AIBU to ask if bicycle towing a child carrier looks unbelievably unsafe?

[longwayoff]

I don't spend much time in traffic but noticed one of these the other day which made me feel a bit concerned. Today, the Mail has video of someone crossing 3 lanes of traffic with one attached. They look dangerous on so many levels. How can they be legal?

Also at exhaust height 😓🤢😓🤢😓

I'm your stereotypical, tree-hugging, recycling, cloth-bum, BF, slingy, crunchy, hippy Mama... yet I fail to see what's so environmentally friendly about children splattered across the road.

Less population I suppose, bit brutal though.

Trying not to mention the Darwin awards here...

in a small wire framed box

It's not wire framed, it has roll cage made out of aluminium or steel tubing.

And that's going to stop a double decker bus going at 30mph?

Trying not to mention the Darwin awards here...

They're not needed on the continent. It's Britain's context that is the problem here.

Britain is full of city streets which can not be made wide enough to accommodate a proper separated bike lane

And that's going to stop a double decker bus going at 30mph?

Given that most road deaths involving kids are when they are pedestrians I guess should ban children from walking anywhere, rather than actually as a society having a proper think about making the roads safer for all.

I think they pretty much are banned from wandering into oncoming traffic. At the very least, the police would step in if they saw it happening.

There’s quite a few parents I’ve seen that use them bang in the middle of central London at rush hour. To me it just seems such an unnecessary risk, they could walk instead. I personally wouldn’t use them unless it was on a cycle lane.

There is someone in my town who uses one that's attached with a plank of wood!

I think they pretty much are banned from wandering into oncoming traffic

IIRC most of the injured / killed children are crossing the road when they are hit by the vehicle, so actually pretty much wandering into oncoming traffic...

Vulpine it does seem bizarre that whilst drivers can kill in a car and regularly do through the day, cyclists seem to take the brunt of moral outrage

People don’t like to feel that they are making selfish decisions, so they get aggressive.

Like people who drink a lot - when someone says they hardly every drink - the drinker often gets annoyed by that. Like you’re making a moral judgement at the drinking.

Or a far person gets upset by a thin person not eating as much.

People sitting in their cars, in rush hour, clogging up the roads for a journey they could have biked and got a personal health benefit and an environmental benefit... get pissed off because people cycling highlights they could also do the same, but don’t.

Except apparently as a previous poster said, almost all car users are disabled or old so totally need their car.

Also I’d rather cycle in London than almost anywhere else.

Hackney is almost all 20mph which I can keep pace with on a bike so assume central position. Shit loads of cyclists as well so drivers are more aware.

Although I do still drive my polluting rust bucket. Can’t be virtuous all the time.

In Denmark they have been using them for years without problem

Worse, those seats on the back of a bike. If a car even touched the bike and the bike toppled, the child in the seat-like the one I saw on Sunday-would crack his head like an egg. He had no protection. Made me shudder.

We used them at centre parcs and I always wanted one for the school run but I would only ever use them on a cycle path no way on a road with cars. Not safe at all.

Reality check though... how many people actually have a cycle path which leads from home all the way to nursery? Without having to use a road at all?

It just doesn’t exist in this country. I have regularly used a trailer to get my child to nursery, only using roads where necessary. Fortunately the people in my vicinity have a more positive attitude towards trailers than mumsnetters seem to.
Or maybe they smile and make nice comments to me and then come on here and say what a terrible thing they saw today.

Horribly dangerous. No way would any child of mine ever be carried in one.

www.instagram.com/p/BummcqogbUB/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=28j7zchfwgo

This popped up on my Insta and reminded me of this thread.....

I remember hearing someone on the radio saying they're made for places like Amsterdam where car traffic is less than bike traffic and they are fine for little spins in a park but people who use them in Ireland were gambling with their children's lives

In Denmark they have been using them for years without problem

That's because Scandinavian countries have a transport system that's geared towards cyclists with paths for them everywhere and less cars.

People sitting in their cars, in rush hour, clogging up the roads for a journey they could have biked and got a personal health benefit and an environmental benefit... get pissed off because people cycling highlights they could also do the same, but don’t.

In Ireland cycling in towns is seen as taking y our life in your hands, the roads aren't wide enough and there's too much traffic to get around. It's funny because if there was less traffic I think more would cycle but they won't because of the danger of so much traffic

Quite a few people use them round my way but traffic is slow - never seen any accidents. 'Some loon'? - is that a phrase we can use now sparkly?

Stayathomer - yes do you see the irony in that And exactly the problem