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?

We had one when the kids were little and it was great.

However, we live in a village that has access to a fantastic cycle network so even when going to the next village to see friends or even the local town 5 miles away, apart from the short journey to the cycle network through the (quiet) village we didn't have to use roads at all.

The kids loved it and it was great for putting shopping in.

That said, I must admit I would have felt very differently about it if we were using it on busy roads.

I also wonder how healthy it is to have small children, whose lungs are still developing, at exhaust pipe level in heavy traffic. They must be breathing in a huge amount of CO.

I'm not sure how anyone with this concern squares the box about travelling by car with their children in it, which is far worse than walking/ cycling alongside cars.

was in a queue of traffic, waiting to turn left (and indicating), and could see a cyclist coming up on the inside. I crept forward slightly, and after the cyclist had passed started to turn. Thankfully, I was going incredibly slowly and spotted the trailer out of the corner of my eye just as I made the left turn, and I must have missed clipping the trailer by a matter of inches.

So how come you couldn’t see the trailer in your wing Mirror? You saw the cyclist but not the trailer?

I also wonder how healthy it is to have small children, whose lungs are still developing, at exhaust pipe level in heavy traffic. They must be breathing in a huge amount of CO.

Children in cars are breathing more pollution than those children on bikes and pavements, are you also concerned about children sat inside cars?

Testing and licensing motorists doesn’t stop 5 people every day being killed by drivers so why would testing and licensing stop cyclists killing one person every year

Because British car drivers are amongst the safest in the world.

I drive on constant alert to not hit a reckless cyclist.

I nearly hit one this morning. I was in the right hand of 2 lanes, which was moving faster than the inside lane. A cyclist just a little ahead of me checked over his shoulder, must have seen me about 15' behind, and swung straight into my lane without signalling.

He then assumed a position in the centre of the carriageway on a steep, narrow hill, so no-one could pass him safely, and caused a long tailback.

Tosser.

The fact is even if every car on the road were planet saving electric engines (as they should be)

Electric cars aren't necessarily that plants saving. Unless your electricity supplier is 100% renewables you are still requiring the burning of fossil fuels, them of course there is producing the car and battery.

This report from 2017 suggests that "over its whole lifecycle, the electric car would still be responsible for 80% of the emissions of the petrol car".

He then assumed a position in the centre of the carriageway on a steep, narrow hill, so no-one could pass him safely, and caused a long tailback

You cannot pass safely without going into the opposite lane, so what you mean is he was preventing you passing unsafely.

www.brake.org.uk/facts-resources/1653-uk-road-casualties

Are motoring standards aren’t anything to be proud of - 5 deaths a day and far to many in urban 20mph zones

Why are you assuming that car drivers could not go in the opposite lane to overtake?

ivykayt Obviously there is always room for improvement. But when compared globally, our driving standards are amongst the best in the world.

"over its whole lifecycle, the electric car would still be responsible for 80% of the emissions of the petrol car"

I didn't know that, it's disappointing. How does an electric bike shape up next to it? My only recent awareness of electric car issues was the Tesla batteries that can't be put out once they are on fire. Had no idea there aren't actually pollution benefits

The majority of poor skill cyclists I see round here are uni student age. Just kids really but clueless on rules of the road, no lights, headphones in, texting whilst cycling, carrying stuff in one hand, weaving about through traffic totally oblivious. (I have been a pedestrian and witnessed a couple of terrible accidents where cyclists hit pedestrians on mixed use paths too.) They just don't understand defensive road use on any level.

I also see a lot of very good cyclists and have seen cyclists tell others to take their earphones out etc when stopped beside them at lights. They get dog's abuse for it.

I drive defensively and try to protect other vulnerable road users and I see a lot of other drivers do it too. It only takes one person to be not paying attention though.

Ah but it’s never the cars in the opposite lane that prevent people overtaking - it’s always the slower moving traffic in the same lane that are holding the motorists up...

Waiting until it’s safe to overtake never seems to be a valid option

Headphones - how many of you have car stereo and the windows closed when driving? Yet it’s no different from a cyclist wearing headphones 🎧

www.bikebiz.com/business/cyclists-with-ipods-hear-the-same-as-motorists-listening-to-nothing

It’s actually worse in a car than headphones on a bike...

Yes it is different a cyclist weraing headphones.

The expectation of some drivers to go as fast as they want whenever they want, to not have their journeys impeded by anything or anyone, be it cyclists, horses, tractors, new drivers, - never fails to surprise me. Just learn to share the road in a calm non hating manner, it would be a lot nicer for everyone.

Clare where is your evidence to prove this?

One of these would make a massive difference to my life and my horrible awkward school commute by car 2 miles through the city centre. It would take half as long as I could use some of the cycle routes that cut out the one way system . I can't do this because of the behaviour of car drivers. Im an experienced cyclist who used to commute in central London but this is simply not safe.

It’s attitudes like some of the victim blaming on this thread that contribute to the idea that cyclists are just smug bastards and that people don’t need to drive appropriately considering other road users that are dangerous.

They just don't understand defensive road use on any level.

Defensive road use looks different for cyclists than for cars. Is it possible that at least some of the behaviour you have seen actually was defensive road use on the cyclists’ part, and you didn’t recognise it as such because it did not read that way to you?

Cyclists are vulnerable road users. I would never walk across a road wearing headphones with music, because I recognise that I am a vulnerable road user and need to be as alert as possible. Car drivers have far more protection in a car, and therefore a greater margin for errors that will not harm them. So it is not uncommon for drivers to have small bumps with other cars in which no one gets hurt. With a cyclist there is no such thing as a small bump.

We have a trailer and a cargo bike which we use instead of a car. But we are in Sweden - I wouldn't personally use them in the UK.

Defensive road use looks different for cyclists than for cars.
I am a veteran road cyclist also. The basic rule of being aware of your surroundings and predicting future possible events is exactly the same. Road position is slightly different. I use mirrors on bikes and lights galore, visibility is essential. Don't see as much of that as I would like.

Just as an example last week I stopped at a mini roundabout and coming the opposite way was a cargo bike with two tiny children strapped in the front. The woman cycling was really struggling, I purposefully stopped to see where she was going so the traffic behind me would too and give her space and time. The traffic behind her was doing the same to protect her. She did not look around to check the exits of the roundabout because it was so hard cycling, she followed a straight line across and would have been unable to stop had anything coming from her left decided to carry on over. Luckily it was clear and everyone around her was busy protecting her with the same horrified look on all of our faces!

She was head down desperately trying to make the bike go, she did not look up or around once. The children were strapped into a tilted open box on the front, feet and arms out.

This was a long tree lined street, busy commuter route road but wide clear pavements. She would have been fine on the pavement and this is one instance where I think ride on the pavement then get off and walk to go past any occasional pedestrian , faster, smoother, safer.

Examples of things I have seen drivers get angry about cyclists doing, which are all totally rational and safe things for the cyclist to do:

• not cycling right in the gutter
• cycling in the middle of the lane when the road is narrow or view obstructed, oncoming traffic is heavy, or when approaching a junction
• giving parked cars a very VERY wide berth
• moving out of the way fast to avoid being stuck between a lorry turning left and the edge of the road