Meanings
- 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.
It is proposed that the code will highlight the Dutch reach, a method of opening car doors by turning and using the hand furthest from the handle, which forces drivers or passengers to look behind them for passing cyclists.
2018 October 17, Gwyn Topham, “Highway Code to promote ‘Dutch reach’ to protect cyclists”, in The Guardian
Origin
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.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French poignée hollandaise
- poignée hollandaisetechnique for opening a motor vehicle door
Cite this entry
Dutch reach. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Dutch%20reach
“Dutch reach.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Dutch%20reach. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Dutch reach,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Dutch%20reach.
Source: Dutch reach on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.