Dooring

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.

A cyclist in a bike lane situated in a door zone (left) is struck when a car door is opened unexpectedly (right)

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]

Legal issues

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.^[5]

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.^[9]

Avoidance and prevention

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 35% and 60% of drivers respectively did not check for oncoming road users before opening.^[10][11]

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.^[12] 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.^[13] 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.^[14] Auxiliary side view mirrors are now available which fit on the B-pillar to assist rear-seated passengers preparing to exit.^[15]

Road safety advocates also call for greater enforcement, fines and penalties,^[16] 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.^[17]

Education

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^[18] 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.^[13] 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.^[19]

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.^[20]

Dutch Reach

The Dutch Reach – using the far hand to open a car door

Motorists and passengers – both front and rear – may be able to make dooring less likely by practising the "Dutch Reach" ^[21][22][23] – opening the car door by reaching across the body with the more distant hand^[21][24] 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,^[25] look out to the side and then over one's shoulder to scan for traffic before opening.^[26] 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.^[27][28] Reaching across helps to curb wide, sudden opening as a further safeguard against dooring.^[29]

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.^[30][31] 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.^[32][33] As fewer than half of Dutch license applicants pass the examination on first attempt,^[34] some but not all Dutch driving instructors and texts^[35] for the theory examination teach the far hand maneuver as most assured to demonstrate safe exiting on both the written and road tests.^[36][30][31]

The reach method is likely less practiced by Dutch motorists today than in the 1960s–1980s when Dutch road fatalities numbered in the thousands^[37] and prompted the Stop de Kindermoord protest movement^[38][39] 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.^[40][41][42] Since then bicycling in the Netherlands is much safer. Innovative and extensive infrastructure improvements, separate and protected cycle tracks,^[39] strict driver education and testing, popular use of bicycles for daily transport and dedication to road safety,^[43] all contributed to its dramatic decline in road injuries and fatalities. Yet dooring injuries and even fatalities in the Netherlands still occur,^[44] and the far hand method is still taught, though public awareness of it and its practice in the Netherlands has waned.^[45][46]

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^[26] the Dutch method which was little known in the United States.^[24][47][48] The "Dutch Reach" coinage reflects that the method was common to the Netherlands^[49][50] 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^[51] and the Boston Globe in 2013.^[43]

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).^[52] In Fort Collins, Colorado, it became the "Opposite Hand Trick" (2014).^[53] However the tip remained nameless in San Francisco, California (2015);^[54] Montreal (2014),^[55] and Vancouver (2016),^[56] Canada; New Zealand (2015);^[57] and Victoria, Australia (2012).^[58] In Australia two slogans have emerged to prompt the habit: "Lead with your left"^[59] (origin uncertain); and "Always Cross Check",^[60] 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.^[61] 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 ^[62][63] and road safety programs.^[64][65][66] National, state and local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations have played an important part in promoting the measure. These include: We Are Cycling UK;^[67] the League of American Bicyclists;^[68] the Bicycle Network (AUS);^[69] the Cycling Action Network (New Zealand);^[70] New York Bicycle Coalition;^[71] Bicycle Friendly Driver Program of Fort Collins, Colorado;^[72] MassBike and Somerville Bicycle Committee.^[73]

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,^[74][75] Commonwealth of Massachusetts,^[76] Illinois,^[77] Washington state,^[78] Pennsylvania,^[79] South Australia,^[80] Washington D.C.,^[81][82] City of London,^[83] Berlin,^[84] New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission,^[85] Cambridge, Massachusetts,^[86] and Burbank, California.^[87] In 2018, Addison Lee launched its own anti-dooring far hand reach campaign branding it 'the Addison Lean'.^[88] 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.^[89][90] Uber followed one month later with a pilot Dutch Reach education program for its users & drivers in four North American cities.^[91] Some police departments,^{[92][93][94][95]} hospitals, motor vehicle insurance companies,^[96] transportation management companies^[97] 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^[98] presented at the 7th International Cycling Safety Conference^[99] in October 2018, found initial evidence for its safety advantage. In 2019 British automaker Aston Martin introduced a reversed door latch lever^[100] in its Vantage sports car whose ergonomic design strongly favors far-hand use for opening while making the near hand habit awkward.

Automated systems

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.^{[101][102][103]}

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.^[104]

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.^[105]

Prevalence

Narrow bike lane concept intended to avoid door zone

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.^[106] 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.^[107] A 2015 study for the City of Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada found that doorings accounted for 15.2% of all bike collisions^[108] 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.^[109]

Collisions

In Toronto, "motorist opens door in path of cyclist" collisions were 11.9% of all reported car/bike collisions in 2003;^[110] 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.^[111] Eight percent of serious injuries to cyclists in London in 2007 were caused by cyclists swerving to avoid opening car doors.^[112] In the Australian state of Victoria between 2006 and 2010, car door openings caused eight percent of serious injuries to cyclists.^[113]

Relative risk

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."^[106] 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.

Fatalities

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.^[114] 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.^[115]

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.^[116] In London, three people were killed in car door opening incidents between 2010 and 2012.^[112] In two peer reviewed studies, 124 deaths in London during 1985–1992,^[117] and 142 deaths in New Zealand during 1973–1978,^[118] 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.^[119]

Bike lanes and door zone incidents

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.^[120]

See also

• Outline of cycling
• Cycling infrastructure
• Shared lane marking

References

1. Johnson, Marilyn (2013). "Cyclists and open vehicle doors: Crash characteristics and risk factors". Safety Science. 59: 135–140. doi:10.1016/j.ssci.2013.04.010.
2. Jänsch, M.; Otte, D.; Johannsen, H. (September 2015). "Investigation of bicycle accidents involving collisions with the opening door of parking vehicles and demands for a suitable driver assistance system" (PDF). IRCOBI Conference Proceedings 2015. p. 20. Retrieved 12 June 2019. 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.
3. Urban Systems (22 January 2015). "City of Vancouver Cycling Safety Study – Final Report" (PDF). p. 64. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
4. Bob Mionske (25 July 2016). "Don't Get Doored: How to Ride Safely Around Parked Cars". Bicycling. Retrieved 6 April 2021. 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.
5. Ken McLeod (13 January 2015). "BIKE LAW UNIVERSITY: DOORING". bikeleague.org. Retrieved 13 August 2019. 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.
6. https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/conventn/crt1968e.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
7. "California Vehicle Code section 22517". California Legislative Information. Retrieved 13 February 2018. 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..."
8. "Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, Article 24: Opening of doors" (PDF). United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. 8 November 1968. Retrieved 13 February 2018. 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.
9. "35% of drivers don't look before opening their car door, Survey highlights drivers' ignorance and bad habits". BikeRadar.com. 25 May 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2019. 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.
10. Paul Douglas (25 May 2017). "35% of drivers don't look before opening their car door". Bike Radar. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2010. ...over a third (35 percent) of British drivers don't bother to check behind them before opening their car door on a road.
11. Online Staff (25 February 2020). "Boca Raton Drivers/Cyclists Relationships Among the Best in Florida, Reveals Survey". The Boca Raton Tribune. Retrieved 28 February 2010. the survey revealed that 59.5% of drivers never check behind them before opening their doors.
12. Marilyn Johnson (10 May 2012). "Want safer cycling? Don't dismiss dooring". The Conversation US. Retrieved 12 June 2019. When you're getting into or out of the car, you should:...
13. Schimek, Paul (29 August 2018). "Where Bike Lane Design Collides with Savvy Cycling". CyclingSavvy. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
14. Joshua Dowling (6 March 2016). "The new Audi A4 is the car that could save a cyclist's life". News Corp. Australia. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
15. "An Inexpensive Solution to an Expensive and Dangerous Problem! Universal Rear View Mirrors for Cars and Taxis". Cachi Mirrors – Mirroty Incorporated. Archived from the original on 14 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
16. Johnson, Marilyn (10 May 2012). "Want safer cycling? Don't dismiss dooring". The Conversation US. Retrieved 11 June 2019. 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.
17. Johnson, Marilyn (10 May 2012). "Want safer cycling? Don't dismiss dooring". The Conversation US. Retrieved 11 June 2019. 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.
18. How To Avoid Getting Doored on YouTube
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21. "The Dutch Reach". Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. 3 February 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
22. "Chapter 4, Rules of the Road: Laws for Bicyclists and Motorists in the Presence of Bicyclists". Commonwealth of Massachusetts Revised 2020 Driver's Manual. December 2020. pp. 111–112. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
23. National Safety Council (USA) (6 June 2019). "Bicycle Safety and the Far Hand Reach (video)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
24. Annear, Steve (8 September 2016). "To avoid 'doorings', cyclist wants drivers to do the 'Dutch Reach'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
25. "Addison Lee And Laura Kenny Launch 'Addison Lean' Initiative To Protect Cyclists From 'Car Dooring'". Addison Lee. 20 June 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2018. 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
26. "This easy maneuver, borrowed from the Dutch, could be life-saving for cyclists". The World. Public Radio International. 27 September 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
27. MassDOT Dutch Reach – Scan the street for wheels and feet. on YouTube
28. "Reduce Risk: Be Alert: Doors Are Dangerous". Cambridge Street Code – Rules & Etiquette for Getting There Together (Report). Massachusetts, USA: City of Cambridge. December 2016. p. 9. Retrieved 25 June 2018. Note: Dutch Reach diagram in Step 3 shows partially opened car door with clear field of vision rearward between door frame and car pillar.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
29. Siegel, Robert (5 June 2017). "Massachusetts Goes Dutch To Protect Cyclists From Injury". All Things Considered. National Public Radio. Retrieved 25 June 2018. When you use your far hand, you can't fling the door open.
30. "Uitstappen uit de auto, Lesonderdeel Urrstappen". Rijleshulp. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
31. "How to do the 'Dutch reach' And how it could save someone's life". BBC News. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
32. "Regeling eisen praktijkexamens rijbewijscategorieën B en E bij B, Artikel 4". Overheid NL, Wet- en regelgeving (in Dutch). Overheid NL. 30 December 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2018. Artikel 4e. het permanent rekening te houden met (mogelijke) andere weggebruikers, in het bijzonder kwetsbare weggebruikers als voetgangers, fietsers e.d;
33. "Regeling eisen praktijkexamens rijbewijscategorieën B en E bij B, Artikel 6". Overheid NL, Wet- en regelgeving (in Dutch). Overheid NL. 30 December 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2018. Artikel 6a. het op juiste en veilige wijze in- of uitstappen;
34. "Rijschoolgegevens: Amsterdam, Centraal Bureau Rijvaardigheid". Rijschoolgegevens NL (in Dutch). Centraal Bureau Rijvaardigheid. 31 March 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2018. AMSTERDAM Aantal 1e examens: 11.750; Gemiddeld slagingspercentage (1e examen): 41 – 45 %
35. van Leeuwen, Geert (2006). ANWB Theorieboek Rijbewijs (in Dutch). Vol. B (2nd ed.). De Koninklijke Nederlandse Toeristenbond ANWB. p. 42. ISBN 9789018020989. Retrieved 23 August 2019. 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.]
36. "Rijles Rijprocedure B, Instappen – Uitstappen In De Lesauto". Autorij-instructie NL. 21 February 2010. Retrieved 28 June 2018. Handelen bij uitstappen en weglopen van de auto ...
37. "Factsheet: Verkeersdoden in Nederland: Hoe heeft het aantal verkeersdoden in Nederland zich sinds 1950 ontwikkeld?" [Fact Sheet: Traffic deaths in the Netherlands: How did the number of road fataliities in The Netherlands develop since 1950?]. SWOV. 2018. Figures 6 & 7. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
38. Shahan, Zachary (19 March 2014). "How did bicycling take over the Netherlands?". Treehugger. Retrieved 13 July 2018. 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).
39. "Holland in the 1970s: Dutch campaigners explain why the Netherlands is now so cycle-friendly". London Cycling Campaign. 2011. Archived from the original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
40. Wegwijzer (19 August 1961). "Hoe stapt u uit een auto? – wegwijzer naar 'een veilig land om in te wonen'". De Telegraaf (in Dutch). p. 7. Retrieved 4 September 2019 – via Delpher Newspapers NL. 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.]
41. Zylstra, J. Adama (26 February 1966). "Met Het Oog Op De Weg, De Telegraaf". De Telegraaf (in Dutch). Retrieved 22 August 2019. 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.']
42. "Openen van portieren – Reformatorisch Dagblad". Digibron NL (in Dutch). 24 July 1971. p. 12. Retrieved 22 August 2019. 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.]
43. Powers, Martine (22 September 2013). "A cyclist's mecca, with lessons for Boston". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
44. How to do the 'Dutch reach'. The Netherlands: Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. 13 September 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2019. Every year about 75,000 cyclists are injured on Dutch Roads. At least 200 of those involve car doors.
45. Quell, Molly (25 July 2019). "Yet another Dutch lifestyle craze? Nix it, stop reaching and drop it". DutchNews NL. Retrieved 22 August 2019. 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.
46. Frisse, Juliane (5 April 2019). "Der holländische Trick, der Leben rettet". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 22 August 2019. 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.]
47. Massachusetts Goes Dutch To Protect Cyclists From Injury (Radio). All Things Considered. National Public Radio. 5 June 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017. 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.
48. Bruce, Elyse (10 January 2017). "Historically Speaking – Dutch Reach". Idiomation. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
49. Mohn, Tanya (5 October 2018). "The Dutch Reach: A No-Tech Way to Save Bicyclists' Lives". The New York Times. USA. Retrieved 15 December 2018. 'It's just what Dutch people do,' said Fred Wegman ...
50. Johnson, Marilyn (2013). "Cyclists and open vehicle doors: Crash characteristics and risk factors". Safety Science. 59: 139. doi:10.1016/j.ssci.2013.04.010. ... 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;
51. Shorto, Russell (30 July 2011). "The Dutch Way: Bicycles and Fresh Bread". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
52. Macmillan, Thomas (5 August 2013). "Danger: Drivers Dooring Cyclists". New Haven, CT: New Haven Independent. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
53. "Bicycle Friendly Driver Program". City of Fort Collins, Colorado. 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
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56. "Safety campaign aims to help drivers avoid 'dooring' people on bikes". HUB Cycling. 17 March 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2018. always open your door with your right hand, so you automatically look over your shoulder ...
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58. "Car doors & bike riders, Advice for drivers". VicRoads. Victoria, Australia: Victoria State Government. 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
59. ABC Radio Melbourne (1 March 2015). "Brunswick cyclist's car-dooring death a 'wicked waste' and easily avoidable, safety campaigner says". ABC News. ABC. Retrieved 22 July 2018. '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.
60. "NRSPP Brochure And Poster – BANG! Car Dooring Of Cyclists". National Road Safety Partnership Program. NRSPP Australia. Retrieved 22 July 2018. Always Cross Check!
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62. "NEW Defensive Driving Course". National Safety Council (10th ed.). United States. January 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
63. Van Tassel, William E.; Chidester, Richard; Ferris, Edwin W. 'Ned' III; Saint, Nina (2020). How to Drive – Making Driver Education Fun and Easy! (15th ed.). United States: American Automobile Association. pp. 83–84, 231. ISBN 978-1-59508-617-4. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
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External links

• The "Door Zone" includes instructive diagrams.
• The Door Zone Project
• Door Zone Avoidance Preston Tyree, recently retired Education Director at League of American Bicyclists, teaching LCI (instructor) candidates how to teach about the door zone.
• Why You Should Avoid the Door Zone Video showing how bicyclists are thrown into traffic when they collide with an opening car door.
• Dooring Fatalities A spreadsheet log of dooring deaths with details & media links maintained by John Brooking, USA.
• Dutch Reach Project An international project and website to promote the far-hand 'Dutch Reach' method to avoid doorings and related collisions caused by negligent motorist egress.
• Officials’ Dutch Reach Instruction Guide Detailed instructions & explanation of Dutch Reach method.
• The 2019 Aston Martin Vantage Is a $185,000 True Sports Car on YouTube Displays door lever design which favors far hand method (at 8m 12s).
• Dutch Reach Project Case Study, published by the Observatory for Public Sector Innovation, Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development, April 2019. Describes & documents the international campaign to promote the far hand 'Dutch Reach' method for dooring avoidance and safe egress.