Why are suicide doors on old cars called suicide doors? | Notes and Queries

Why are suicide doors on old cars called suicide doors?

Tom Shone, London

• They were hinged at the rear edge, so if the vehicle was moving and they sprang open, anyone who grabbed to stop that happening was whisked out of their seat into the roadway.Seat belts were not in use at that time. Not a very clean form of suicide.

  Jack Hill, St Albans, England

• For the same reason that a right turn at a cross roads in front of traffic also turning right from the other direction, is called a suicide turn - because your forward view is obscured. The suicide door opens at the front, discouraging the backward view of the traffic passing by.

  Robert Brady, Isleworth, England