<story><title>The Dutch Reach: Clever Workaround to Keep Cyclists from Getting “Doored”</title><url>http://99percentinvisible.org/article/dutch-reach-clever-workaround-keep-cyclists-getting-doored/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kristofferR</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;When you are not in The Netherlands you should most definitely wear a helmet no matter what kind of bike.&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why? It&amp;#x27;s actually not statistically safer.</text></item><item><author>tinco</author><text>This comment is important in how it shows biking is totally different in The Netherlands. The first type of bike most non-Dutch think of when they hear &amp;#x27;bicycle&amp;#x27;, where the rider sits hunched forward poised to race is not even considered a regular bike here. If you go faster than 15mph you are basically considered to be comparable to a moped and doing it without a helmet is frowned upon even here.&lt;p&gt;When you are not in The Netherlands you should most definitely wear a helmet no matter what kind of bike. The fact that you can ride a bike without a helmet in The Netherlands is a sort of democratic miracle of the 70&amp;#x27;s where the public convinced the politicians to make bikes a first class mode of transport. The effect of this is that almost &lt;i&gt;every&lt;/i&gt; road in The Netherlands has some sort of provision for bicycles, or has at least been considered to have some. And in most cases not just in the form of a line but actual infrastructures, curbs, asphalt, specifically constructed in a way to make bicycling safe.&lt;p&gt;And even when there would be no infrastructure for bicyclists, every motorist is trained to deal with cyclists. From the driving lessons (usually 40-50 hours are necessary to pass the exam these days) where a considerable amount of time is spent on being aware of cyclists, to the fact that when you&amp;#x27;re on a Dutch road and you want to turn right you are almost guaranteed to wait for cyclists you have to yield to, so not having a shoulder check habit wouldn&amp;#x27;t get you 100m out of your driveway without an accident.</text></item><item><author>wobbleblob</author><text>If you&amp;#x27;ve tried driving in the Netherlands, you know why so many people prefer to ride a bike instead. Well maintained, but narrow and extremely busy roads, densely packed with tiny vehicles. Wearing a helmet while cycling in the Dutch bike lanes is a bit like wearing a helmet while walking on the side walk. I used to only wear it while racing.&lt;p&gt;Since I had a bad crash after being hit in the eye by an insect, I wear a helmet and cycling glasses on my commute as well. This has a remarkable effect on how you are treated in traffic. Gone is the usual friendly coexistence between cyclists, pedestrians, drivers and even scooters. Without the helmet, I&amp;#x27;m just one of the thousands riding their bike to work, but wearing it, apparently now I&amp;#x27;m an asshole bike racer who needs to be taught a lesson, much the way cyclists in general seem to be treated in cycling-hostile countries. A helmet doesn&amp;#x27;t really make you feel safer if it changes the way you&amp;#x27;re treated by the rest of traffic.</text></item><item><author>djsumdog</author><text>The amount of bicycles in The Netherlands is absolutely surreal. Both in major cities and out in the suburbs, bicycles are everywhere. I also find it interesting the Dutch rarely ever wear helmets.&lt;p&gt;Large cities in Germany or the UK or anywhere else I&amp;#x27;ve seen cannot compare to the magnitude of people on bicycles in The Netherlands.</text></item><item><author>smartbit</author><text>It is true that getting doored is not part of the Dutch vocabulary as it is not something that happens often. But there are more reasons than grabbing the handle with the opposite hand.&lt;p&gt;A non extensive list: 1) Dutch car drivers &lt;i&gt;all&lt;/i&gt; have been bicyclist before they get their driver license, everyday to school more than an hour being nothing being frowned on. 2) Major transit bike routes have separate bike lanes, the tiny narrow ones of the gif in the article barely exist. 3) Bike lanes in cities usually are placed between the footpath and the parked cars, with &lt;i&gt;most of the times&lt;/i&gt; a 50cm wide band left of the bike path allowing for car doors being opened without going over the bike paths, usually this is used for planting trees too 4) All politicians drive bike, the Dutch Prime Minister comes to work on his bike 5) There are local associations part of the national &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;fietersbond.nl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;fietersbond.nl&lt;/a&gt; in every town and they passionately lobby every time they see an opportunity. 6) these volunteers are highly respected and their input is valued by the municipalities 7) one of the &lt;i&gt;prime goals&lt;/i&gt; of Dutch national ministerie of Traffic is lowering the number of injured and death in traffic, good recording of cause by police is step one, good statistics then determine the ways roads are laid out. 8) On smaller roads without a separate bicycle path, as a bicyclist you&amp;#x27;re always on the watch if someone might step out of a car and try to keep a distance by bicycling towards the middle of the road which isn&amp;#x27;t an issue as this is low traffic street, major bike transit always has separated bike paths with distance to the parked cars. 9) during driving lessons, watching bicyclist is a prime part of the lessons and a good driver keeps an eye on the mirrors for back-coming bicyclist and will warn passengers on the back seats before they get out.&lt;p&gt;And there are probably more reasons that Dutch have few accidents being doored.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>saiya-jin</author><text>Anecdotal evidence - i never wore helmet when growing up, nobody did. once had an accident on small bmx bike when I fell head first on tarmac, but didn&amp;#x27;t land on head and apart from scratches and being shaken all good (if parents only knew...).&lt;p&gt;few years ago decided to buy new cross country (ie all-rounder) one, lightweight and blazing fast for what it is. Decided to go for a helmet for the first time. After 2 weeks, had a head-first fall because of my GF stopped on some narrow forest path uphill, behind the corner and I hit brakes full power when I saw her with no place to avoid.&lt;p&gt;I miss few seconds of memories, just waking up laying in the grass, picking my head from sharp pointy stone sticking out of the ground - helmet hit it in forehead area. Have I not worn it, it&amp;#x27;s more probable than not I would die there, I was still badly shaken from impact force on my head, and I was driving slowly when it happened (10-15 kmh).&lt;p&gt;Fiancee works on emergency, the stuff she sees daily makes her wear helmet too. Link all articles you want, we&amp;#x27;re keeping our helmets where they are, on our heads, thank you.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Dutch Reach: Clever Workaround to Keep Cyclists from Getting “Doored”</title><url>http://99percentinvisible.org/article/dutch-reach-clever-workaround-keep-cyclists-getting-doored/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kristofferR</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;When you are not in The Netherlands you should most definitely wear a helmet no matter what kind of bike.&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why? It&amp;#x27;s actually not statistically safer.</text></item><item><author>tinco</author><text>This comment is important in how it shows biking is totally different in The Netherlands. The first type of bike most non-Dutch think of when they hear &amp;#x27;bicycle&amp;#x27;, where the rider sits hunched forward poised to race is not even considered a regular bike here. If you go faster than 15mph you are basically considered to be comparable to a moped and doing it without a helmet is frowned upon even here.&lt;p&gt;When you are not in The Netherlands you should most definitely wear a helmet no matter what kind of bike. The fact that you can ride a bike without a helmet in The Netherlands is a sort of democratic miracle of the 70&amp;#x27;s where the public convinced the politicians to make bikes a first class mode of transport. The effect of this is that almost &lt;i&gt;every&lt;/i&gt; road in The Netherlands has some sort of provision for bicycles, or has at least been considered to have some. And in most cases not just in the form of a line but actual infrastructures, curbs, asphalt, specifically constructed in a way to make bicycling safe.&lt;p&gt;And even when there would be no infrastructure for bicyclists, every motorist is trained to deal with cyclists. From the driving lessons (usually 40-50 hours are necessary to pass the exam these days) where a considerable amount of time is spent on being aware of cyclists, to the fact that when you&amp;#x27;re on a Dutch road and you want to turn right you are almost guaranteed to wait for cyclists you have to yield to, so not having a shoulder check habit wouldn&amp;#x27;t get you 100m out of your driveway without an accident.</text></item><item><author>wobbleblob</author><text>If you&amp;#x27;ve tried driving in the Netherlands, you know why so many people prefer to ride a bike instead. Well maintained, but narrow and extremely busy roads, densely packed with tiny vehicles. Wearing a helmet while cycling in the Dutch bike lanes is a bit like wearing a helmet while walking on the side walk. I used to only wear it while racing.&lt;p&gt;Since I had a bad crash after being hit in the eye by an insect, I wear a helmet and cycling glasses on my commute as well. This has a remarkable effect on how you are treated in traffic. Gone is the usual friendly coexistence between cyclists, pedestrians, drivers and even scooters. Without the helmet, I&amp;#x27;m just one of the thousands riding their bike to work, but wearing it, apparently now I&amp;#x27;m an asshole bike racer who needs to be taught a lesson, much the way cyclists in general seem to be treated in cycling-hostile countries. A helmet doesn&amp;#x27;t really make you feel safer if it changes the way you&amp;#x27;re treated by the rest of traffic.</text></item><item><author>djsumdog</author><text>The amount of bicycles in The Netherlands is absolutely surreal. Both in major cities and out in the suburbs, bicycles are everywhere. I also find it interesting the Dutch rarely ever wear helmets.&lt;p&gt;Large cities in Germany or the UK or anywhere else I&amp;#x27;ve seen cannot compare to the magnitude of people on bicycles in The Netherlands.</text></item><item><author>smartbit</author><text>It is true that getting doored is not part of the Dutch vocabulary as it is not something that happens often. But there are more reasons than grabbing the handle with the opposite hand.&lt;p&gt;A non extensive list: 1) Dutch car drivers &lt;i&gt;all&lt;/i&gt; have been bicyclist before they get their driver license, everyday to school more than an hour being nothing being frowned on. 2) Major transit bike routes have separate bike lanes, the tiny narrow ones of the gif in the article barely exist. 3) Bike lanes in cities usually are placed between the footpath and the parked cars, with &lt;i&gt;most of the times&lt;/i&gt; a 50cm wide band left of the bike path allowing for car doors being opened without going over the bike paths, usually this is used for planting trees too 4) All politicians drive bike, the Dutch Prime Minister comes to work on his bike 5) There are local associations part of the national &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;fietersbond.nl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;fietersbond.nl&lt;/a&gt; in every town and they passionately lobby every time they see an opportunity. 6) these volunteers are highly respected and their input is valued by the municipalities 7) one of the &lt;i&gt;prime goals&lt;/i&gt; of Dutch national ministerie of Traffic is lowering the number of injured and death in traffic, good recording of cause by police is step one, good statistics then determine the ways roads are laid out. 8) On smaller roads without a separate bicycle path, as a bicyclist you&amp;#x27;re always on the watch if someone might step out of a car and try to keep a distance by bicycling towards the middle of the road which isn&amp;#x27;t an issue as this is low traffic street, major bike transit always has separated bike paths with distance to the parked cars. 9) during driving lessons, watching bicyclist is a prime part of the lessons and a good driver keeps an eye on the mirrors for back-coming bicyclist and will warn passengers on the back seats before they get out.&lt;p&gt;And there are probably more reasons that Dutch have few accidents being doored.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>auxym</author><text>Here are two credible reviews &amp;#x2F; meta-analyses stating the contrary, that is, that bicycle helmet use or legislation does, statistically, reduce head injuries.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.sciencedirect.com&amp;#x2F;science&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;pii&amp;#x2F;S0001457500000488&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.sciencedirect.com&amp;#x2F;science&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;pii&amp;#x2F;S0001457500...&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cochrane.org&amp;#x2F;CD005401&amp;#x2F;INJ_bicycle-helmet-legislation-for-the-uptake-of-helmet-use-and-prevention-of-head-injuries&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cochrane.org&amp;#x2F;CD005401&amp;#x2F;INJ_bicycle-helmet-legislat...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;That said, despite personally wearing a helmet on my daily commute, I don&amp;#x27;t support legislation. I unfortunately don&amp;#x27;t have sources on hand, but I firmly believe that spending public dollars on bike infrastructure and better legislation for bicycle&amp;#x2F;car interaction would yield better safety improvements for cyclists AND increase cycling uptake.</text></comment>