First off. I’m not having a go at cyclists who transport their kiddies around on the back of their bikes or in those weird tent-like trailers. Honest, I am not. It’s just my personal opinion inspired and fuelled by my own paranoias and overly inflated sense of health & safety.
But you’d have to be insane to strap your kid into one of those bike contraptions. There is no difference between strapping a kid into the child seat of a bicycle and tying him / her to the roof rack of a Ford estate. They are exposed to the elements. They are exposed to bits of grit flung up from the road. They are exposed to exhaust fumes, swearing and the smell of the drains. But worst of all, should the cyclist be involved in a collision (through no damned fault of their own, of course) they have no choice but to be exposed to that too.
I could never put my kid on the back of a bike. Or even in a bike trailer. And I am talking from experience here. Thankfully just my own.
I used to cycle everywhere. I loved cycling. Still do. But I am very aware that, despite being a very careful cyclist (none of this wheelie business and stunt jumping down stairs for me) I nevertheless was involved with freaky regularity in collisions with other vehicles.
I had more near-death experiences than David Blaine and with considerably less magic (though with a much better beard).
I came away scarred by such experiences – but thankfully only psychologically.
The thought of risking my kids in such a fashion brings me out in a hot flush. But I can’t help wondering if my kids are missing out. My granddad used to talk fondly of giving my mum rides on the handlebars of his bike when she was a child. He made it sound very idyllic.
Of course, the roads were much quieter back then. I don’t think road-rage had been invented and here, in the little backwater where I grew up, rush hour merely referred to the pub opening time.
But it’s a very different world now.
Harder, more complicated. More frenetic. More stressful. People are more prone to pop an artery in their attempts to beat the traffic lights. More inclined to pop a cap in your ass if you turn left when you’ve mistakenly indicated right. It’s just not worth the risk.
But there are some advantages to modern living too.
UPS now offer some fantastic secure packaging deals and even offer same day delivery.
And for no extra charge they’ll even drill a few air holes into the boxes…
Sorted.
[Joke.]
About Stephen Herrick-Blake
I’ve always wondered why people do this too. I doubt they’d put their kid on motorcycle, but it’s like as long as it’s a bike, it’s “green” and “hip” (bonus points if it’s fixed gear!). I’ll never be tempted to put my kid on a bike because I’m too damn lazy to ride a bike.
Twitter Name: amybhole
Lazy? Or just too damned sane?
Twitter Name: pocketropolis
Carted my three around using a bike seat and trailer for years when we only had one car. Live in a small community though and felt completely safe doing so. All wore helmets and we kept to quiet streets. Thank gawd for that trailer too or there would have been many a day spent at home (pulling my hair out) rather than biking to the park or playgroup!
Now I use it to cart my 3 small dogs around :)
Amy, you’re a braver woman than me.
Hold on a minute. That didn’t come out quite right…
Twitter Name: pocketropolis
I totally agree, with you about the safety issues, but it does seem to be a bit of an Eco warrior thing. The people who buy these contraptions are the left wingers who wear clothes made from dried stinging nettles, and spend their holidays at communes in West Sussex.
Great post,
Dicky
Trust me, I am not an Eco Warrior, it was use the trailer or go stark raving MAD at home!
If anything can drive a body to extreme sports it’s cabin fever!
Twitter Name: pocketropolis
And, of course, a crash helmet woven from stinging nettles and glossed over with natural yoghurt will protect you from most of life’s natural and unnatural ills…! ;-)
Twitter Name: pocketropolis
My husband, who is completely neurotic about all things personal safety related, regularly takes my 4 year old daughter to her school, which is about a mile away, on his bike. And I live in New York City (although not in Manhattan). He keeps to the less busy streets and is very careful about traffic and pedestrians. He’s also an extremely experienced rider and people are used to bikes around us. He’s never had anything even close to an accident. When he’s on his own, he’s not quite as cautious, but he’s never had any collisions then, either, and he’s been riding for years.
Like most things, I think it depends.
Kate, clearly my own neuroses outstrip those of your husband and compared to me he is an extreme-sport fanatic who dices with death every time he leaves the house. I possibly deserve to be institutionalized.
Twitter Name: pocketropolis
UPS…it was Red Star Parcels in my day…and I can remember travelling to Scotland on the train under the eye of the guard in company with smaller children with name and address on luggage tickets tied round their wrists.
Often tempted to change them over…
I loathe the modern urban cyclist with fervour – the ones with dried nettle crash hats as much as the ones with lycra revealing what should be concealed from the eye of normal people.
They differ a great deal from mums going to the shops with their kid in a sort of black oilcloth camp chair on the luggage rack behind…those mums wouldn’t have dreamt of crossing on a red light or turning across you just as you start to move off at a green one…
Twitter Name: doris ward
True – when you have the precious cargo of your kids on board you tend to up the ol’ hazard awareness and hope that the drivers of the cars around you tone down their propensity for road rage…
Twitter Name: pocketropolis
We still have our bike trailer although my kids are probably too big for it now. We just used it around the neighborhood because I was always afraid of riding near cars with the kids in it.
Twitter Name: Izzymom
Totally with you. But more extreme. I would have confined myself to our own back yard.
Twitter Name: pocketropolis
Haven’t ridden a bicycle since the ’80s! A tyre punctured on the route to work and, it being a machine of foreign origin, was unable to mend or replace it/them. Never cycled since so am not familiar with all the rules and regulations regarding safety but did have an accident when younger…
While worrying about exams as a teenager, I ended up across the bonnet of a previous junior-school teacher. I looked at her through the windscreen and said, “Morning, Miss!”
I discovered later, during the exam, that I had cut my testicles open and was immediately rushed to A&E for a tetanus shot in the behind. It was a Religious Education exam so it’s no wonder I’m a non-believer in adult life!
God was definitely trying to give you a message. I just can’t work out what it was.
Twitter Name: pocketropolis
Ditto, and yet the “knit your own yoghurt” types in quietr places could probably do this without tooooo much hassle? :-)
Transport their kids on the back of a bike or knit their own yoghurt?
Twitter Name: pocketropolis
I used to be an avid biker, but I totally couldn’t get down with any of the bike trailers for kids. At least not around here in Dallas. Maybe they’d be safe in other cities that are more bike friendly, though. I’m afraid for my life just walking on the sidewalk here in D Town. Drivers here are nutz.
I quite fancy rolling around in one of those giant plastic balls like hamsters have. Bullet proof obviously. And with a sick-bag fitted as standard.
Twitter Name: pocketropolis
Mmmmmm… mixed views here. On the one hand, agree that gratuitous disregard of danger is irresponsible. On the other, it is generally the cars that cause the deaths, so we need also to focus on their behaviour and not just criticise those who are legitimately using environmentally beneficial transport alternative.
Something I’d also observe, is that many parents spend lots of money on their kids’ bikes and insist they wear helmets etc. but do absolutely nothing about training their children to ride safely. Schemes like Go Ride and Bikeability are widely available, cost next to nothing and the kids enjoy the training. Given that cycling is one of the most objectively dangerous activities a child will likely do, it is a strange omission.
Agree totally.
Twitter Name: pocketropolis