Add ‘Dutch Reach’ to Your Official Driver’s Manual! (1)

Once in your state's manual, the Reach will enter your local driver education curricula.  License applicants with learner permits, driver education programs and instructors all rely on the state's driver's manual as their guide book.

Rules and laws of the road, proper and safe driving and parking practices, signaling, signage, infrastructure and driver responsibilities are all taught in the manual.  It is required study to obtain a drivers license.  In addition, state manuals are also the public reference guide to traffic enforcement, insurance penalty risk, and civil liability awareness for previously licensed motor vehicle operators.  

Once in the manual, bicycle and road sharing advocates can cite its authority in anti- dooring campaigns promoting the Dutch Reach and other safety measures.

The Dutch Reach Project proposed inclusion of the Reach in the Driver Manual to the Massachusetts RMV's Director of Licensing Steve Evans in the fall of 2016.  We provided supporting information and documentation to make the case.   All of which material -- and more such since -- may be found on this, the Project's website.  To assist efforts elsewhere, a selection of such materials are found below.

 

The obvious safety advantages of the far hand habit, in contrast to the near hand convention, were readily appreciated by Director Evans.  Historical and more recent precedents, examples of campaigns, expert endorsements, and the viral and enthusiastic 'discovery' of the Dutch Reach across the globe, were also presented.  

Early this year, Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Richard Fries, allied bicycle and road safety advocates and legislators also voiced support and established contact with the Licensing Division. A delegation subsequently met with  RMV officials in February and held a productive discussion about other road sharing issues deserving increased driver guidance.    

After internal review the decision was taken to recommend its inclusion pending necessary bureaucratic and practical considerations. In short order, funding to expand the manual for the Reach and other amendments was appropriated.  The Dutch Reach is now part of the Rules of the Road / Parking section of the 2017 MA Drivers Manual, on page 109.

The Dutch Reach amendment to the manual proved an easy 'ask'.  It met a ready reception at the RMV.  This request also set in motion the February meeting and a wider exchange of concerns.  That discussion has  now led to further road-sharing safety progress.   A new RMV driver training video on how to share the road with bicyclists and pedestrians was proposed and is now near completion.  It is expected to be released shortly.

 

*NOTE:  The diagram illustrating the manual's Dutch Reach text was adapted from the City of Cambridge, MA  pamphlet:  Cambridge Street Code - Rules & Etiquette for Getting There Together (2016) p.9.  It was produced for Cambridge Vision Zero.   Community Development Department, graphic artist Marie Macchiarolo designed the Code booklet including the Dutch Reach diagram.  Her graphic serves as the signature image for the Dutch Reach Project website & its twitter avatar.  A left-to-right flipped version was provided to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (UK) and illustrates RoSPA's February 2017 advisory approving the Dutch Reach.  The diagram is in the public domain for all to use. Crediting Ms. Macchiarolo and the City of Cambridge is a well-deserved courtesy!]

Exploring this website you can find a plethora of documents, graphics, videos, media reports and links to support inclusion of the Reach in your state's driver's manual.  In Massachusetts, the most difficult part was finding a who and how to contact the appropriate office and official who oversees driver licensing and keeps the manual current.  Once communicated, the method practically sold itself.  But substantive information and supportive materials must be provided

Here are useful links:

Dutch Reach Project

Website:  www.dutchreach.org

Sample Letter to Transportation Safety Officials:

This Dutch Reach Project's Sample Letter explains the method and anti-dooring need, and details 10 safety advantages of the far hand Reach method to the near hand's use.  The Letter requests consideration of the Dutch Reach for agency review, approval and promotion.  It is a rather dense letter written with transportation safety experts in mind, but adapt it as you will!

Prior & new professional or governmental approval and promotion of the far hand method:

The Netherlands

Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (UK) - Dutch Reach advisory (2017)

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA. - State Driver's Manual, Revised 4/2017, p. 109.

San Francisco, CA - LUVDS video at minute 14:30 ; New Haven, CT;  Chicago, IL - Flier; Fort Collins, CO - Bicycle Friendly Driver Program; Cambridge, MA - Cambridge Street Code, p. 9.; Somerville, MA - SBAC 2016 Annual Report, p 10 & photos at bottom.

VicRoads, State of Victoria, Australia - Safety Tips for Drivers & Passengers (2012) [nb: AU is a Left side of road country].

Albany Police Department Academy (City of Albany, New York State, USA),  Share the Road (Part 1), video to train law enforcement and the public about state road sharing laws and recommended safety practices. The two part video set was produced in collaboration with New York Bicycling Coalition and the NYS Governor's Traffic Safety Committee.  Posted on Vimeo: 27 July 2017.

The U.S. Governors Highway Safety Association recommends the Dutch Reach method as a best practice safety tip in its newest report A Right to the Road: Understanding & Addressing Bicyclist Safety.  An inset on the Dutch Reach method appears on page 58 of the study. (August 2017)

Road Safety Campaigns & Endorsements by Advocacy Groups:  

Une Porte Une Vie, Montreal, Ca; MassBike, contact Richard Fries, Exec. Dir., Boston Cyclists Union, Washington Area Bicycle Association, DC; League of American Bicyclists (LAB) - contact Ken McLeod, Policy Dir.; Vision Zero SF; We Are Cycling, UK;

 

Video demonstrations with Reach method included or featured;

Featuring the Dutch Reach:  in English / in Other languages

Including the far hand method:  San Francisco MTA's Large Urban Vehicle Driver Safety video [Reach at minute 14:30]; & Uber's Sharing the Road with Bicycles video for its San Francisco drivers. [Reach presented in first of four shorts.] The SF Bicycle Coalition consulted on both productions.

Instructive Graphics:

Miscellaneous media and prominent endorsements advancing the Reach method: