Every three days in Montreal, a cyclist is hit by an opening car door, according to police statistics. Two years after a cyclist was killed in a dooring incident, Quebec’s auto insurance agency has begun to recommend drivers open their doors with their right arm instead of their left — a technique popularized in the Netherlands called the “Dutch reach.”
After Jean-Pierre Lefebvre’s death in July 2020, a coroner called on the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) to tell drivers to use the method. The agency finally implemented the recommendation in its 2022 education program for new drivers.
The technique involves the driver reaching to
