66] [67] and road safety programs. [68] [69] [70] National, state and local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations have played an important part in promoting the measure. These include: We Are Cycling UK; [71] the League of American Bicyclists; [72] the Bicycle Network (AUS); [73] the Cycling Action Network (New Zealand); [74] New York Bicycle Coalition; [75] Bicycle Friendly Driver Program of Fort Collins, Colorado; [76] MassBike and Somerville Bicycle Committee. [77]
Other governments are now adding the 'reach' to driver's manuals and education, taxi and for-hire ridesharing regulations, and road safety campaigns. Examples include: Great Britain, [78] [79] Commonwealth of Massachusetts, [80] Illinois, [81] Washington state, [82] Pennsylvania, [83] South Australia, [84] Washington D.C., [85] [86] City of London, [87] Berlin, [88] New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission, [89] Cambridge, Massachusetts, [90] and Burbank, California. [91] In 2018, Addison Lee launched its own anti-dooring far hand reach campaign branding it 'the Addison Lean'. [92] In April 2019 Lyft, a U.S. TNC[ clarification needed ] implemented automatic in-app push notifications to prompt its drivers and clients in 22 U.S. cities to use the Dutch Reach when exiting. [93] [94] Uber followed one month later with a pilot Dutch Reach education program for its users & drivers in four North American cities. [95] Some police departments, [96] [97] [98] [99] hospitals, motor vehicle insurance companies, [100] transportation management companies [101] and personal injury law firms have also begun promoting the method.
Until 2018, the scientific safety literature had been silent on the relative merits or flaws of near hand versus far hand egress from vehicles. However a human factors research paper Validating the Dutch Reach [102] presented at the 7th International Cycling Safety Conference [103] in October 2018, found initial evidence for its safety advantage. In 2019 British automaker Aston Martin introduced a reversed door latch lever [104] in its Vantage sports car whose ergonomic design strongly favors far-hand use for opening while making the near hand habit awkward.
Several automakers and automotive technology companies have introduced or are now developing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to help prevent doorings. Technologies include use of external onboard cameras and sensors, seat buckles, or GPS data, computer recognition software etc. linked to sound or light signals or door operation to alert or warn drivers and/or cyclists, or forestall door opening. [105] [106] [107]
At least one auto-parts supplier has developed an automatic detection system to prevent or warn the user before opening the car door if a bicycle is approaching. [108]
However, the introduction of automatically folding side view mirrors may increase the risk of dooring should the mirrors retract before the occupants exit the vehicle. [109]
It is difficult to find statistics on the incidence of door zone fatalities, serious injuries, and collisions as the type of accident is often not recorded consistently from city to city. However, an analysis of Chicago, USA bike crashes found that there were 344 reported dooring crashes reported in 2011, for a rate of 0.94 doorings per day. Doorings made up 19.7% of all reported bike crashes. The number of additional doorings that occurred without being reported is unknown. [110] In 2016, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency in America reported that for the period 2012–2015, doorings of bicyclists constituted 16% of injurious or fatal bike-vehicle incidents in which the cyclist was likely not at fault. [111] A 2015 study for the City of Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada found that doorings accounted for 15.2% of all bike collisions [112] and was the foremost cause of bike-vehicle collision injuries which resulted in hospital emergency department treatment (22%) – not including additional injury incidents due to dooring avoidant swerve crashes requiring emergency treatment. [113]
In Toronto, "motorist opens door in path of cyclist" collisions were 11.9% of all reported car/bike collisions in 2003; [114] however, it is difficult to determine exactly how many bicycle accidents and serious injuries are attributed to dooring because the Ontario Ministry of Transportation does not classify dooring as a collision, and therefore these numbers are not regularly reported alongside other types of bicycle accidents. There are reports that in Toronto alone, dooring incidents increased by 58% in the three-year period between 2014 and 2016. [115] Eight percent of serious injuries to cyclists in London in 2007 were caused by cyclists swerving to avoid opening car doors. [116] In the Australian state of Victoria between 2006 and 2010, car door openings caused eight percent of serious injuries to cyclists. [117]
Relative to other collisions such as getting rear ended, getting doored is less risky: "80.04% of those cyclists who were doored were injured, while 94.40% of those in non-dooring crashes were injured." [110] Also, getting doored itself usually is not fatal; rather, most serious door-zone-related injuries are sustained by getting hit by a motor vehicle after colliding with or swerving to avoid the obstructing door. Thus, most dooring deaths and serious injuries occur in the travel lane and not in the door zone.
As with other dooring statistics, even fatalities are often under-reported as, for example, secondary collisions after door avoidant swerves may not be recognized by authorities, the media, witnesses or perpetrators as due to a dooring incident. Also, in some jurisdictions, dooring is not officially considered a motor vehicle collision if the vehicle is parked. [118] Informal logs of dooring fatalities based on found media reports have been maintained on the internet. An annotated, international memorial spreadsheet with entries from 1987 to the present is currently maintained by an American cycling safety advocate. [119]
In New York City, 3% (7 out of 225) of bicyclist fatalities in the ten-year period between 1996 and 2005 were from striking an open door or swerving to avoid one. [120] In London, three people were killed in car door opening incidents between 2010 and 2012. [116] In two peer reviewed studies, 124 deaths in London during 1985–1992, [121] and 142 deaths in New Zealand during 1973–1978, [122] none of the fatalities occurred in door opening incidents. While there were 1112 collisions caused by opening doors in the Australian state of Victoria between 2000 and 2010, the first fatality occurred in March 2010. [123]
In a comparison of Santa Barbara (without bike lanes) to Davis, California (with bike lanes), 8% of the car-bike collisions in Santa Barbara involved an opening door, whereas Davis had none. [124]
Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other type of cycle. It encompasses the use of human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world for purposes including transport, recreation, exercise, and competitive sport.
Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures used to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured. Typical road users include pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, vehicle passengers, and passengers of on-road public transport.
Effective Cycling is a trademarked cycling educational program designed by John Forester, which was the national education program of the League of American Wheelmen for a number of years until Forester withdrew permission for them to use the name.
Bicycle law in California is the parts of the California Vehicle Code that set out the law for persons cycling in California, and a subset of bicycle law in the United States. In general, pretty much all the same rights and responsibilities that apply to car drivers apply to bicycle riders as well.
Bike lanes (US) or cycle lanes (UK) are types of bikeways (cycleways) with lanes on the roadway for cyclists only. In the United Kingdom, an on-road cycle-lane can be firmly restricted to cycles or advisory. In the United States, a designated bicycle lane or class II bikeway (Caltrans) is always marked by a solid white stripe on the pavement and is for 'preferential use' by bicyclists. There is also a class III bicycle route, which has roadside signs suggesting a route for cyclists, and urging sharing the road. A class IV separated bike way (Caltrans) is a bike lane that is physically separate from motor traffic and restricted to bicyclists only.
John Forester was an English-American industrial engineer, specializing in bicycle transportation engineering. A cycling activist, he was known as "the father of vehicular cycling", for creating the Effective Cycling program of bicycle training along with its associated book of the same title, and for coining the phrase "the vehicular cycling principle" – "Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles". His published works also included Bicycle Transportation: A Handbook for Cycling Transportation Engineers.
Vehicular cycling is the practice of riding bicycles on roads in a manner that is in accordance with the principles for driving in traffic, and in a way that places responsibility for safety on the individual.
Bicycle safety is the use of road traffic safety practices to reduce risk associated with cycling. Risk can be defined as the number of incidents occurring for a given amount of cycling. Some of this subject matter is hotly debated: for example, which types of cycling environment or cycling infrastructure is safest for cyclists. The merits of obeying the traffic laws and using bicycle lighting at night are less controversial. Wearing a bicycle helmet may reduce the chance of head injury in the event of a crash.
A bicycle boulevard, sometimes referred to as a neighborhood greenway, neighborway, neighborhood bikeway or neighborhood byway is a type of bikeway composed of a low-speed street which has been "optimized" for bicycle traffic. Bicycle boulevards discourage cut-through motor-vehicle traffic but may allow local motor-vehicle traffic at low speeds. They are designed to give priority to bicyclists as through-going traffic. They are intended as a low-cost, politically popular way to create a connected network of streets with good bicyclist comfort and/or safety.
Cycling is the second-most common mode of transport in the Netherlands, with 36% of Dutch people listing the bicycle as their most frequent way of getting around on a typical day, as opposed to the car (45%) and public transport (11%). Cycling has a modal share of 27% of all trips nationwide. In cities this is even higher, such as Amsterdam which has 38%, and Zwolle 46%. This high frequency of bicycle travel is enabled by excellent cycling infrastructure such as cycle paths, cycle tracks, protected intersections, ample bicycle parking and by making cycling routes shorter and more direct than car routes.
A shared lane marking, shared-lane marking, or sharrow is a street marking installed at various locations worldwide, such as New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Spain, and the United States. This marking is placed in the travel lane to indicate where people should preferably cycle.
Cycling in New York City is associated with mixed cycling conditions that include dense urban proximities, relatively flat terrain, congested roadways with stop-and-go traffic, and streets with heavy pedestrian activity. The city's large cycling population includes utility cyclists, such as delivery and messenger services; cycling clubs for recreational cyclists; and increasingly commuters. Cycling is increasingly popular in New York City; in 2018 there were approximately 510,000 daily bike trips, compared with 170,000 daily bike trips in 2005.
Toronto, Ontario, like many North American cities, has slowly been expanding its purpose-built cycling infrastructure. The number of cyclists in Toronto has been increasing progressively, particularly in the city's downtown core. As cycling conditions improve, a cycling culture has grown and alternatives such as automobiles are seen as less attractive. The politics of providing resources for cyclists, particularly dedicated bike lanes, has been contentious, particularly since the 2010s.
Cycling in Illinois encompasses recreation, bikeways, laws and rules, and advocacy. The director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Joel Brunsvold, explained Illinois cycling opportunities: “Bicycle riding is one of the most popular outdoor recreational activities in Illinois, enjoyed by young and old alike...Illinois has a variety of trails for the public to enjoy. The terrain includes flat prairie land to rolling hills, towering bluffs to the breathtaking river and lakefront views.” Many communities across the state are updating bicycle infrastructure in order to accommodate the increased number of cyclists on the roads.
Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by motorists are also cycling infrastructure, except where cyclists are barred such as many freeways/motorways. It includes amenities such as bike racks for parking, shelters, service centers and specialized traffic signs and signals. The more cycling infrastructure, the more people get about by bicycle.
The Bicycles May Use Full Lane sign, also referred to as BMUFL or R4-11, is a traffic sign used in the United States to:
The Idaho stop is the common name for laws that allow bicyclists to treat a stop sign as a yield sign, and a red light as a stop sign. It first became law in Idaho in 1982, but was not adopted elsewhere until Delaware adopted a limited stop-as-yield law, the "Delaware Yield", in 2017. Arkansas was the second US state to legalize both stop-as-yield and red-light-as-stop in April 2019. Studies in Delaware and Idaho have shown significant decreases in crashes at stop-controlled intersections. In France and Belgium, some intersections use red-light-as-yield signs.
A protected intersection or protected junction, also known as a Dutch-style junction, is a type of at-grade road junction in which cyclists and pedestrians are separated from cars. The primary aim of junction protection is to help pedestrians and cyclists be and feel safer at road junctions.
There is debate over the safety implications of cycling infrastructure. Recent studies generally affirm that segregated cycle tracks have a better safety record between intersections than cycling on major roads in traffic. Furthermore, cycling infrastructure tends to lead to more people cycling. A higher modal share of people cycling is correlated with lower incidences of cyclist fatalities, leading to a "safety in numbers" effect though some contributors caution against this hypothesis. On the contrary, older studies tended to come to negative conclusions about mid-block cycle track safety.
The city of Madrid has been increasing in the last years its network of bicycle paths. In 2016, there were 195 km of cycling routes. The former city council had been planning to build 400 km more for the year 2024 despite a very vocal opposition to the construction of segregated infrastructure by a significant part of the local cycling community. However now with the new right wing mayor elected in 2019 the city is set to be the only capital in the world where bicycle lanes are being removed again.
The accidents mainly happen because the vehicle occupants are not making sure that the road is clear before opening the door. Visibility problems due to visual obstruction i.e., from bodywork or pillars of the vehicle were not found to be a major factor in these accidents.
One of the most common causes of bike crashing is a stopped motorist who suddenly opens a door into the path of an approaching rider.... The best way to prevent this is to avoid pedaling in the "door zone"—the three- to five-foot area next to a parked car.
A typical dooring law requires that a person opening a vehicle door ensure that it is reasonably safe to open the door, that opening the door will not interfere with moving traffic, and that the door is not open for any more time than necessary.
No person shall open the door of a vehicle on the side available to moving traffic unless it is reasonably safe to do so and can be done without interfering with the movement of such traffic..."
Opening of doors: It shall be prohibited to open the door of a vehicle, it open, or to alight from the vehicle without having made to do so cannot endanger other road-users.
A typical dooring law requires that a person opening a vehicle door ensure that it is reasonably safe to open the door, that opening the door will not interfere with moving traffic, and that the door is not open for any more time than necessary.
That alarming figure comes from a survey of 1,000 drivers from across the UK carried out by eBikes Direct, which has also exposed how ill-informed some drivers are when it comes to what cyclists can and can't do on the road.
...over a third (35 percent) of British drivers don't bother to check behind them before opening their car door on a road.
the survey revealed that 59.5% of drivers never check behind them before opening their doors.
When you're getting into or out of the car, you should:...
If the existing laws regarding driver behaviour are not currently effective or not actively enforced, it is essential that these laws are reviewed to ensure that cyclists are judicially protected.
Driver behaviour is a significant factor in cyclist-opened vehicle door crashes ... To change the habits of many drivers will require extensive investment in behaviour change and driver education campaigns.
manoeuvre involves drivers opening the door with the hand furthest away from the car door, forcing them to lean across and look into their wing mirror
Note: Dutch Reach diagram in Step 3 shows partially opened car door with clear field of vision rearward between door frame and car pillar.
When you use your far hand, you can't fling the door open.
Artikel 4e. het permanent rekening te houden met (mogelijke) andere weggebruikers, in het bijzonder kwetsbare weggebruikers als voetgangers, fietsers e.d;
Artikel 6a. het op juiste en veilige wijze in- of uitstappen;
AMSTERDAM Aantal 1e examens: 11.750; Gemiddeld slagingspercentage (1e examen): 41 – 45 %
Uitstappen: Uitstappen moet uiteraard ook veilig gebeuren: kijk...[Getting out must, of course, also be done safely: so first look at the traffic approaching from the front. Then look in the rear view mirror, left outside mirror and left side (blind spot) to the following traffic. If it is safe, hold the door with your left hand on the handle and open the door with your right hand as far as you need and get out. Then immediately close the door and walk towards the sidewalk or sidewalk facing the approaching traffic. Passengers can enter and exit safest on the sidewalk side.]
Handelen bij uitstappen en weglopen van de auto ...
In late 1972, a strong 'Stop de Kindermoord' (stop the child murder) campaign was started in the Netherlands, aimed at urban planning and legal fixes to transportation design and transportation laws that resulted in many kids being killed by cars (over 400 kids were reportedly killed in one year from automobiles).
EEN roede tip: open het LINKERportier steeds met uw RECHTERhand en het RECHTERportier met uw LINKERhand. Dan moet u zich wel omdraaien. Zullen wij ons dat aanwennen? Een kleine moeite, en u zult zien dat het aantal ongevallen door plotseling opengeworpen portieren snel afneemt.[A good tip: always open the LEFT door with your RIGHT hand and the RIGHT door with your LEFT hand. Then you have to turn around. Shall we get used to that? A small effort.]
De heer S. V. te Rotterdam geeft een goede „tip" betreffende het openen van het linkerportier ...[Mr. SV in Rotterdam gives a good 'tip' regarding opening the left-hand door of a car, that is the door on the roadside. He says: 'Never open the door with your left hand but with your right hand, since then your body has to turn to the left in such a way that you get a better view of the following traffic, in particular cyclists and mopeds.']
Om voor het uitstappen ...[In order to be able to observe the traffic approaching from behind, many people often wriggle into a difficult twist, while this can easily be done by opening the left-hand door with the right hand and the right-hand door with the left hand. You then automatically turn around and get a good view to the rear.]
Every year about 75,000 cyclists are injured on Dutch Roads. At least 200 of those involve car doors.
I called eight driving schools across the country. Two had heard of the manoeuver in which a driver opens the door with their right hand, to force them to look behind themselves to check for cyclists. Six had not.
Wir schätzen, dass etwa die Hälfte aller Fahrlehrer in den Niederlanden diese Methode unterrichten, sagt Martijn van Es....['We estimate that about half of all driving instructors in the Netherlands teach this method,' says Martijn van Es. He works for the Fietsersbond, which represents the interests of cyclists in the Netherlands. However, he did not learn the Dutch grip in driving school, says van Es.]
Herein reported as first inclusion of 'Dutch Reach' method in a USA state's driver's manual, and introduces it as novel to NPR national audience.
'It's just what Dutch people do,' said Fred Wegman ...
... practices from countries with high cycling participation rate such as Denmark and the Netherlands could be adopted (e.g., van Leeuwen, 2006). Such examples may include when parallel parked: opening door with 'other' hand (left in Australia) to encourage drivers to twist in their seat and head check before opening the door;
always open your door with your right hand, so you automatically look over your shoulder ...
Always check carefully for cyclists before you open your door.Using your left hand to open the door will turn your shoulders ...
'It's called "lead with your left", which makes you turn just enough to see what's coming behind you,' she told 774 ABC Melbourne.
Always Cross Check!
AAA and the National Safety Council will teach the Dutch Reach technique in safety classes starting in January.
Developed by FC Bikes in collaboration with Bike Fort Collins
To avoid 'dooring' a bicyclist, never open a car door without first checking for passing traffic. One example of checking for traffic is the 'Dutch Reach.'
Using the hand farthest from the door to open it. That way, you will have to rotate your body, making it easier to check your blind spot.
There are two products planned, based around a similar system, triggered by the unbuckling of a seatbelt. This starts a 'lighting sequence' in the lights placed around the rear window and side mirrors.
Zudem weist Lesch darauf hin, dass Autofahrer vor dem Aussteigen natürlich auch in den Seitenspiegel schauen müssen. „Bei manchen Fahrzeug-Modellen gibt es allerdings das Problem, dass sich der anklappbare Seitenspiegel bereits vor dem Aussteigen einfährt", warnt der Sprecher.[Lesch also points out that drivers must of course also look in the side mirror before getting out. 'With some vehicle models, however, there is the problem that the folding side mirror retracts before you get out,' warns the spokesman.]
Cycling Savvy Instructor John Brooking has compiled a list of 43 dooring fatalities, with names, dates and a narrative describing each crash.