I had no idea what the Dutch Reach was until I Googled it. I read it that cyclists are not paying enough attention to their surroundings and this results in an accident when a motorists opens the driver door. Going by this would indicate that many motorists have the driver door taken off by another motorist when they opened the driver's door.
Surely its a two part issue, and the motorist has significant responsibility. After all it is the motorist who is opening their door into the traffic stream.
Yes that is quite correct, but over the years on more than one occasion I have looked in the mirror, opened the door and almost collected cyclist probably due to them weaving in and out or traffic of riding so fast the between checking the mirror and opening the door they have appeared out of nowhere. Both parties need to vigilant.
Around two years ago Wiltshire police were doing spot checks and stopping motorists who dint give cyclist sufficient space when passing them. But not so easy on the car door question. Having worked in and visited the Netherlands their approach to cyclist safety is well established after many years of cycling being a prime means of transport. But around Amsterdam station you are more likely to be hit by a bike rider than a tram. They don’t take prisoners if you venture into their section of road.
Most schools do run cycling proficiency courses at Primary level. It’s up to parents to send the children on the courses, and they need their own cycle. I taught my grandchildren to ride a bike, and have been on some lovely rides as they got older. Even as recently as lockdown. But I must admit riding along the lanes of the Wilts cycle way you need to be constantly alert to vehicles. Modern cars have such good handling and are quiet inside they can exceed the drivers ability to anticipate cyclists, horse riders etc around the next bend. During lockdowns it wasn’t such a problem but now traffic is back to normal I tend to stick to the town back roads or canal towpath.
Living in the countryside has its advantages, but can be a different story on weekends when some cyclists think they are competing in the Tour de la Worcestershire and are the new Bradley Wiggins and the whole road belongs to them.
Gosh that brings back memories. In 1976 we moved from Plymouth back to Wilts and our son was four years old. We bought him a Ladybird book on British Wildlife. One trip out to pick up the old railway at Kemble he pointed to a scat and said “ fox done a poo”. On checking the book which we had with us he was over the moon to have correctly spotted this one.
Unfortunately that will increase costs dramatically and there is not enough manpower available. Preferably if you are caught commiting a traffic offence like speeding, ignoring Yield or Stop sign, overloading etc then it should be mandatory that you redo the theory test.
It’s e scooter riders that I am concerned about. They also tend to be darkly clad and just weave around using pavements, pedestrian crossings and of course the road. I nearly took one off where we have two mini islands. I go straight ahead on the first and turn left at the second. The islands are barely three car length apart. He must have been on the road on my left hand side at the first island but behind a car. Then just as I was about to turn left on island number 2 he sped up my inside on the road. Luckily I’d looked in my mirror and just spotted him in time. Wonder where I would have stood as he was riding illegally whether it be on the road or pavement.
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