I’m encouraged to keep my eyes on the rider as he approaches one particular vehicle.

Suddenly the car door opens and the rider swerves to avoid impact; almost getting clipped by a vehicle immediately behind. Shocking yes, but what follows makes even more of an impression.

Now we have jumped back in time – no more than a minute – and I’m sat in the passenger seat of the car whose door is about to open. The driver alongside is facing me, engaged in conversation. As he speaks, I’m urged by the voice inside my headset to look out of the rear window and spot the approaching cyclist.

Of course there is nothing I can do to prevent what is about to take place, as I am not really there. But my eyes widen all the same as the cyclist looms into view and the driver opens his door. Everything happens so quickly; I feel my teeth biting my lower lip and hiss sharply. Second time around, the sequence seems all the more real from inside the car.

The video has been produced by TfL and the Metropolitan Police’s roads and transport command unit and was launched last Thursday. It aims to raise awareness of the issue of ‘car dooring’ when a motorist opens their door without checking and encourages drivers to perform a ‘Dutch reach’ when leaving their vehicle; using your left hand and not your right. This forces you to look over your shoulder to see if anyone, such as a cyclist, is approaching.

Its launch coincided with so called ‘Project EDWARD – or ‘European Day Without A Road Death’. “The purpose of this video is to remind people that even though you may have stopped your vehicle, the dangers are still there,” explains Inspector Tony Mannakee. Car dooring can be easily avoided, he adds, “by taking a few extra seconds to check your surroundings and making sure that no cyclists are passing your vehicle”.

Department for Transport figures show that between 2011 and 2015 there were 3108 car dooring incidents recorded, including eight fatalities. And there are, of course, likely to be many more near misses that go unreported.

Metropolitan Police officers are currently looking to spread the safety message of preventing car dooring at around 100 of the highest risk sites in London. TfL’s head of policing and community safety Mandy McGregor adds that raising awareness of the issue of car dooring fits with its ‘Vision Zero’ approach which aims to ensure that every day goes ahead without a road death.

In another development using virtual reality, TfL staff use a headset while sitting on a static bicycle to test how proposed cycle infrastructure changes may affect riders before alterations are made. The authority has also been reviewing helmet camera footage from cyclists to help inform changes to signal timings at certain locations, in order to make junctions work better for riders.

Last year TfL partnered with cycle activity tracking app Strava to analyse cycling flows through the capital, so that staff can track if changes made to signal timings on the network are making a difference. In addition, it is to introduce ‘Cycle SCOOT’ technology at sites on Cycle Superhighways three and six to allow the green phase of signals to favour cyclists when rider numbers are high.

We are also told that a recent review of signal timings at Hyde Park Corner has reduced the waiting time for cyclists passing under Wellington Arch, about to cross the road towards Constitution Hill.

Hopefully with all this effort going into improving conditions for cyclists, more will be encouraged to take to the saddle.

To view a shortened version of the car dooring video, click here.