Is it just my imagination or is this an unnecessarily risky thing to do? I see it ALL the time, now that the weather is starting to get warm. Why would somebody want to expose their little baby to this kind of danger? One wrong move, and your baby could be crushed to death by a truck. Even taking rider-error out of the equation completely, there’s always the chance that someone else might run a red light, or be driving drunk or something, and hit you and your baby.
Has anyone else thought this?
If I had a little baby, I would want him riding in a car seat, inside the confines of a safe automobile. I wouldn’t pull a baby in a little cloth-and-plastic trailer behind my bicycle anymore than I would pull a baby in a little cloth-and-plastic trailer behind my car. Either way the baby is still in traffic and vulnerable to being hit and killed.
I’m near-terrified every time I see those. I always assumed those were intended for riding in a big park/bike path area only, like you toss the carrier in the back of the vehicle, strap the bike on the carrier, drive to an arboretum or something where they have pleasant, wide bike paths, and you take the little one out for a ride - and not for use on regular roads. :eek:
I see it everyday, and I cringe even as an avid kid-hater. Though sometimes I wish I had a little tot to endanger that way; I figure the extra weight attached to my bike makes for a better workout.
When the alternative is a car, the carriers are less safe. When you have a kid and no (second) car, because you live in the inner city for instance, or in the netherlands, such carriers are a LOT safer then trying to balance a kid on your bike in front and behind, like [this](javascript:popupWindow(‘http://www.eenfietsvooriedereen.nl/popup_image.php?pID=393&osCsid=252252fca46435297a7d4e’)).
And they are certainly safer then a toddler on his own bike right next to you.
Such carriers are the norm in the netherlands, and over all, they have increased safety.
Is it wrong that this image made me laugh? Might as well I suppose since actually seeing one of these behind a bike in real life just freaks me the hell out. It’s a horrible Jackass skit just waiting to happen. Perhaps it is better than some alternatives but they still appear so terribly exposed. Kinda reminds me of this.
That has to be safer than the pull-behind-the-bike thing. People use those on the sides of curvy two-lanes roads here and they scare me too, even though it’s not too busy.
I’ve used the bike trailer and my wife has used the kid’s seat and the trailer both. The trailer is preferable because the kid is lower. They are easier to load and unload into the seat and the balance of the bike isn’t badly affected.
We have outfitted ours with lights and flags to aid with visibility, and would ride in our neighborhood of quiet streets.
These days the kids ride too - only the youngest still has training wheels and he should lose them soon. They go several miles without complaint.
Is it my imagination or are we starting to consider everything to be “unnecessary risk”? It seems it’s an unnecessary risk to let them play outside because they’d be safer watching a DVD in the living room. It’s an unnecessary risk to let children walk to the end of the street and catch the school bus, when you could be driving them yourself to school in your SUV.
Anyway, I think bike trailers are reasonably safe, if pulled by a responsible law-abiding cyclist. Those trailers are highly visible, and usually come equipped with flag, reflectors, seat belts, etc. Most bike accidents happen at intersections, and if that happens, I think the child in the trailer is in a much safer position than the cyclist pulling the trailer. And judging from the responses in this thread, most drivers are very cautious around cyclists with child trailers, which is a good thing in terms of safety.
How come? The pull-behind always looked safer to me. It’s usually connected to the bike with a swivel joint. So the bike rider could wipe out completely and the trailer would still be upright and fine.
I wouldn’t use one of those baby-pullers in real traffic, but I usually see them on quiet streets or in the park.
The other day I saw a teenager/young man riding his bike in the street, sort of hanging out with a bunch of kids playing–this was in a quiet cul-de-sac–and he had a little baby held in one arm! Like, maybe 3 months old? That gave me a bit of a shock.
gigi, as Mr Moto remarks, its a matter of balance. The carrier behind the bike actually stabilizes the bike, and as remarked uptread, if the bike loses balance, the carrier stays upright.
Also, keep in mind that parents on bikes usually have a lot more to carry then just their kid. School bags, loveys, lunch, their own briefcase, changes of clothes, groceries…all those are better of stowed in a carrier behind a bike, then hanging of cyclist, kid, unbalanced packed carrier bags on the back wheel, and hanging from the steering handles.
The only transport more popular over here, are carrier bikes like this one.
We use one. Since we mostly use it for recreational bike rides, it’s mostly within our neighborhood and adjoining bike trails. However, the trails cross major roads in a few places, so I suppose we’re occasionally in traffic with the kid in a trailer. There are a couple of short sections that are along major roads (less than a block long). We ride on the sidewalk on those sections. I guess I feel that the benefits of getting some exercise outweigh the (pretty darn low) risks of the kid getting squashed as we cross the street with a green light.
When I was a kid, the bicycle seats for children didn’t even have leg protection. One day before my mother took my on a bike ride, I stuck my chubby little leg in between the rear spokes. The ensuing excrutiating pain helped to form one of my first memories. I also got a nice little cast.
On balance, I think things have gotten safer. Sure, those trailers are probably mostly intended for trails and quiet neighborhoods, but people need to use their best judgment. As scr4 said, we seem to be becoming a little overly cautious. Soon we will be a world of little old ladies.
Hey, one of my earliest memories is also bike seat related. My dad wiped out pulling out of the driveway with me strapped in. No major physical trauma but it is fun to bring up at family gatherings anyways.
I am pretty sure that my wife, mother, MIL and grandmother-in-law would go into hysterical fits if I even proposed loading my daughter into one of the behind the bike carriers. Seeing as I don’t currently own a bik, I don’t see it becoming an issue.
The pull behind ones scare me because they are low to the ground and hard to see. I have no problem with them not on the road, but I’ve seen people on the roads with them, and I think of a car running over the baby in the low carrier they didn’t see.
She means both at the same time. Here in the Netherlands mothers of small children usually have one on the back and also one on the front, often with groceries hanging off the handlebars and/or in saddlebags. It’s precarious to say the least.
I wish I could have swung the price of a bakfiets, I think they are cool. But I hear they are not really maneuverable.
Most US locations do not have the kind of bike lanes that exist here. Many of them do not have separated bike lanes at all. Couple this with bicyclists who do not reliably expect to be taking part in traffic from the age of four until about eighty four (as the Dutch do) and add to that drivers who do not regularly have to deal with bicycles in any number and you have…well, I would not have used a baby carrier in the US either. But I did use one here until my kids got big enough to reliably dance in and out of traffic on their own bikes.
