Bill Text: HI HR24 | 2018 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging The Department Of Transportation To Include The "dutch Reach" Or Far-hand Method In Driver's Education Curricula.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-0)

Status: (Passed) 2018-04-04 - Resolution adopted in final form. [HR24 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2018-HR24-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	24
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO include THE "DUTCH REACH" OR FAR-HAND METHOD IN DRIVER'S EDUCATION CURRICULA.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, in Hawaii and many major cities in the United States and around the world, an increasing number of environmental initiatives have encouraged people to ride bicycles as a means of transportation; and

 

     WHEREAS, there are many residents and visitors in Hawaii who ride bicycles for transportation and for recreation, and they are vulnerable to severe injuries and death due to drivers and passengers negligently exiting their vehicles into traffic, bicycle pathways, and sidewalks; and

 

     WHEREAS, recent studies confirm that doorings, in which a cyclist may crash by abruptly braking because of crashing into, over, or beside an obstructing vehicle door, account for up to twenty percent of the most common accidents between bicycles and vehicles in major cities; and

 

     WHEREAS, the act of dooring is found to be a problem of negligence in which the careless, impulsive, and rapid opening of car doors and over-reliance on mirror views compromise driver and passenger vigilance and awareness; and

 

     WHEREAS, dooring can be lessened or even eliminated by teaching safer behaviors in driver's education courses so that these behaviors become the habitual practices of citizens learning to drive in Hawaii; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Dutch Reach method is a safer behavior that involves using the far-side hand to open a car door rather than the closest hand to the door; and

 

     WHEREAS, normalizing the Dutch Reach method will make both cyclists and people exiting vehicles safer because reaching across to open the door forces one's torso and head to swivel to view the side mirror and provides an unobstructed view backwards to watch for oncoming cyclists and traffic; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Dutch Reach method also naturally results in a slow and gradual door opening; prevents sudden, widely pushed or flung doors; and allows a person to more easily and quickly retract the door; and

 

     WHEREAS, with early instruction and continuous use, the Dutch Reach method will become the usual practice of more vehicle users; and

 

     WHEREAS, widespread use of the Dutch Reach method will improve overall bicycle safety and significantly minimize the number of accidents involving bicycles and vehicles each year; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2018, that the Department of Transportation is urged to include instruction on the Dutch Reach method in driver's education programs in the State; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Transportation.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Bicycle Safety; Dutch Reach Method; Driver's Education