You may not know it yourself, but in the Netherlands we use a special technique when getting out of the car. This technique is known abroad as ‘Dutch reach‘, or the Dutch grip.

That’s how it works: in Holland you learn during your driving lessons to open the door with your right hand, while looking in the mirror and holding the door with your left. By opening the door with the ‘wrong’ hand, you automatically turn around, giving you a better view of the traffic and preventing passing cyclists from banging on the door.

In the UK, where fewer people use bicycles, cyclists are not used to taking cyclists into account. According to the cycling organization Cycling UK, more than 60 times cyclists have died or been seriously injured in collisions with car doors in the country.

big fine

Therefore, the organization started a campaign ‘Teach reach‘, to call on people to get out of the car the Dutch way from now on. The campaign had an effect: from tomorrow it was officially mandatory in England to use the Dutch grip.

Drivers who cause injury to their doorman can be fined £1,000 (£1,200) if it is found that the vehicle is not being used. Dutch reachright

The new law introduces more rules to protect cyclists. For example, from now on, cars must maintain a distance of at least one and a half meters when overtaking cyclists. There is also a rule for cyclists themselves: they must maintain a one meter distance when passing parked cars.