5 Responses to “Law, if passed, prohibits baby carrying commutes”

1. 1 Guitar Ted  on Dec 12th, 2005 at 5:21 pm

   I wonder, does this include trailers? I can totally see why you would ban the carriers that attach to a rack on a bike. If you go down, your kid’s gonna get slammed! Otherwise, I see no problem with a trailer. They are far safer, provide a bigger overall mass for the drivers to see, and capable of being used for several other things.

2. 2 Fritz  on Dec 12th, 2005 at 5:24 pm

   No, Tim, cycling on the road is not generally dangerous. A German study several years ago showed that kids in trailers fared better than children on the rack carriers, but even still the risk of an actual rear-end collision is very low.

   This bill is so ridiculous on so many levels. I can imagine the bill-writer actually had to SLOW DOWN (God forbid) when he saw some mama on the road toting a baby. This is NOT a safety issue. It’s nothing but legislative road rage against cyclists.

   Did you see that the bill mandates operation of these baby-carrier bikes on the sidewalk?? Did you know the risk of getting hit is up to 17 times greater on the sidewalk than in the street? We’re talking an ORDER OF MAGNITUDE difference between the street and sidewalk here.

   Claire explains some of the problems with this bill here.

3. 3 Mike  on Dec 12th, 2005 at 8:40 pm

   I think people look at things that aren’t common as being very dangerous. Just like people who think flying is more dangerous than driving a car when driving the same distance as a normal non stop flight (719 miles) is 65 times as risky as flying. You don’t see many people with kids on the back of their bikes, therefore it seems to be dangerous because not everyone does it.

4. 4 Haywood  on Dec 13th, 2005 at 10:08 am

   Laws are made when it is found out that people do stupid things.

   One example of a stupid thing is showing up for a training ride with your 2 year old adopted son from Kazakstan in the back of a buggy trailer.

   This action is even more stupid when you know the speeds of this training ride will reach 30mph plus.

   Even more stupid when you take out some of your fellow riders when you blow by them on a pace line and either forget or don’t care whether you have enough room to pass.

   But the most stupid ( and arrogant and selfish and thick headed ) thing to do is when you are told not to show up with the baby trailer by your fellow cyclist for safety reasons and you still do it anyway cause your name is John Wordin and you don’t listen to anyone.

5. 5 gwadzilla  on Dec 13th, 2005 at 9:15 pm

   the city streets can be dangers
   heck
   a country road can be dangerous
   but honestly…
   the crosswalk with a stroller is as dangerous riding a bike in traffic
   it is foolish that legislation would go after the commuter rather than simply having the cops who are already on duty enforce the laws
   I have said it a thousand times… people need to take their driving habits out of autopilot
   people are not focusing on the task at hand
   they are rounding off the rules and cutting corners

   no one makes full stops
   no one is within a reasonable standard deviation of the speed limit
   most of all
   no one is in the least bit courteous of each other
   people are selfish f–ks
   sorry
   can not help myself
   as a father
   this hits close to home

   people need to slow down

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