Last year, some 45,000 bicyclists were injured on the road,聽. And ten percent of those injuries were the direct result of the rider getting doored: a supremely聽terrifying, painful聽collision where聽a driver opens his door immediately聽in front of a cyclist.聽聽
Michael Charney, a 70-year-old retired doctor from Cambridge, Massachusetts, is聽spearheading a grassroots campaign to end dooring forever. The聽campaign promotes the Dutch Reach鈥攁 technique where a driver聽reaches over with聽his right hand聽to open the car door, forcing him to turn his body, look over his shoulder鈥攁nd hopefully see any oncoming cyclists.聽
The name was inspired by the bike-friendly Netherlands, where drivers are required in their driving聽exams聽to open car doors with their right hands. Charney hopes this potentially life-saving technique will be adopted in the U.S.聽It鈥檚 already picking up some de facto steam: there's now a sign聽at聽an intersection in Cambridge where a cyclist was killed last year by a car door that reads, 鈥淪afer to open car door with far hand.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 simple, it鈥檚 obvious, and it costs nothing鈥� Charney told The Boston Globe. 鈥淧eople just have to switch from one thoughtless habit to another thoughtless habit鈥攂ut the second one is safer.鈥�