To think the man on his push bike with his approx 18 mo baby under his arm....

[sensuallettuce]

I stopped and let go past me in my car while is was travelling at about 30mph down hill wearing no helmets today - was a complete and utter cunt ?

It's times like this when I wish I was a copper in an unmarked car !!!

People seem to lose all common sense when faced with the conundrum of how to transport a small child from A to B using a bike. I once saw a man cycling at speed through central London with a toddler balanced on the bike frame and held with one hand, and I saw another a couple of times with a toddler balanced on the handlebars. I fairly regularly see someone who commutes with his baby dangling very loosely in a stretchy wrap sling on his front, with no helmet. And a couple of days ago I saw a woman with a baby in a bike seat which she had somehow managed to secure in front of her handlebars facing backwards - (and I'm pretty sure there are no seats that are meant to be used like this?) - again with no helmet.

It's times like this you wish there was a policeman standing close by to rip a strip off the guy and make sure the childs mother found out what he believed safe road practice to be.

reminds me of a friend who was in Mumbai and saw something equally shocking. This guy went past on a moped, helmet on, 2 year old child on his shoulders! (and no, the kid didn't have a helmet on).

You see the same with cars - parents strapped in the front and the kids bouncing around in the back.

i once saw a guy drive past, seat belt on and 3 year old kid on his lap who was doing the steering! I wish i'd taken his licence plate

Sad thing is the baby was laughing he thought it was great..

Did anyione watch watch 24hrs in A&E last night? Enough to put you off riding a bike full stop, let alone with a child under your arm.

Yes I did - which was why I was so shocked

I would have followed him, noted his address and called the police. But then Im like that.

YANBU. I saw a man today with a toddler perched in front of him between him and handlebars, neither wearing helmets I was and

Helmets don't do any good, but was the child literally under his arm?

I am struggling to picture it.

yanbu, I saw a guy yesterday on the school run with a school age kid and toddler sitting on the bar between him and the handlebars riding on the road. and the roads round us are a nightmare at that time in the morning. I wonder what if anything is going through their heads when they decide to travel like that.

I saw a woman drive a mobility scooter, whilst clutching a struggling one year old , alongside a busy road

That is shocking. Under his arm? Really? Was he cycling one handed then?

Kungfu you can indeed get rear facing toddler seats for the front of the bike. NOt that that means she was using one.

That's awful and shocking! I really hope you are joking but it seems as if you aren't.

I'd have swiftly reported the twat. That poor baby!

Sonaten are you sure he didn't have little saddles on his front handlebar for the kids to sit on? Quite normal practice round these parts to attach bike saddles to the front bar for kids to sit on.

"Helmets don't do any good" - erm, I beg to differ!

My friend's husband came off his bike and struck his head against the kerb stone. His helmet broke instead of his SKULL. I am aware that there is a theory drivers take more care around unhelmeted cyclists, but to claim that a helmet would make no difference in the event of a blow to the head is ludicrous.

What bollocks that helmets don't do any good. This study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that helmets led to an 85% reduction in the risk of head injuries and an 88% reduction in the risk of brain injuries.

Why do some people perpetuate the myth that helmets aren't effective?

I saw a man with a tiny baby in a baby bejorn sling( still inward facing that's how tiny the baby was) he was on a racing style bike and leaning so far forward the baby was practically sliding out the top! This was in Brussels however and no one else seemed to think it strange at all.

Go to India,Egypt, Vietnam or similar places and watch them transport children in some dangerous environments. It all depends on what you perceive as dangerous. Not to say it's right of course but somewhere like Dehli is a lot more wild traffic wise than most of the UK

are you in Cambridge? I saw a chap doing that last weekend. baby literally hanging off the side under his arm. DH and I both were agast

If you are doing downhill mountain biking, then I would wear a full motorbike style helmet.

But for riding on the road there simply is no evidence that they are effective.

There are lots of people who say 'but my helmet broke'. They aren't supposed to break! They are supposed to crush, that is how they work.

Regarding the NEJM study

www.cyclehelmets.org/1068.html

"Those who have taken the trouble to analyse the paper in detail, however, have found it to be seriously flawed and its conclusions untenable. Moreover, by making different - but no less valid - assumptions, the conclusions change radically."

"As well as having a helmet wearing rate 7 times that of the cyclists riding round Seattle, the ?community control? group came from higher income households and had parents with higher educational levels. The observational survey of child cyclists riding in Seattle found that helmet wearers were predominantly white, middle class, riding with their parents in parks, whereas the non-wearers were more often black or other races riding alone on busy city streets. The risk profile of these two groups would be quite different."

If you are going to wear a helmet, why not wear a motorcycle helmet? A silly plastic hat, as worn by many cyclists, is clearly not as good. If you are so worried about your safety, you should obviously wear a giant motorcycle helmet. Anything less is irresponsible. [insert further blather here]

"It's times like this you wish there was a policeman standing close by to rip a strip off the guy and make sure the childs mother found out what he believed safe road practice to be."

seriously? as though the father is a teenage babysitter? i'm finding it pretty hard to imagine anyone saying that if it was a woman riding a bike with the child.

"make sure the child's father found out what she believed safe road practice to be"

the guy discussed in the OP is a complete idiot.

I'd love to see Delhi's road death statistics...

re the children sitting on the cross bar, you can get little seats that attach on and it would often look like the child was just sat on the cross bar as it can be just a little saddle seat likea normal adult seat on a bike.

and the seat attached to the handlebar facing inwards, yes you can get these i have seen them online, not very common in the uk but they are available.

there is a mum near me who regularly used to ride her bike and had her toddler in back carrier on her back, i wouldnt do that! i havea bike seat for dd and a trailer for ds4 and we researched thoroughly to make sure we bought the safest ones we could afford.