What’s the simplest thing you can do to stop a lovely day from becoming a disaster for a bicyclist?
Learn the Dutch Reach, and teach it to your family members and friends.
What’s the Dutch Reach, and what does it do?
The Dutch Reach gets its name from its origins in the Netherlands, which is very friendly to bicyclists. All it involves is having drivers and passengers in passenger vehicles reaching for their doors with their far hands and looking over their shoulders – before they open their doors into traffic. In areas where there are no
What does this do? It can prevent “dooring” accidents, which are those where a bicyclist in motion suddenly has a car or truck door swing open directly into their path. The cyclist usually ends up propelled headlong over their vehicle into the pavement very suddenly.
These kinds of accidents are particularly common in business districts, where street parking is common, but they’re really a danger anywhere there aren’t dedicated bike lanes. Cyclists are often forced to choose between riding perilously close to traffic or closer to parked cars. The injuries from such accidents can, quite understandably, be devastating, if not deadly for the cyclist. Traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord trauma and multiple broken bones are very common.
One “dooring” accident can change a cyclist’s life forever, so everybody should do their part to prevent them. Injured cyclists also need to be informed about their rights and their legal options. It can take experienced legal guidance to get fair compensation after a wreck.