Etymology

Dutch reach

Today it means: A technique for opening a motor vehicle door to avoid striking (“dooring”) passing cyclists or other road users by reaching across the body for the door latch with the more distant hand. Full definition →

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The story

The term was coined by an American physician in 2016 for the purpose of promoting the far hand reach method to prevent dooring. The Dutch language has no special name for the maneuver. The first known description of the method appeared in 1961 in a Dutch newspaper.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.