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?

The leading cause of child death in this country is road accidents of all kinds in and out of the car, but being a pedestrian is most dangerous followed by being a car passenger. Lastly its bikes. Shall we ban cars and walking?

I noticed somebody upthread talking about how they used one of these. But when they went out they had 1 adult pulling the trailer and 1 adult cycling behind. But drivers kept trying to pull into the "gap" where the trailer was. And that will be because drivers won't actually have seen the trailer until the last minute.

I think the point I'm trying to make about calling the police is.. if you look at statistics, I'm sure more children are killed walking than in a bike trailer. I'm pretty hot on car seat safety, but not everyone is. It's hard to police. The risks people choose to do with their kids are up to them (if they are legal) you can't just call the police because you don't agree with something. No one wants to see a child splattered on the road (squeezy's words) but that could happen if a child runs in to a road, if they cross by a zebra crossing and a car doesn't stop. So many possibilities for children to get injured. I see people using trailers all the time in my city in England and I've not heard of 1 accident involving them. What I have heard though, is many accidents involving children crossing the road despite there being red man/ green man AND a lollipop man. But irresponsible car drivers are driving too fast and don't stop in time!

More children are killed walking than in a bike trailer, because thankfully very few people are daft enough to use bike trailers in actual traffic.

If they're so unbelievably safe, why do car manufacturers bother with all the safety features? Clearly a cage made of aluminium tubes is all that is necessary.

With a quick google I found details of 2 child deaths and various injuries in Norway to kids riding in these. But the research also shows they are safer than child seats on bikes.
Personally I would only use them on quieter roads with good visibility.

The truth is trailers are not made with a car collision in mind. I am sure when drivers see these trailers and realise there are children inside, they will drive carefully near them. The issue is being seen.

Actually I am wrong. This child was not seriously hurt.
But the accident happened when it was dark and raining, so very poor visibility.

bikeportland.org/2012/12/04/man-rear-ended-while-biking-with-child-in-trailer-speaks-out-80772

And wearing a helmet is effective.
"helmets reduce the risk of serious head trauma by 60 percent"

sciencenordic.com/should-bicycle-helmets-be-mandatory

That link also says:

Bike helmets have the greatest effect in accidents in single-bicycle accidents than when the bike rider crashes with a motor vehicle.

So useful when off road mountain biking. Less so on the road.

Yes it does say in single bike accidents, and then goes on to explain what kind of accidents can happen on the road that meets that criteria. Yes if a car hits you, a helmet is not going to help. But if a cycle hits a pedestrian, clips a kerb, skids on oil on the road, etc, then yes it does help.

It's worth getting a proper understanding of the risk as well- you need to look at relative risk per mile. Cycling UK has some good stats: www.cyclinguk.org/statistics

1 cyclist killed for every 30 million miles cycled. Yes car drivers are less likely to be killed but they are MORE likely to kill someone else. So who should we be censuring? The people at risk or the people who put them at risk?

Incidentally the health benefits of cycling far outstrip any risk. You breathe in more fumes in a car stationary in traffic than on a bike (and of course on a bike can choose less traffic-y routes).

The UK has such a weird attitude to cyclists. It's so refreshing when you cycle in France or the Netherlands.

One of my bug bears is people parking nose in and then reversing out when they don't have to. Same with parents wandering a metre or two from their child randomly across supermarket car parks paying no attention to cars manoeuvring. Also paying no heed to small children careening about on the pavement, scooting downhills or towards crossings completely out of reach.

That's because I have spent a great deal of time in paediatric neurology waiting rooms. One of the common causes of traumatic brain injury in children is being hit by cars. No driver ever intends to hit anything, accidents do and will happen, visibility is a big factor.

Children are often below a driver's eye level, keep them out of traffic, teach them how to safely walk past the front of parked cars, cross roads and if you drive be aware that you cannot see clearly and park so you can nose out whenever possible. Use lights and horn. Open windows and radio off for reversing. Be visible. Be aware. Employ common sense instead of just relying on blind luck.

The article above about the cycle advocate who was rear ended says this The risk of a rear-end accident and the consequence of what happens if it occurs, is something I hadn’t fully come to terms with before. He genuinely had not assessed the variables of risk involved and his child was nearly killed because his judgement was clouded by magical optimistic righteous thinking. It is naivety that allows parents to ride in UK traffic with unprotected children, just poor evaluation skills and total underappreciation of risk. People should take greater care because sometimes everything is not all right and then it cannot be undone.

Octopus Are cyclists more likely to be involved in accidents on the road than cars? Because I suspect not.
The issue is that accidents happen, and the most vulnerable road users will come off worse in accidents.
So I was driving a car and was stationery when another car suddenly reversed into me. My car was damaged, but I was fine. If I had been a cyclist I could have been dead.
Cycling in the UK in general is fine, but there are roads in rush hour that I would never cycle as I personally think the risks are too great.

We have a bike trailer and love it. I would think it offers next to no protection from being hit by a car, much the same as being a pedestrian/on a bike. We use it on off road cycle paths mainly. I wouldn’t be happy with it on a main road.

A few people have mentioned the Netherlands. Yes, there is a huge amount of good cycling infrastructure which leads to the crucial point: Almost all drivers are also cyclists.

Coming from a cyclist-hating country, it was mind-boggling to me watching cars slow down to cycling pace and peacefully chugging along behind a cyclist on the stretches of shared road, allowing plenty of space. The lack of aggression & haste was lovely to see, it makes a huge difference to the road experience.

Dutch - sadly we're along way from that enlightened attitude here in the car loving uk

Can'tbearsed no- drivers are more likely to be involved in accidents- it's just like you say- they are less vulnerable encased in a tonne of metal. I think about double the chances of serious injury to a cyclist than a driver (but drivers 6x more likely to be in an accident in the first place).

Personally though I feel risk much more keenly when I put the kids in a car than when I put one of them on my bike- so I think there is habituation involved in risk perception as well. We cycle quite frequently- prior to kids I easily cleared 150 miles a week. We don't have a car so only use one when I hire it.

But most people are horrified by putting kids on a bike - even though the absolute risk is lower than being in a car. Cars are so much part of daily life people don't even think about the risk.