What is Robert’s Reach?
More commonly known as the Dutch Reach, it is a practice for drivers and passengers where, rather than using your hand closest to the door to open it, you use your far hand. This choice sets off a series of five linked actions: reach, swivel, look back, open slowly, and then exit facing traffic.
If you open the car door with your hand furthest from the door, it naturally turns your body to look for cyclists before slowly exiting the vehicle. Both drivers and passengers can use this method to prevent dooring, which we hope will become locally known as Robert’s Reach in honor of Robert George.
video by CAA South Central Ontario
What is dooring?
Dooring is the act of opening a motor vehicle door into the path of another road user. Dooring can happen when a driver has parked or stopped to exit their vehicle, or when passengers egress from cars, taxis and rideshares into the path of a cyclist in an adjacent travel lane. The width of the door zone in which this can happen varies, depending upon the model of car one is passing. The zone can be almost zero for a vehicle with sliding or gull-wong doors or much larger for a truck. In many cities across the globe, doorings are among the most common and injurious bike-vehicle incidents. Any passing vehicle may also strike and damage a negligently opened or left open door, or injure or kill the exiting motorist or passenger.
Doorings can be avoided if the driver checks their side mirror before opening the door, or performs a shoulder check. Use of the Dutch Reach (or "far hand method") for vehicle egress has been advised to prevent doorings, as it combines both measures. As bicyclists cannot rely on motor vehicle occupants to use required caution on exiting, bicyclists are advised to avoid the door zone of stopped or parked vehicles.
The term is also applied when such sudden door opening causes the oncoming rider to swerve to avoid collision (with or without loss of control), resulting in a crash or secondary collision with another oncoming vehicle or another vehicle that is directly next to the cyclist. The term also applies when a door is negligently left open, unduly blocking a travel lane.