Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey brain Stuff Lauren Bogle bomb here rear cross traffic alert, blind spot monitoring, pedestrian and cyclist detection. Automakers are coming up with numerous new safety features to help drivers, and more importantly, these features are becoming more available and affordable. Still, drivers shouldn't wait for these innovations to increase their own
awareness of what's going on around their vehicles. What if there were a quick and easy way to reduce cyclist fatalities that doesn't require technology and that works in any car. It turns out there is, and it's called the Dutch reach. Here's how it works. If you're in the driver's seat, instead of reaching down with your left hand and opening the door, reach over with your right hand. Reaching across your body slows you down and forces your body and
head to face the direction you're moving. You catch a glimpse of the side mirror so you can see if a cyclist or pedestrian is closer than they appear, and then you'll automatically look behind you to ensure that no one else is approaching. Put simply instead of flinging the door open with one hand and doing something else with
the other like grabbing your bag, phone, coffee, whatever. The Dutch reach forces you to be more conscious of what you're doing in there were eight hundred and forty bicyclist fatalities on United States roads, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That represents an increase of one over and as the highest number recorded since Study from Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada showed that of the cyclists who were involved in a crash with a car, most injuries
were caused by doorings. When a cyclist is hit by a car door that opens in their path. It's a common misconception that doorings aren't serious because the car isn't moving, but these common crashes can easily result in a cyclist's death. That means that even if there isn't enough data to prove the effectiveness of the Dutch Reach, yet, there's still plenty of incentive to make the effort to reduce and
hopefully eliminate these types of collisions. The Dutch Reach got its name because it's become second nature to drivers in the Netherlands, who are accustomed to the country's bike friendly culture before they even start to drive The Dutch Reach is also taught in driver education in the Netherlands in case anyone manages to miss the memo. Still, experts say it took some time for drivers and cyclists to coexist peacefully and safely, and the necessary changes didn't happen on
their own. After time and effort, other European municipalities began to embrace this technique. That means that education and effort can make changes in the United States too. The Dutch Reach Project is an American organization that was created in in response to the preventable death of a twenty seven year old U S nursing student who died after colliding with an open car door. The Dutch Reach was first added to driver training manuals in Massachusetts, where the fatality occurred,
and in Illinois. Washington became the third state to add the Dutch Reach to state driver materials as of February of twenty nineteen. In a New York Times story about the Dutch Reach, Peter Hahn, the survivor of a serious dooring crash in Washington, compared the technique to the idea of looking both ways before crossing the street. The Dutch Reach Project aims to create awareness even more, educating drivers about the technique with the hopes that the behavioral change
will become a habit and the norm. At the beginning of twenty nineteen, Triple A and the National Safety Council started teaching the Dutch reach in driver's safety classes, which means that it may be on the way to becoming more widespread in the United States. The Dutch Reach Project says that it typically takes around thirty days to retrain the brain to open a car door with the far side hand. They suggest tying a ribbon to the door handle is a way to remind yourself to practice the
Dutch reach every time you get out of the car. Eventually, your brain will create the muscle memory necessary to make it automatic. Today's episode was written by shers three Wit and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots of other curious topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.