Wednesday, January 2, 2019

A Dutch Treat for Personal Injury Attorneys



I’d like to examine a new law, added by the state legislature, to the Rules of the Road in Illinois. Lawmakers have mandated a new question on the Rules of the Road test to insure motorists are apprised of “The Dutch Reach.”

Simply explained---the Dutch Reach is when a motorist opens the car door with their right hand. It is supposed to insure drivers are in a position to look over their left shoulders and towards oncoming traffic. The goal? To stop something called “doorings,” when a car door connects with a cyclist. Apparently this is a problem in Chicago. There were 300 such incidents in 2015 alone.

It is important to note that performing the Dutch Reach is not mandated by law. Rather, the law says we all need to be taught the practice. In other words, Illinois drivers are advised to know all about the “Dutch Reach” in their Rules of the Road test.

Here’s how I see it. The practice might not be mandated but I guarantee personal injury attorneys will use it to show negligence if one of their cyclist clients gets their clocks cleaned by a “dooring.”

Anytime a bicyclist gets injured from now on in Illinois, somebody with a law degree will be establishing that the driver opened his or her door with their right hand….and if they didn’t….or are unaware of the new law….there will be a case made for their negligence.

I’m sorry a few hundred Chicagoans got doored while sipping their iced eggnog latte navigating Michigan Avenue traffic on their Urban Man Single Speed Beach Cruiser.
 But this is a back door way to give ambulance chasing lawyers a payday.

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