How Can the Dutch Reach Save Cyclists' Lives?

When cyclists collide with a carelessly opened car door, the results can be deadly. Learn how the simple Dutch Reach can save lives in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey
brain Stuff Lauren Bogle bomb here rear cross traffic alert,
blind spot monitoring, pedestrian and cyclist detection. Automakers are coming
up with numerous new safety features to help drivers, and
more importantly, these features are becoming more available and affordable. Still,

(00:25):
drivers shouldn't wait for these innovations to increase their own
awareness of what's going on around their vehicles. What if
there were a quick and easy way to reduce cyclist
fatalities that doesn't require technology and that works in any car.
It turns out there is, and it's called the Dutch reach.
Here's how it works. If you're in the driver's seat,

(00:47):
instead of reaching down with your left hand and opening
the door, reach over with your right hand. Reaching across
your body slows you down and forces your body and
head to face the direction you're moving. You catch a
glimpse of the side mirror so you can see if
a cyclist or pedestrian is closer than they appear, and
then you'll automatically look behind you to ensure that no

(01:08):
one else is approaching. Put simply instead of flinging the
door open with one hand and doing something else with
the other like grabbing your bag, phone, coffee, whatever. The
Dutch reach forces you to be more conscious of what
you're doing in there were eight hundred and forty bicyclist
fatalities on United States roads, according to the National Highway

(01:30):
Traffic Safety Administration. That represents an increase of one over
and as the highest number recorded since Study from Vancouver
in British Columbia, Canada showed that of the cyclists who
were involved in a crash with a car, most injuries
were caused by doorings. When a cyclist is hit by

(01:51):
a car door that opens in their path. It's a
common misconception that doorings aren't serious because the car isn't moving,
but these common crashes can easily result in a cyclist's death.
That means that even if there isn't enough data to
prove the effectiveness of the Dutch Reach, yet, there's still
plenty of incentive to make the effort to reduce and

(02:11):
hopefully eliminate these types of collisions. The Dutch Reach got
its name because it's become second nature to drivers in
the Netherlands, who are accustomed to the country's bike friendly
culture before they even start to drive The Dutch Reach
is also taught in driver education in the Netherlands in
case anyone manages to miss the memo. Still, experts say

(02:33):
it took some time for drivers and cyclists to coexist
peacefully and safely, and the necessary changes didn't happen on
their own. After time and effort, other European municipalities began
to embrace this technique. That means that education and effort
can make changes in the United States too. The Dutch
Reach Project is an American organization that was created in

(02:56):
in response to the preventable death of a twenty seven
year old U S nursing student who died after colliding
with an open car door. The Dutch Reach was first
added to driver training manuals in Massachusetts, where the fatality occurred,
and in Illinois. Washington became the third state to add
the Dutch Reach to state driver materials as of February
of twenty nineteen. In a New York Times story about

(03:19):
the Dutch Reach, Peter Hahn, the survivor of a serious
dooring crash in Washington, compared the technique to the idea
of looking both ways before crossing the street. The Dutch
Reach Project aims to create awareness even more, educating drivers
about the technique with the hopes that the behavioral change
will become a habit and the norm. At the beginning

(03:39):
of twenty nineteen, Triple A and the National Safety Council
started teaching the Dutch reach in driver's safety classes, which
means that it may be on the way to becoming
more widespread in the United States. The Dutch Reach Project
says that it typically takes around thirty days to retrain
the brain to open a car door with the far
side hand. They suggest tying a ribbon to the door

(04:00):
handle is a way to remind yourself to practice the
Dutch reach every time you get out of the car. Eventually,
your brain will create the muscle memory necessary to make
it automatic. Today's episode was written by shers three Wit
and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and
lots of other curious topics, visit how stuff works dot com.

(04:22):
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