As a Dutch driver i only know about this technique from foreign media. I was never taught to do this during my driving lessons, don't do it and don't know anyone else that opens their door this way.
My full technique also involves popping the door only a few inches and allowing it to sit that way for a couple seconds, then opening it slowly, just to be doubly cautious.
But as I’ve said, if everyone just uses their mirrors it’s unnecessary because you will know there are no cyclists coming.
Another point that is missed is why don’t cyclists ride in the middle of the street and/or slow down a bit. It is always astonishing to me how entitled and utterly recklessly cyclists ride around as if the supposed rights they have are some kind of divine protection. You’re the squishy human that has nothing protecting it, rider like it may kill your, because it can.
And did anyone else notice not a single person was wearing a helmet in the video? I’m not one to force people to wear helmets, but there again is that weird entitlement of cyclists. So now people have to do some convoluted reach because cyclists race past car doors without a helmet on. Have you ever seen cyclists in Dutch cities, they are simply stupid risk takers.
That's a fantastic term, "squishy traffic". In the U.S. we often use the term "Vulnerable users", but "squishy traffic" is so much better and so much more memorable.
That is a reasonable question. If you truly want to know why cyclists generally don't ride slowly in the middle of the street you could always try doing it yourself.
> Have you ever seen cyclists in Dutch cities, they are simply stupid risk takers.
This is unsupported by the evidence of lower cyclist fatality rates in the Netherlands compared to the US. There is even some evidence that areas that have enacted mandatory helmet laws end up increasing the fatality rate per trip. (Primarily because the number of people riding bikes drops significantly and possibly because cars leave less buffer space to people wearing helmets.)
> Given space they might stop, which is pretty discourteous by the person opening the door
Precisely the opposite is true: thoughtfully opening one's door slowly as a backup mechanism in an effort to prevent someone else's injury is very courteous. As a cyclist myself, I'd far prefer to be inconvenienced by an unscheduled stop than I would crash into a car door.
> with insufficient time they might well swerve into a traffic to avoid the collision, which could be far worse.
The alternative in your scenario is the driver impatiently swinging their door open. In this case the cyclist might well serve into traffic, too. Your argument makes no sense to me.
The obligation is on the party obstructing the traffic flow to not be a dick about it (which includes broadcasting their intentions to some extent) and the secondary obligation is on the moving traffic to not do ludicrous speed so that the former party can accurately predict whether or not they can make their move without being a dick about it.
All of this is easier in Dutch cities with bike lanes and because we cycle much slower than the typical "rider" in San Francisco or London I've seen. Mostly because people commute on old slow bicycles in normal clothes instead of light weight geared bikes and full on sports outfits with helmets.
It really doesn't matter where your hand is if the intend is to be cautious to begin with.
tldr; indeed not completely clear why it is called the Dutch reach
In this case it's for a good cause.
In most cases it's of dubious merit. Anyway, "make people believe something is this way so as to normalize it and have them change behavior".
If instead proponents would say, "this is the ideal in the Netherlands, but while it's on the books virtually no one does it in practice and most only know about it through foreign media mentions" no one would pay much attention to it.