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Radio station beloved by London cabbies posts 'Dutch Reach' cycle safety video

The video has sparked plenty of debate between LBC's traditional 'London cabbie' listenership and the rest of the country...

Radio station LBC, which was formally the capital-only station London Broadcasting Company, has courted controversy on Facebook by posting a cycle safety video to its Facebook page.

A video detailing the 'Dutch Reach' technique of opening a car door with your left hand if you're in a right-hand-drive car, or right hand if you're not was posted on the station's Facebook page this week.

The Dutch Reach helps drivers to remember to look behind them, into their blind spot, before opening the door.

The hope is that more widespread knowledge of this technique, and an awareness of the dangers of blindly opening a car door will help save lives and livelihoods.

Though the advice appears to have been met with some resistance.

While that may sound strange given the cycle-friendly surroundings we find ourselves in here on road.cc, LBC was traditionally the station-of-choice for London's black cab taxi drivers. 

LBC has since broadened its reach, employing radio hosts from a variety of backgrounds and with political leanings that sway across the spectrum, including former UKIP leader Nigel Farage and the controversial Katie Hopkins.

That range in ideologies has lead to a diverse listenership. As such, topics like cycling in London appear to garner significant discussion on social media.

>Read more: UKIP candidates blame immigrants for clogged-up cycle lanes

The video, which you can see below, mixes a number of captions talking about cyclist injury statistics, driving education practices in the Netherlands, and even a little dig at the Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling.

Chris Grayling, you'll remember, was filmed 'dooring' a cyclist late last year. The subsequent bizarre and frankly ridiculous claims that have come from Grayling, such as those he made that indicated that he doesn't consider cyclists to be road users.

>Read more: Chris Grayling says cyclists aren't road users

Sadly, it appears Mr Grayling's sentiments are shared with a somewhat shocking number of commenters on LBC's Facebook post.

A few of them, including this first one, appeared to try and apply some knowledge of the highway code to the conversation. Though, not particularly effectively.

LBC comment 1.PNG

Others meanwhile...

LBC comment 2.PNG

The conversation isn't entirely base, though. There are some genuine insights into the problem of dooring from those who know people who have fallen victim to it.

LBC comment 3.PNG

Equally, some have taken to looking at the discussion in much the same way many of you may have. 

LBC comment 4.PNG

Should the Dutch Reach should be a compulsory assessment point in driving tests in the UK? We don't see why not.

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