Biking with Children

Last week, Erik sent along this picture of a bike trailer he bought for Anakke.  He's excited to take her on bike rides in the cool fall weather.

His email made me think about a story Carmella told me a few months ago.  To understand the story though, you need to be familiar with the various types of child carriers that bikes can have.

When I was little, there was just one type of child carrier, pictured below.  Dad had one on his bike, but I don't remember riding in it much.  It still got use though, because he'd wedge his briefcase in there and pedal off to work.

There are newer ones which mount on the front of the bike.  Last week on my bike into work, a guy riding a bike with an empty one joined my street from another, and I couldn't help thinking that his seat was like the minivan of the bike industry.  I couldn't let him pass me with that contraption hanging off the front!

Now, to the story.  A few months ago, Carmella was driving through Vancouver, and came to the intersection of 16th and MacDonald.  This is a pretty busy intersection, with two lanes in each direction joining.  16th has a boulevard, so it takes quite awhile to cross 16th if you're on MacDonald.

Carmella was waiting at the intersection, and saw that there was a mom on a nice cycling trip with her young son also waiting at the intersection.  Carmella was in the car, and this mom had her son in one of the rear-mounted child seats.  When it was time to cross the street, the mom began to bike, and carmella waited for them to pass.

I've read that the rear child seats sit quite high up, skewing the centre of balance of the bike making it difficult to ride.  This would be even more difficult when starting from a stopped position.  If you're a regular or casual rider, you know that you're at your wobbliest when you start riding from being stationary.  The city of Portland also knows this, and allows cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs, recognizing that most bike incidents in intersections happen when the rider is just starting up, wobbling all around the intersection before able to ride quickly and confidently.

The woman that Carmella was watching cross the street also knows that bikes are at their most wobbly when starting from a stopped position.

As she started to ride, her bike leaned way over to one side.  It leaned way over,  dumping the young child into the street!  She didn't realize it, and kept riding away.  The child, just a bit past walking age, stood up in the middle of the street and began crying.  Carmella and the rest of the vehicles didn't move.

The child kept crying, but realizing that his tears would do nothing to improve his situation, decided to chase after his mom instead.  She'd crossed the intersection and turned the corner, still riding.  Her son is chasing after her into the intersection, which is larger than normal due to the boulevard. He's running and crying, and has his arms stretched out toward his mom.

His mom hadn't realized she'd dumped her child into the busy street yet, and wondered why all the cars were honking at her.  When she drove by, Carmella gestured towards the empty baby seat.  The neglectful mother looked back, noticed there was no child on the bike anymore, and got really worried!

By that point we can only assume that the mother collected her child, told him she loved him and wouldn't ditch him like that again, and carried on with her motherhood.  Carmella drove by, with only the regret of not having a camera to catch the whole thing.

So, if you're buying kid bike seats, be careful in the type you choose!  Safety first!  And don't neglect your children!