85 BIKE TRAILERS: let me urge you not to put your small child on a bicycle
Description
This article is from the Outdoor Activities for Young Children FAQ, by Gloria Logan glogan@atk.com with numerous contributions by others.
85 BIKE TRAILERS: let me urge you not to put your small child on a bicycle
Please, let me urge you not to put your small child on a bicycle. I
was a bicycle commuter for quite a few years, and got into several
accidents. If you get into any sort of accident, and the bicycle falls
over, your child's head will be spinning into traffic.
If you have doubts, try this experiment: practice riding your bike
and doing a controlled fall. Pretend a car door has swung out in front
of you. Notice where the rear of the bicycle goes if you fall. What
happens if your front wheel jams and you are flung over the front of
the bicycle? (This happened to me TWICE. Once I hit a pothole, and
once I was side-swiped by a teenage driver)
Repeat this experiment with a trailer if you are considering a
trailer. Strap a child-sized weight onto the trailer and practive
riding over potholes. What happens if a wheel of the trailer gets
caught in a crack in the road? What happens if a stick wedges between
the rear wheel of your bicycle and the trailer? What happens if the
trailer is sideswiped?
I don't think of myself as a fanatic, but seeing small children on
the backs of bicycles makes me REALLY nervous. Even in the country,
roads can be bad, shoulders narrow, and drivers are not expecting to
see you.
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