United Kingdom & Left Side Driving Nations

Ford & Gillett Go Dutch in Australia

Ford Australia & Amy Gillett Foundation to teach the Dutch Reach.  Driving Skills for Life program teaches young drivers to share road with cyclists, by Robbie Wallis, GoAuto.com.AU, 18 Sept 2019.

Ford funds driver training to teach young drivers safety skills, with new emphasis on road sharing with cyclists. Drive.com.au, Sept 2019.

The Telegraph UK

How to do the Dutch Reach (and potentially save someone's life), by Hugh Morris, The Telegraph, 14 Dec 2018. [Free registration required to read.]

Cymraeg / Welsh Dutch Reach

Osgoi agor eich drws ar feiciau trwy wneud y #DutchReach Defnyddiwch eich llaw gyferbyn i agor y drws - mae hyn yn eich gorfodi i edrych y tu ôl i chi gyntaf cyn gadael y cerbyd. #WythnosDiogelwchFfyrdd2018. Welsh version for Wales of Brake Charity Road Safety Week 2018 graphic flier PSA for Dutch Reach method of avoiding car dooring crashes.

Avoid opening your door on bikes by doing the #DutchReach. Use your opposite hand to open the door - this forces you to look behind you first before leaving the vehicle.  Be Bike Smart, Road Safety Week, UK; Brake Charity, Nov 2018. Adnoddau yn Gymraeg | Resources in Welsh

City of London Police


Two cyclists felled by one dooring, Adelaide, AUS

Instargram video of night-time domino dooring as following cyclist crashes into just doored predecessor. Unknown location; 8 Jan 2018. [Noted 9 Apr 2019].

UK ROAD SAFETY WEEK 2018  --  NOV 19 - 26

The Dutch Reach - UK Version

Dutch Reach for left-side of road driving countries. Adapted Boston Globe graphic by B&R for Road Safety Week 2018. Full post here.

Egress for Cyclist Safety

By Integrated Transport Planning, Birmingham, England, UK.

A Safer Way to Open - Dutch Reach graphic for UK, Bos. Globe.

Dutch Reach - Australia

Dutch far hand reach anti dooring method for left side of road drivers & driving countries. Drivers use inside or left hand to open car door to swivel to see approaching bicyclists.

How the 'Dutch reach' could help drivers protect cyclists from 'dooring', by Michael O'Reilly, Executive Style, Jan 20 2017. Australia.

UK Dutch Reach GIF

Renault Advisory

Open the car door with the wrong hand. Britons also call it the 'Dutch Reach' and now want to include this in their driving lesson program. Purpose: to prevent accidents.

Compulsory costs: Dutch Reach, My Renault - Dutch Reach advisory, March 2019. Translated from the Dutch; graphic reversed. Click to enlarge.

UK Dooring Law & Gaps

The law for cyclists hit by vehicle doors, by Yolanda Law, solicitor, Bolt Burdon Kemp, for Cyclists' Defense Fund, UK.

Bicycle Network, AUS

Dutch Reach Poem to Music, UK

Poem set to music for Road Safety describe the dutch far hand reach anti dooring method, drum accompaniment

Murray Lachlan Young's Dutch Reach Poem, Sounds, BBC, UK. 3 Apr 2019. Clickhere for article, audio, transcript.

Major British press outlets media cover the addition of theDutch Reach far hand anti dooring method to the driving rules. October 2018.

he Guardian, Daily Mail, The Sunday Times Driving & the Independent report UK Highway Code updates (Oct 2018).  Click image to expand & links for articles.

UK DfT to Add Dutch Reach to Highway Code

Department for Transport adds far hand anti dooring method & close pass advisories to new Highway Code, to save cyclist lives.

'Dutch Reach' Car Door Opening Technique Added To Britain's Road Rules, by Carlton Reid, Oct 17, 2018, Forbes.com, Click image/here for story.  See also UK.Gov release.

Dutch Reach anti dooring maneuver, Safe Pass a advisories to be added to British Highway code. Wide media news coverage .

Widening coverage of UK HIghway Code Update. Click here to expand. Links to articles: Cyclist, BBC News, AutoExpress, Bicycling - with new driver safety video.

Cycling UK's '6 Policies' Campaign includes Dutch Reach

Cycling UK sets out six simple policy changes for the Government The 'Cycling safety: make it simple' campaign is asking the government to make its key areas of change a priority KIERAN HOWELLS APR 25, 2018

We Are Cycling UK and families of cyclists killed, call for six policy changes. Read article & view Cycling UK's campaign campaign announcement & video.. 25 April 2018.

Cycling UK: 'Sam Says' Anti Dooring Campaign

Sticker: Stop before you open the door. Check for cyclists. Sam Boulton's family, We Are Cycling UK launch Dutch Reach lobbying effort in United Kingdom based on dooring victim, artist, father, Sam Boulton's tragic death due to heedless passenger exiting taxi.

'Sam Says' anti dooring campaign announced by Cycling UK charity, with vehicle window sticker to check for cyclists, & a video asking the Dept for Transport to make Dutch Reach an official driving manual instruction. Click image for article & video.

UK Window Repair Co. Knows!

Dutch Reach: the technique encourages people to use their arm furthest from the door to open with. This means reaching across your body to get to the handle, forcing you to turn as you do so and therefore making you look behind you or into the mirror where you would spot a cyclist.

Car Dooring – What It Is & How To Avoid It, Wind Screen Co. June 2018. Dutch Reach for left hand side-of-road driving nations. Read full article here; click to enlarge.

Update of UK Highway Code Overdue

Major British cycling advocacy organization calls for overhaul of UK Highway Code to address bicycling safety concerns.

Inclusion of the the 'Dutch Reach" The above recommendation was one of over 80 we made in our 'Cycle safety: make it simple' response to the Department for Transport's Cycle Safety Review.. Click image or here for article. We Are Cycling UK, 5 July 2018

City of London, UK: Cabs to Reach 'Dutch'

We will look to advertise the ‘Dutch Reach’ approach, using the far hand when opening doors, which makes looking behind natural. We will reinforce the message through collaboration with the taxi driver groups and articles in taxi driver magazines.

Road Danger Reduction and Active Travel Plan, 2018-2023, [pdf] City of London Corporation, UK, includes Dutch Reach training for hackney carriage drivers & passengers (p. 47) to help achieve London Vision Zero. City will also work with major ride-share companies Addison Lee, Green Tomato & Uber to teach the 'reach'.  Related road.cc coverage of Plan here.

‘Why wouldn’t you make cycling safer?’ Cycling UK asks government


Cycling UK pleads six simple actions for safety: 1) Reform offenders before re-licensing 2) Separate bike lanes from traffic, 3) Standardize infrastructure, 4) Require wrap-around cab windows for lorries 5) Restore traffic enforcement staffing, and 6) Add the Dutch Reach to traffic code. Read road.cc article here.

THE GUARDIAN - 11 September 2017

Encourage 'Dutch reach' to stop cyclists' car-door deaths, says charity

Photo from The Guardian article 11 Sept. 2017 on anti dooring campaign promoting the Dutch Reach by a charity founded by parents of Sam Boulton of Leicester who died when a carelessly opened car door caused fatal collision.

Cycling UK is seeking greater awareness about the dangers car doors can pose to cyclists. Photograph: Hym/Imagebroker/Rex/Shutterstock

Cycling UK says Netherlands’ method for opening car doors with the far hand makes drivers and passengers look behind them.

RoSPA - BBC NEWS - EUROPE - 11 September, 2017

Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents UK
Video:

Young woman walks her bicycle beside a parked car, tells how she was doored, injured - follows video re-enactment of her crash / accident hitting carelessly opened car door. This sets up the short educational video How to do the Dutch Reach by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents UK.

Click image for RoSPA Dutch Reach video presented by BBC News.

How to do the 'Dutch reach'

And how it could save someone's life.

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-41201002/how-to-do-the-dutch-reach

RoSPA: 10,000 Driving Instructors to be Advised

The Telegraph UK - in depth on Dooring

Hugh Morris article on joint RoSPA & Cycling UK's anti-dooring campaign launced Sept. 11, 2017. RoSPA announces it will train its 10,000 driving instructor member to use and teach the Dutch Reach habit to new drivers.

The Telegraph UK reports on RoSPA & We Are Cycling UK's Dutch Reach anti-dooring campaign - 11 Sept 2017. Click to view full article.

RoSPA Adopts Dutch Reach

"Approved by RoSPA" emblem to note the RoSPA endorsed the Dutch Reach in an advisory issued February 1, 2017 in UK.

Dutch Reach approved by RoSPA February 1, 2017. See RoSPA's advisory here.

UK - The Telegraph: Dutch Reach No Laughing Matter.

How opening your car door like the Dutch could save someone's life

by Hugh Morris for The Telegraph, UK
8 February 2017

DUTCH REACH APPROVED BY ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS.

Feb 1, 2017,
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), UK has endorsed the Dutch Reach Method as a recommended best traffic safety practice.  RoSPA published by web its expert finding of safety advantage.  It points out that the far hand reach method provides a continuous view of on-coming traffic whilst preparing to open and exit the motor vehicle.  It protects cyclists and exiting occupants from heedless and at times devastating harm, either by direct collision or due to dangerous swerves by bicyclists or vehicles to avoid flung open doors.

Screen shot of RoSPA's Road Safety webpage which explains & recommends the Dutch Reach Method for dooring prevention, protecting bicyclists & exiting drivers & passengers from collision.

Click image for RoSPA's page

The far hand method has been practiced in the Netherlands for about 50 years with little notice elsewhere.  Such recognition by one of the world's preeminent safety and accident prevention organizations raises this hither-to-fore nameless commonplace -- but official Dutch practice -- to new found respect and prominence.  It confers authority for its adoption well beyond the physical and linguistic borders which stalled its export, leaving it little known or neglected by the English speaking world and, as it now appears given recent globe media attention, by most every other nation as well.

Diagram shows birds eye cut-away view of a driver, such as in the UK, or a front passenger, using the far hand method to reach across one's chest to the car door latch. The motion causes the upper torso to twist, allow head to turn almost directly back over the shoulder and out back to watch for dangerous on-coming traffic before opening car door wide & exiting.

The Dutch far hand reach method naturally causes drivers or passengers to swivel & gain a clear view of on-coming traffic before fully opening & exiting the vehicle.

UK Transport Minister Doored Cyclist; Failed to Report.

Video footage has emerged of the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, knocking over a cyclist and sending his bicycle crashing into a lamppost, in an incident that left the rider in a state of shock by the roadside. News of the Dutch Reach was just emerging & was noted in a Letter to the Editor of The Guardian shortly after this incident.

UK Transport Sec. Chris Grayling revealed to have doored cyclist in Parliament Square two months earlier by bike cam. Grayling concealed his identity, failed to report, nor arrange medical help nor indemnification. Grayling blamed the victim of speeding. Click here or image, for article & video.

Letter Tells Grayling: Dutch Reach! (First UK Media Cite)

How to safely open a car door, Dutch-style. The Netherlands has found a solution to the problem of car doors and cyclists (Transport secretary knocks man off his bike, 16 December). Dutch motorists are trained to open the car door with their opposite hand. This forces the body to swivel, and your eyes to look backward, thus spotting a passing cyclist.

Letter to The Guardian in response to Chris Grayling's dooring offense, informs readers of the Dutch safety move. Likely first print appearance of the Dutch Reach in Britain - 16 Dec 2016.

Dutch Reach Sticker for UK B&W png. Credit: NM 142KB

Dutch Reach Sticker for UK 450 ppi png. Credit: NM 154KB; 450ppi

 

Safer tp Open with far hand. Dutch Reach org Project

Dutch Reach Sticker for UK B&W png. Credit: NM for DRP. 98KB

Dutch Reach Sticker for UK 150 ppi png. Credit: NM 45KB

Duych Reach Diagram, The Times of London, montage.

"NOT LOOKING" MAJOR FACTOR IN CRASHES

Contributing factors to cycling causalties in UK."As the bar graph shows, by far the largest cause of accidents involving cyclists is Rider Error Or Reaction. Within this category, the vast majority of accidents come from “driver/rider failed to look properly” - recorded as a contributory factor for over 2100 accidents. "  Source: UK vs Europe - Cycling Accident Statistics , Harry Clark, March 18, 2019, BikeParts.co.uk.