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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Bike-buggy-smuggy-mummies: they think they're invincible!

226 replies

Vagabond · 17/03/2011 21:39

You know those little carriages on the back/front of bikes with little children cocooned inside? What are these mums thinking of? It looks like they've got a litter of kittens inside sometimes!

The way they ride their kids around town in these bicycle people carriers seems so dangerous to me. I pass at least a dozen of them a day and I'm astounded by the sense of entitlement these mums feel above the overwhelming enormity of actual traffic. They seem invincible when, actually, they are putting themselves and their kids in enormous danger.

I drive so carefully around them but it irritates me to see the smug look on their faces. I'm equally sure that they hate my smug face driving my car. It's soooo Oxford and it irritates the hell out of me!

Yes, it's green. I get that. It still gets on my nerves.

OP posts:
crunchbag · 19/03/2011 11:39

lurker hot showers and towels, wow :) Any jobs going (quite happy doing admin)?

I admit to feeling smug when I, on my second hand bike with gears that need sorting dressed in every day clothes, casually over take a guy dressed in full cycle gear on a high spec bike :D Especially when 8 months pregnant and DS in a bike seat

kittybuttoon · 19/03/2011 16:55

From the bus, I saw a sleeping baby (much less than a year, I'd say) straddling the crossbar of a bike, with his head on a cushion which had been placed on the handlebars by the grinning mum. No seat, straps, anything!

I just sort of assumed she must have been on drugs or something. Or maybe I was, and was having a bad trip.

Used to live in N Oxford myself, and there is no way I'd think the Woodstock Rd safe for a baby trailer. It's really busy and fumey.

WinterOfOurDiscountTents · 19/03/2011 19:44

fumey? Not safe to walk or drive there then? Hmm

zest01 · 19/03/2011 19:57

I have one and I do none of the things on here. I am not smug or incompetent - I actually drive a car as well so can see both sides.

I tend to stick to quieter roads but am lucky I can as there is excellent cycle network where I live. I follow the rules of the road, as do most cyclists I see out and about. I also put my children in cycle helmets as recommended when I bought the carrier.

It's a great way to travel - environmentally friendly and they enjoy it too.

It does make me laugh when car drivers get all uppity about cyclists interpretation of the traffic laws when far more accidents are caused by excessive speed by drivers. I think when you are on 2 wheels you are aware of your vulnerability so are far more likely to take extra care. That's certainly true of me.

Op, get over yourself and find something more worthy to put your energy into!

Tanith · 19/03/2011 20:17

Haven't read the whole thread, so sorry if this has already been said.

DH used to have one of those trailer things on the back of his bike and I'm sure it was not recommended for use on the road, only off road away from traffic. He got rid of it in the end because, as he said, he can be, and is a safe and experienced bike-rider; he just can't guarantee that everyone on the road is going to take the same care. Only takes one nutter and those trailers are very flimsy.

iscream · 19/03/2011 20:19

I think they are dangerous on roads with traffic, but great for bike paths and walkways that are wide enough. Although I don't know if I would really want to use one for my kids, I think I'd prefer them on their own bikes if old enough, or else use a stroller or wagon to haul them along!

sincitylover · 19/03/2011 20:21

I was in a middle class enclave of SE London today and saw a man on bike with a toddler in the seat at the back - toddler was not wearing a helmet. He was also trying to teach his six/seven year old son how to turn right out of the park into a moderately busy road. He went across and the son bottled it so remained on the other side of the road and dithered whilst the dad shouted instructions to him.

My heart was in my mouth as were the other people at the bus stop.

The trailers are great for off road use but surely you must be mad to take them on busy roads. Adult cyclists are vulnerable but to put babies and toddlers in them would go against all my instinct of protecting them.

But I have found that some people do put ideology and rationality over common sense.

I also see it when they attribute good road sense or any other sense of danger to children who are clearly not old enough to have it eg my child (age two/three) is so bright/aware he knows when to stop.

I think people like this live in a bubble and can't imagine that bad things can happen to them.

WinterOfOurDiscountTents · 19/03/2011 20:55

oh yawn. Ideology? My ideology is to get them to school when I can't afford petrol for my car.

Have you considered that you are just wrong on your assumptions about safety? I'm still waiting for one single news report about even a minor injury in a trailer. No takers though, despite the cries of "I see millions of these and they are clearly death traps".

Seriously, do you always have such strong opinions on things you can neither back up with facts, or indeed logic?

Original poster
Vagabond · 19/03/2011 21:26

My goodness, Winter, you're so po-faced! It must hurt! Yawn yawn yawn. Is that all you have to say to someone who disagrees with you? It's so unimaginative!

Your'e right about the statistics though. No deaths or injuries reported so far. Let's just hope it stays that way and that motorists and cyclists behave with mutual respect for each other.

OP posts:
ivykaty44 · 19/03/2011 21:34

Vagabond here you go drive along now

WinterOfOurDiscountTents · 19/03/2011 21:39

Yes I am right. Which would make you, oh whats that word...totally and utterly wrong.

WinterOfOurDiscountTents · 19/03/2011 21:40

also, you don't seem to know what po-faced means.

Original poster
Vagabond · 19/03/2011 21:53

Wow, Winter....are you rocking two identities?

Just a thought.

OP posts:
WinterOfOurDiscountTents · 19/03/2011 21:55

no. and troll hunting is not allowed check out the top of the thread.

Resorting to being offensive because you came on here to judge something you don't understand and were shown as a fool just makes you look even more like a twat.

zinggorilla · 19/03/2011 22:11

I hate those things. An accident waiting to happen imo.

Original poster
Vagabond · 19/03/2011 22:16

I'm starting to love the word twat. I'll always think of you when I hear it. Grin

And believe me, I'll drive slowly behind you on the roads with utter patience and caution because I know it wasn't your child's decision to be ensconced in a safe little chariot on the back of your precious bicycle.

Twat.

OP posts:
Mapley · 20/03/2011 08:00

Tee hee! I love Reading arguments on the Internet! Thanks everyone!

PickleFish · 20/03/2011 08:53

I've seen accidents with them. In Cambridge, where there are lots of trailers. Not long ago I was cycling behind someone, turning right from a cycle path onto a medium sized road, and as she went around the corner too fast, the trailer flipped onto its side. The cars stopped in time, in this case, but it was close. I have no idea which trailer nor which type of attachment it was that would allow this to happen. I know lots of people who use the trailers safely, but even they would prefer to use cycle path routes even if they take longer, not because they don't have as much right to be on the roads, but because they are concerned about what could happen on the bigger roads, regardless of whose fault. Most of them are not smug at all, although I have also met a good deal of smug cyclists in my time who won't see why other people can't/won't cycle, as well as huge numbers who flout the rules and think they are invincible.

ivykaty44 · 20/03/2011 18:02

If county's can make £200 000 per year it is possibly worth considering that motorists are driving their cars to fast - driving to fast causes accidents, those accidents can kill people - other people that are not doing any harm and going about their business sensibly.

Stop trying to blame other people for being in cycle trailers, being on the pavements walking, cycling along the road - and slow down, pay attention.

The revenue wouldn't be raised if motorists didn't speed in their cars

WinterOfOurDiscountTents · 20/03/2011 18:04

No, oddly enough I make the decisions for my young children. You just talk like one.

Careful now, that was another infringement, I'm not as trigger happy as you though.

JaneS · 20/03/2011 18:10

I'm not reading the whole thread, but just wanted to say this.

I have had one of those trailer things under the wheels of my car (empty, thank God). The women using it probably hadn't fastened it as carefully as she would have if she'd got a child in it, but it detached from the back of her bike as she was coming round a corner, and because she was also ignoring the one-way street Angry, I didn't swerve in time to miss it. It was a fair few months ago and my heart is still thumping thinking about it - I thought there was a kid in there.

Please, if you must use these things:

  1. Fasten them properly
  2. Learn the Highway Code and follow it
ivykaty44 · 20/03/2011 18:41
ivykaty44 · 20/03/2011 18:42
ivykaty44 · 20/03/2011 18:44

first he sat in the bike lane - possibly the driver of the car thought he was on a bike and didn't realise he was in a motor car?

See motorists have a stupidity streak its not limited to cyclists

2catsand1rabbit · 20/03/2011 19:02

It's only unsafe to ride one because everyone else is in their car. More people should cycle and walk it would make the country a nicer place. Parents drive their kids to school because they say it's not safe for them to walk. They are making the problem worse by driving them in. It's a vicious circle.