The motorcyclist in front has a young child riding pillion

[Temporaryname137]

(Note, I'm in a cab, not driving whilst typing!!)

We're travelling along one of the busiest roads in London and the traffic is actually moving for once (love Fridays when lots of schools are off) - and the vehicle in front is a motorbike with a child riding pillion. The child is small but big enough to reach the footpeg (although s/he seems more interested in sticking his/her feet out at the moment).

It has really surprised me - ok so I'm not a biker and fully prepared to be told I am overreacting, but would (i) you take a child on a motorbike and (ii) through Central London where so many bikers, motor and pedal, get into tangles with lorries and buses?

Wow Daytona that's legal??????? That's insane.

I used to love going on the back of my dad's bike when I was a child. But I was a child and had no concept of danger. It's definitely not something I would let my children do.

The problem is that you're not protected by half a tonne of metal in quite the same way as a car driver. So yes it might be the car driver who is inattentive - and that's not always the case, you see some horrific car driving and you see some horrific motorbike driving - but that's cold comfort for you when you're the one learning how to walk again without your lower left leg or for your family tying flowers to a lamp post.

I just don't get why a parent would risk their child like that. And I agree, I'd never put a child on a pedal cycle either, at least not in traffic. It's different when you're not on main roads.

There are a few who do it around here without much safety equipment. I have no idea why we can have such strict regulation around child car seat safety and yet virtually none around child motorbike safety, given the dangers.

I'm mean, how can it be legal to put a child on the back of a bike that can easily do 100mph?

Frusso
I wasn't meaning to start a car v bike fault discussion.

In India it is common to see a family of 4 on a motorbike and only the driver will be wearing a helmet.

Spent some time in Vietnam. Whole families including babies and the family pet on motorbikes in the cities sans helmets. Everyone seemed to have respect for other road users and pedestrians though.

We all make decisions for our children based on balancing risk and benefits. My mum used to have her heart in her mouth whenever she watched mine bombing around jumping big fences on ponies as kids. Doesn't mean we should disband Pony Club.

We're travelling along one of the busiest roads in London and the traffic is actually moving for once (love Fridays when lots of schools are off)

Sorry to go off at a complete tangent but I have never heard of this before. Do lots of schools in London have Friday off then? How do they make up the time? Are the other days longer to compensate?