Incorrectly opening car doors still results in many personal injury victims among cyclists every year. Concussions and bloody knees, as well as broken arms, legs, hips and elbows are often the result. Amsterdam is doing something about it, and already has special bicycle streets and grazing lanes. A car manufacturer comes with an Exit Warning to prevent 'door incidents'.
Based on hundreds of files from personal injury among cyclists, treated over the past ten years, personal injury agency JBL & G concludes that more than a quarter of the cases are related to car doors. The remainder concerns, for example, one-sided accidents, right of way errors, malheur due to the road surface or obstacles, or collisions with oncoming traffic. JBL & G is the largest agency in Amsterdam, but also works nationwide.
Owner Steffy Roos de Maine of JBL & G:
“The police make little or no note of what causes cyclists to be injured, and hospital records that keep this up are often not there either. Now that we have put together the data from the last ten years, our first decade as an agency, it is only really clear how large the share of door accidents actually is. More than a quarter! We thought it was shocking, because each and every one of them is very serious accidents, which suddenly happen out of nowhere, which are completely unnecessary, but which means that you can sometimes stay out of the running for months. Logically, it hits more often in the big cities than in the province, but it happens regularly there too. ”
Amsterdam is working together with the Fietsersbond, among others, to make the city safer and more attractive for cyclists and pedestrians, and already has several 'cycle streets' where the car is 'guests'. They are now also provided with 'grazing strips': double lines to the left of the parked cars, as a sign that it is better not to cycle there.
Car manufacturer Ford is testing the Exit Warning system: flashing LEDs in the door and the door mirror to warn passing cyclists, while the driver receives an audible warning if there is a danger when getting out. A step further is a system where the door does not even open when someone approaches.
In the meantime, the so-called 'Dutch reach' is gaining momentum, partly due to a film by the BBC with a client of JBL & G, the 'Dutch grab' to open the door as a driver. Not with the nearest left hand, but on purpose with the right, so that your head automatically turns to the left, where any cyclists can come from. In various American states, the Dutch reach is a standard part of driving lessons. Since last year, they also do it in Spain, where drivers are now also taught to open the car 'a la Holandesa'.
Also read: Substantial increase in road deaths among senior cyclists
