4 ms·

I would never expose my children to that risk on a day to day basis... Maybe if you live somewhere with very good cycling culture and bike lanes, etc. But still

I would never expose my children to that risk on a day to day basis... Maybe if you live somewhere with very good cycling culture and bike lanes, etc. But still cycling fatalities are higher than driving, and that's for adult riders - children aged 4-7 ? They don't even have the coordinaton to land properly - it feels about as reckless as taking a child on a motorcycle - but I guess a bycicle is more "hip"

tgsovlerkhgsel 6y ago
You don't let your children ride on the highway. Children aged 7 can drive on the sidewalk in many countries. You can transport bikes on public transit to get to something that resembles nature, then ride there (with no cars in sight).
tasuki 6y ago
Notice the danger does not lie in the bycicle itself, but rather in the cars surrounding it.
samoa42 6y ago
> I would never expose my children to that risk on a day to day basis but while driving a car you are exposing others to that risk. > They don't even have the coordinaton to land properly yes they do
Xylakant 6y ago
This obviously depends on where you are and where you’re going, but for example the region I come from (western Plalatina) has a full second road network built by farmers for farm machines. It’s even denser than the “regular” road network. And it’s open to cyclists. You can go pretty much anywhere on paved roads and you’ll only occasionally meet a farmer. Other regions have discovered cycling tourists as income source. I’ve made the entire stretch from the Baltic Sea to Berlin by cargo bike with our 18 month toddler without major stretches on any public road. A large chunk is on the service roads for the oder river flood dam works. A similar path exists on long stretches of the Rhine river - my parents and I made the treck up the Rhine to the Bodensee when I was like 14 or so. And that was like 30 years ago, things have considerably improved since then. Sure, it does take some planning and consulting maps, but it’s not impossible. Especially since mapping applications have started to support bike-friendly routing. There’s also companies offering per-planned trecks where they transport your luggage and you just take the ride. And then there’s the Netherlands where they probably wouldn’t even be able to parse your statement. I sometimes have the feeling they get born on wheels.
Thlom 6y ago
When the mundane task of cycling is seen as some risk activity, there is something wrong. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that the health benefits of regular cycling far outweighs the relative risk of cycling, even in places that is hostile to bikes.

tgsovlerkhgsel 6y ago

You don't let your children ride on the highway. Children aged 7 can drive on the sidewalk in many countries. You can transport bikes on public transit to get to something that resembles nature, then ride there (with no cars in sight).

tasuki 6y ago

Notice the danger does not lie in the bycicle itself, but rather in the cars surrounding it.

samoa42 6y ago

> I would never expose my children to that risk on a day to day basis but while driving a car you are exposing others to that risk. > They don't even have the coordinaton to land properly yes they do

Xylakant 6y ago

This obviously depends on where you are and where you’re going, but for example the region I come from (western Plalatina) has a full second road network built by farmers for farm machines. It’s even denser than the “regular” road network. And it’s open to cyclists. You can go pretty much anywhere on paved roads and you’ll only occasionally meet a farmer. Other regions have discovered cycling tourists as income source. I’ve made the entire stretch from the Baltic Sea to Berlin by cargo bike with our 18 month toddler without major stretches on any public road. A large chunk is on the service roads for the oder river flood dam works. A similar path exists on long stretches of the Rhine river - my parents and I made the treck up the Rhine to the Bodensee when I was like 14 or so. And that was like 30 years ago, things have considerably improved since then. Sure, it does take some planning and consulting maps, but it’s not impossible. Especially since mapping applications have started to support bike-friendly routing. There’s also companies offering per-planned trecks where they transport your luggage and you just take the ride. And then there’s the Netherlands where they probably wouldn’t even be able to parse your statement. I sometimes have the feeling they get born on wheels.

Thlom 6y ago

When the mundane task of cycling is seen as some risk activity, there is something wrong. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that the health benefits of regular cycling far outweighs the relative risk of cycling, even in places that is hostile to bikes.