closing tag is in template navbar
timefactors watches



TZ-UK Fundraiser
Results 1 to 33 of 33

Thread: Opening the car door ‘the Dutch way’.

  1. #1
    Grand Master thieuster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    GMT+1
    Posts
    11,749
    Blog Entries
    8

    Opening the car door ‘the Dutch way’.

    I can tell you that this:

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-...shire-60089225

    … is nonsense. We do not learn people to open car doors like this.

  2. #2
    Master
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Bury, UK
    Posts
    2,332
    nobody teaches anyone how to open the car door, it 's just a thing you do. Some people dont seem to have learned to use indicators or mirrors despite being taught. I just ride out from the parked cars but I've been hit (or ridden into) with a door and it does hurt.

  3. #3
    Master MakeColdplayHistory's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    5,870
    It came as a surprise to my (Dutch) wife too.

    As did the 'Dutch oven' - apparently that's not a thing either and she doesn't like it.

  4. #4
    Grand Master thieuster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    GMT+1
    Posts
    11,749
    Blog Entries
    8
    I am aware that 'our'[...] way of opening the door is safer. And perhaps it's advised to do it like that. It's not taught I just found out. My youngest is busy learning to drive and his driving instructor never mentioned it.

  5. #5
    Master ed335d's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Surrey
    Posts
    5,664
    Is this similar to a Dutch reach-around?

    Asking for a friend.

  6. #6
    Master blackal's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Scottish Borders
    Posts
    9,520
    I can see big industry (especially Oil & Gas) implementing this on their sites and recommending to all staff............

    It's the sort of stuff that O&G "HSE bosses" just love!

  7. #7
    Dutch ovens are only called so because Abraham Darby studied Dutch methods of casting brass for cooking vessels then realised he could apply the same to cast iron and the 'Dutch' bit stuck. Actually several types of cooking vessels/apparatus have been called Dutch ovens.

    Of course they aren't called that in the Netherlands (although the nearest equivalent seems to be a braadpan) in the same way that a French letter isn't such in France but is instead is une capote Anglais.

    Meanwhile, why would you want to disassociate your nation with what appears to be an eminently sensible, simple safety procedure (even if inaccurately named)

  8. #8
    Master MakeColdplayHistory's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    5,870
    Quote Originally Posted by Fitzer View Post
    Dutch ovens are only called so because Abraham Darby studied Dutch methods of casting brass for cooking vessels then realised he could apply the same to cast iron and the 'Dutch' bit stuck. Actually several types of cooking vessels/apparatus have been called Dutch ovens.

    Of course they aren't called that in the Netherlands (although the nearest equivalent seems to be a braadpan) in the same way that a French letter isn't such in France but is instead is une capote Anglais...
    Hmmm... that's not the kind of 'Dutch oven' I showed her.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by MakeColdplayHistory View Post
    Hmmm... that's not the kind of 'Dutch oven' I showed her.
    Well, I have learnt at least one useful thing so far , today. Thanks.

  10. #10
    Craftsman
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Hertfordshire
    Posts
    521
    I like the theory and in practice it can work. Will it become a habit for me, no! I will continue to turn my head and look to see whether it is clear first:)

    How long will it take for my kids to learn this, probably a long time as check for them. They are far too young to be driving but I think they will have to have a couple of near misses before it reaches their agenda :)


    Sent from my iPad using TZ-UK mobile app

  11. #11
    Master JackW's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    The Netherlands
    Posts
    1,975
    Quote Originally Posted by thieuster View Post
    I can tell you that this:

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-...shire-60089225

    … is nonsense. We do not learn people to open car doors like this.
    My driving instructor actually taught me that in the late nineties! So it's not complete nonsense.

  12. #12
    Master
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Lincolnshire
    Posts
    5,897
    Maybe it’s just my car, but when the door handle is pulled with my left hand, it in no way prompts me to twist my upper body and head to look over my shoulder.

    Only hooking the seat belt buckle into an imaginary hook on the B pillar would make me do that, or if the door handle was so far rearward in the car, ie by my ribs.

    This seems to be one of those things that has grown legs without anybody actually trying it in a variety of cars, I’d still need to consciously turn my head to look over my shoulder, which I do anyway.

  13. #13
    Grand Master jwg663's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    21.5 km From Moscow
    Posts
    16,881
    Quote Originally Posted by MakeColdplayHistory View Post
    Hmmm... that's not the kind of 'Dutch oven' I showed her.
    Quote Originally Posted by notnowkato View Post
    Well, I have learnt at least one useful thing so far , today. Thanks.
    If you wish to learn another 'Dutch-ism', then Google 'Dutch Cap'.
    ______

    ​Jim.

  14. #14
    I am familiar with that one, intimately, "back in the day" as they say ....

    Sent from my SM-N975F using Tapatalk

  15. #15
    Grand Master thieuster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    GMT+1
    Posts
    11,749
    Blog Entries
    8
    Quote Originally Posted by JackW View Post
    My driving instructor actually taught me that in the late nineties! So it's not complete nonsense.
    You must have had one heck of a driving instructor. My oldest came round for a quick visit and he hasn't learned it 3, 4 yrs ago when he learned to drive. And as said, it's new to my youngest as well.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by thieuster View Post
    I can tell you that this:

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-...shire-60089225

    … is nonsense. We do not learn people to open car doors like this.
    The article doesn't say it is taught to drivers, rather that is standard practice for the Dutch. One thing I have observed in Holland is that car drivers do seem to be far more aware of cyclists, for example giving way to cyclists who are coming up behind a car that is turning off a road at a junction.

    R
    Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.

  17. #17
    Master JackW's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    The Netherlands
    Posts
    1,975
    Quote Originally Posted by thieuster View Post
    You must have had one heck of a driving instructor.
    I certainly didn't think so at the time. To be honest I've never opened my car door that way, but I was triggered when you mentioned it.

  18. #18
    Grand Master thieuster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    GMT+1
    Posts
    11,749
    Blog Entries
    8
    A quick search on Dutch traffic related websites and newspapers websites gives no clue why it's called the Dutch Method. It was (and is) teached by individual driving school instructors, but it's not in our version of the Highway Code.

    One comment in the discussion under the news item in the AD Newspaper tells that it was taught to someone in 1961 (already) but that he remembers that it was a Danish method...

    Of course, apart from the 'Dutch method is it Dutch y/n?' it is a safe/safer way to get out of a car.

    Menno
    Last edited by thieuster; 26th January 2022 at 21:56.

  19. #19
    Just shown this to Mrs Jega , " What with your back ? " followed by much laughter ............

  20. #20
    Master
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    Isle of Ynys Mon, Wales
    Posts
    3,568
    Blog Entries
    1
    Gosh, I must be smart? I’ve done this for donkey’s years. Very quickly learned left hand to release and right hand to hold the door handle/grip otherwise the wind blows the door wide open, stressing the hinges.

  21. #21

    Opening the car door ‘the Dutch way’.

    Ridiculous that people need to be taught how to open a door. Just take a look and open as you wish.

    Quote Originally Posted by Suds View Post
    Gosh, I must be smart? I’ve done this for donkey’s years. Very quickly learned left hand to release and right hand to hold the door handle/grip otherwise the wind blows the door wide open, stressing the hinges.
    Where do you live? I always park into the wind.
    Last edited by Kingstepper; 27th January 2022 at 08:53.

  22. #22
    Grand Master Dave E's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Buckingham, UK
    Posts
    17,344
    Quote Originally Posted by ralphy View Post
    The article doesn't say it is taught to drivers, rather that is standard practice for the Dutch. One thing I have observed in Holland is that car drivers do seem to be far more aware of cyclists, for example giving way to cyclists who are coming up behind a car that is turning off a road at a junction.

    R
    I suspect that the main reason for that is that almost everybody in the Netherlands seems to ride a bike, so they don't see cyclists as a distinctly separate group from them. Dutch drivers ares also mostly Dutch cyclists.
    Dave E

    Skating away on the thin ice of a new day

  23. #23
    Master JackW's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    The Netherlands
    Posts
    1,975
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave E View Post
    Dutch drivers ares also mostly Dutch cyclists.
    That's a good point. (Mildly) interesting statistics: 42% of the people in the UK own or have access to a bicycle. The average Dutchman owns 1.3 bikes.

  24. #24
    Master
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Ayrshire
    Posts
    2,898
    Quote Originally Posted by JackW View Post
    That's a good point. (Mildly) interesting statistics: 42% of the people in the UK own or have access to a bicycle. The average Dutchman owns 1.3 bikes.
    Is that a single bike with three wheels or a normal one and a unicycle ?

  25. #25
    Master
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    Isle of Ynys Mon, Wales
    Posts
    3,568
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by Kingstepper View Post
    Where do you live? I always park into the wind.
    Nooo, the wind slammed the door in to my shin as I was getting out - tbf I’m not that smart because it happened twice before I learned my lesson.

  26. #26
    Grand Master thieuster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    GMT+1
    Posts
    11,749
    Blog Entries
    8
    Quote Originally Posted by Mr.D View Post
    Is that a single bike with three wheels or a normal one and a unicycle ?
    That includes the chained and molested ones on bridges in Amsterdam.

    And it's getting funnier! The Dutch Department of Transport tells newspapers that the Dutch DoT is in fact AGAINST using the Dutch method. For several reasons:
    - This method only works when all cars are opened the same way. Apparently, it isn't always the case.
    - Secondly, the 'normal' procedure gives drivers the chance to look in their mirror. The Dutch way implies that the driver needs to turn his/her head further around to spot an oncoming cyclist.
    - And when the driver is in a panel van or a car with a large B-style, it's more difficult to spot a cyclist than when using the door mirror.-
    Last edited by thieuster; 27th January 2022 at 13:45.

  27. #27
    Master
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    By the TOLL Road
    Posts
    4,987
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by blackal View Post
    I can see big industry (especially Oil & Gas) implementing this on their sites and recommending to all staff............

    It's the sort of stuff that O&G "HSE bosses" just love!

    Dead right these people sit there dreaming up new things to fill up their H&S forms, after all they have to justify their existence.

  28. #28
    Master blackal's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Scottish Borders
    Posts
    9,520
    Quote Originally Posted by hilly10 View Post
    Dead right these people sit there dreaming up new things to fill up their H&S forms, after all they have to justify their existence.
    From experience - staff drift into HSE because their original position is being axed.

    They often have no great qualifications or experience to do the job.

    Once ensconced - they frantically look for some 'safety initiative ' to 'roll out'..................... they do that for two reasons:

    1) they have a budget to use.

    2) 'Plausible deniability'. If something serious happens and they start getting flak and "what were you doing?" they can claim:

    "I was rolling out the new 'Dutch car door opening safety initiative' , and tidying up the 'trailing-hand stair technique'..................."





  29. #29

    Opening the car door ‘the Dutch way’.

    My car is fitted with a specialist anti-accident device called a ‘wing mirror’. Luckily as I live in the uk it isn’t partially obscured by a dopey ‘stuff in mirrors might be closer than you think’ sign as I possess a functioning brain and I know how my eyeballs work!
    Ps why does Tapatalk delete punctuation??


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  30. #30
    Grand Master hogthrob's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Essex, UK
    Posts
    16,843
    Open the car door the Dutch way, so using your right hand. Gotcha.

  31. #31
    I thought I would try this , out of idle curiosity , and found that I glanced at my door mounted rear view mirror , in exactly the same way as I would using the British method ( i.e. The Right hand ) . I have always used that approach, not for the sake of cyclists but, to protect the valuable car door from being flattened against the OS Front wing by a passing SUV, Transit, Armoured vehicle etc, etc. Whilst a cyclist would do rather less damage, I imagine a sensible car owner would try their very best to avoid this sort of unpleasantness anyway, can't speak for the other sort though .............

  32. #32
    Quote Originally Posted by notnowkato View Post
    I thought I would try this , out of idle curiosity , and found that I glanced at my door mounted rear view mirror , in exactly the same way as I would using the British method ( i.e. The Right hand ) . I have always used that approach, not for the sake of cyclists but, to protect the valuable car door from being flattened against the OS Front wing by a passing SUV, Transit, Armoured vehicle etc, etc. Whilst a cyclist would do rather less damage, I imagine a sensible car owner would try their very best to avoid this sort of unpleasantness anyway, can't speak for the other sort though .............
    Absolutely - I think most of us do that without thinking tbh


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  33. #33
    Master jukeboxs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Scotland
    Posts
    5,448
    Thanks for that, I'll be adopting this door opening approach from now on. My 2 other take-aways from the video:
    1. No face masks in the car (not even the BBC journalist), and
    2. Was he wearing a PAM?

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Do Not Sell My Personal Information