5 ms·

Why is no one talking about the safety of hauling kids on a bike? It's incredibly dangerous compared to a car. In my city, it's not if but when you'll get hit

Why is no one talking about the safety of hauling kids on a bike? It's incredibly dangerous compared to a car. In my city, it's not if but when you'll get hit by a car on a bike. Yet I see parents increasingly think it's okay to haul their children on their bikes.

oangemangut 4y ago
Because it should be okay, and it's a societal failing that it currently isn't as safe as it should be. Cars are always safer for their occupants, but using them puts vulnerable road users at greater risk of serious injury or death. In my city I love to see more people on the road with their kids on e-bikes. It shouldn't be a moral failing on part of the parent to be doing that. OTOH, just this morning one of the A*Hole parents back her SUV out of a parking space in a day care parking lot while on the phone and holding the phone to her ear. When I motioned for her to get off her phone in the DAYCARE PARKING LOT she shrugged and sped off.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- sidfthec 4y ago
  > Because it should be okay But it isn't. End of story. Happy to support people who want to make biking safer. Happy to support politicians who want to build protected bike lanes. But you can't just make up a fairy tale land and pretend it's safe. Bring yourself back to real life, and your children are in danger.
seagullriffic 4y ago
I hope this is meant ironically. Cars regularly mount pavements/sidewalks as well, and kill pedestrians who are not even in the road. The correct response to "cars make cities unsafe for everyone" is of course to ban all but the most essential cars from cities. It is not to suggest that the _other_ forms of transport (including walking on the pavement/sidewalk!) are so unsafe as to be irresponsible, in the presence of cars.
- sidfthec 4y ago
  Great. But that doesn't help today. And today people are having their kids ride with them on their bikes.
yibg 4y ago
So it’s not the bikes that are dangerous but the cars around them. Shouldn’t the solution be about how to keep cars away from bikes, not ditch bikes and drive cars?
- sidfthec 4y ago
  Yes that's the solution. How does that help today, as I see parents carry their children on their bikes around dangerous cars?

oangemangut 4y ago

Because it should be okay, and it's a societal failing that it currently isn't as safe as it should be. Cars are always safer for their occupants, but using them puts vulnerable road users at greater risk of serious injury or death. In my city I love to see more people on the road with their kids on e-bikes. It shouldn't be a moral failing on part of the parent to be doing that. OTOH, just this morning one of the A*Hole parents back her SUV out of a parking space in a day care parking lot while on the phone and holding the phone to her ear. When I motioned for her to get off her phone in the DAYCARE PARKING LOT she shrugged and sped off.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
sidfthec 4y ago
> Because it should be okay But it isn't. End of story. Happy to support people who want to make biking safer. Happy to support politicians who want to build protected bike lanes. But you can't just make up a fairy tale land and pretend it's safe. Bring yourself back to real life, and your children are in danger.

seagullriffic 4y ago

I hope this is meant ironically. Cars regularly mount pavements/sidewalks as well, and kill pedestrians who are not even in the road. The correct response to "cars make cities unsafe for everyone" is of course to ban all but the most essential cars from cities. It is not to suggest that the _other_ forms of transport (including walking on the pavement/sidewalk!) are so unsafe as to be irresponsible, in the presence of cars.

sidfthec 4y ago
Great. But that doesn't help today. And today people are having their kids ride with them on their bikes.

yibg 4y ago

So it’s not the bikes that are dangerous but the cars around them. Shouldn’t the solution be about how to keep cars away from bikes, not ditch bikes and drive cars?

sidfthec 4y ago
Yes that's the solution. How does that help today, as I see parents carry their children on their bikes around dangerous cars?