Cycling UK says Netherlands’ method for opening car doors with the far hand makes drivers and passengers look behind them

Action should be taken to prevent the deaths of cyclists hit by car doors opening as they pass the vehicle, a leading charity has said.

Cycling UK says people are being killed by people opening their car doors without checking first for passing cyclists. It wants people to be trained to open their doors with their far hands to avoid “car-dooring” riders.

The problem has caused the deaths of eight people – primarily cyclists – in five years and injured thousands more, according to official figures.

“Some people seem to see car-dooring as a bit of a joke, but it’s not and can have serious consequences,” said Cycling UK’s chief executive, Paul Tuohy. He said the charity “wants to see greater awareness made about the dangers of opening your car door negligently, and people to be encouraged to look before they open”.

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Car-dooring is an offence punishable by fines of up to £1,000, with drivers and passengers both liable. In June, Leicester taxi driver Farook Bhikhu was fined £955 after his passenger opened the door of his taxi, hitting cyclist Sam Boulton who was knocked into the path of a van and killed. The passenger, Mandy Chapple, was fined £150.

Bhikhu is appealing. After his conviction, Boulton’s father, Jeff, said it was “heartbreaking” that his son’s death could lead to such light penalties and called for car-dooring to be taken more seriously.

He said: “Until we have an appropriate offence in law, I call on the government to start investigating how they can better educate and train drivers about the dangers of car-dooring and the techniques that can prevent it from happening.”

Cycling UK has written to the transport minister Jesse Norman calling for all car occupants – not just drivers – to be reminded of the importance of looking before opening their door and to be taught the “Dutch reach” method.



In the Netherlands, people are routinely taught to reach across with their far hand to open the car door, thereby turning their body so that they are looking behind by default, and stopping them from swinging the door fully open. Tuohy said the method “could be successfully encouraged in the UK”.

Last year, video emerged of the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, knocking a rider off his bike by opening the door of his ministerial car outside Westminster. Grayling stopped to see if the rider, Jaiqi Liu, was unharmed but did not offer his details. He was only identified after another rider, who had captured the incident using his on-bike camera, recognised the minister from an interview in which he complained about bike lanes.

Cycling UK cited figures from the Department for Transport (DfT) that showed 3,108 people were killed and injured between 2011 and 2015 in car-dooring incidents. The majority of those were cyclists and five out of the eight who died in that period were on bicycles.

The charity believes a new law of causing death or serious injury through negligently opening a car door should be introduced.



The AA’s president, Edmund King, said: “We know car-dooring can be dangerous, so drivers, passengers and those on two wheels need to be alert to the dangers.”



The DfT indicated it may revise its THINK! campaign to incorporate more information on car-dooring. A spokesperson said: “Britain has some of the safest roads in the world. We are determined to keep all road users safe, including cyclists.

“The THINK! campaign provides road safety information for road users with the aim of encouraging safer behaviour to reduce the number of people killed and injured on our roads every year.”