The Near Miss project was carried out in 2014/15 by Dr Rachel Aldred from the University of Westminster to look at near miss incidents amongst cyclists.  Her research highlighted, amongst other findings, that the scariest incident is ‘near dooring’ when a driver opens their vehicle’s door without looking around them with the potential of knocking passing cyclists off their bikes.

One possible solution could be found in Holland where the Dutch open their car doors with the hand furthest away from the door. Try it…. you’ll find that by using your left hand (assuming right hand drive); you have to twist your body and turn your head so you are now looking alongside your vehicle.  Hopefully you would see a passing cyclist before you’ve opened the door.