If you’re a cyclist you know all too well the fear of being doored.
“Dooring” is a collision caused by the act of opening a car door in the path of an oncoming cyclist.
It can have painful consequences and the number of incidents are on the rise in Toronto.
“Last year, in Toronto, there were 175 dooring incidents and those are only the ones that were reported. This year there have already been 169,” Traffic Services Media Officer, Clinton Stibbe, told CTVNews Toronto.
But a retired U.S. doctor, Michael Charney, is spearheading a grassroots campaign that offers a simple solution.
It’s called ‘The Dutch Reach’.
It’s a common practice in the Netherlands, where more than 30 per cent of the population use bicycles as their main mode of transportation. They even teach it in drivers’ education classes there.
To perform the manoeuvre, all drivers and driver’s side passengers have to do is use their right hand to open vehicle doors when exiting.
This forces your body to look back for bikes and traffic and minimizes the possibility of ‘dooring’ a cyclist.
Those in the cycling community hope drivers will adopt this move as part of their routine so the streets can be safer for everyone.
With a report from CTV Toronto’s Scott Lightfoot
