The UK’s official road-user rulebook is to incorporate a simple technique to make it more likely that motorists look over their shoulders when opening car doors. The next printed revision of the Highway Code will introduce British motorists to the so-called “Dutch Reach,” a method of opening a car door with the hand furthest from the handle, forcing drivers and passengers to check over their shoulders for approaching traffic.
The affliction of “dooring” mostly affects cyclists – many are killed annually by the dangerous maneuver – but the “Dutch Reach” technique could also protect drivers and passengers from being struck by oncoming vehicles, points out Britain’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.
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The Highway Code has been updated and published every few years since 1931.
The new guidance follows a review of cycling safety by the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT). It also follows an incident in 2016 when transport secretary Chris Grayling opened the passenger door of his ministerial car, knocking a cyclist to the ground outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London.
Announcing the update to the Highway Code, roads minister Jesse Norman said in a statement:
“Britain has some of the safest roads in the world, but we need them to be safer still – and particularly for cyclists [and] pedestrians.
“Cycling and walking are increasingly being understood as crucial parts of an integrated approach to issues of health, obesity, air quality and town and city planning. But this will only happen if people feel safe on the roads.”
As well as introducing the Dutch Reach, the Highway Code will update its advice to motorists on how to safely overtake cyclists.
Duncan Dollimore, campaigns head at cycle advocacy organization Cycling UK, said:
“Close overtakes and people opening car doors in front of cyclists are not only dangerous, but they also put people off riding bikes. That’s why Cycling UK has been campaigning for changes to the Highway Code for many years, to make the requirements crystal clear to give enough space when overtaking a cyclist, wait if you can’t, and look before you open your car door.”
Section 239 of the existing Highway Code tells motorists: “You must ensure you do not hit anyone when you open your door – check for cyclists or other traffic.” The law applies equally to motor-vehicle passengers. “Car dooring” is a criminal offense in the UK, punishable with a fine up to £1,000.
The concept behind the Dutch Reach has been familiar to learner drivers in the Netherlands since at least the 1970s, but the phrase is unknown in the country today. It was coined in 2016 by retired physician Michael Charney of Cambridge, Mass. He launched dutchreach.org to popularize the car-door-opening technique after he learned of the nearby death by dooring of a 27-year-old nursing student.
“This is a great step,” Charney told Forbes.com. “I applaud the DfT for adopting this simple, sensible hand swap to prevent needless injury to cyclists and other road users, including drivers and passengers themselves.”
The technique was given an early airing outside of the Netherlands in a 2011 New York Times article by U.S. historian Russell Shorto, author of a book on the Dutch origins of New York City.
He wrote: “Dutch drivers are taught that when you are about to get out of the car, you reach for the door handle with your right hand — bringing your arm across your body to the door. This forces a driver to swivel shoulders and head, so that before opening the door you can see if there is a bike coming from behind.”
Some jurisdictions have since incorporated the Dutch Reach into their road rules for motorists. The state of South Australia adopted the method in October 2017 and it was introduced by the Massachusetts Driver’s Manual in May of the same year.
“Reach, swivel, look back, open slowly, and then exit facing traffic,” recommends Britain’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents which adds that the Dutch Reach “can also protect drivers and passengers themselves from being struck by an oncoming vehicle, as well as reducing the risk that their car door could be damaged or torn off by a passing vehicle.”
The Golden Rule
The UK’s Department for Transport cannot yet state the publication date for the revised version of the Highway Code. “This is a review of guidance; details yet to be formalized,” a DfT spokesperson told Forbes.com.
The first rule in the 1931 Highway Code was “Always be considerate towards others.” This concept did not originate with the then Ministry of Transport; it is thousands of years old and central to most of the world’s religious and ethical traditions. The Jewish scholar Hillel the Elder, a sage in the age of chariots, said the Old Testament could be boiled down to “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.”
This cardinal rule is also in the latest Highway Code: “It is important that all road users are considerate towards each other.”
The Dutch Reach is a behavioral “nudge” aimed at making such consideration into an automatic – and potentially life-saving – maneuver.
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