To the Editor:

Four weeks ago as I was bicycling along a narrow part of Park Street in Canton a driver in a parked car opened her door directly in front of me. I hit the door with my bicycle and my right hand and landed in a pile in the middle of the road.

My injuries included a broken hand bone, severe bruising and cuts and pulled muscles in my left leg and groin. It could have been much worse.

Please remember that it is bicycle season in the North Country and look before you open a car door into the street. It would be good if we all practiced the “Dutch Reach” before we opened our driver’s side doors. Reach across your body with your right hand to the door handle, look back for bicyclists, cars or pedestrians and then, if it is clear, open the door.

And bicyclists, when pedaling past a row of parked cars, look ahead at their rearview mirrors. If you see a face, use caution. The woman who opened her door in front of me said she didn’t see me though I was wearing a fluorescent yellow vest and a bright yellow windbreaker. Perhaps if she had practiced the Dutch Reach the accident could have been avoided.

Betsy Kepes

Canton