trailer in traffic?
 

I know that the advocates would say why not but, Last night around 7 the Wife and I were in the Southside of Pittsburgh. This is one of those inner city areas that used to be a steel mill and is now a hipster shopping area. Clubs abound and the 20 somethings are out in full force. To describe the street as busy would be an understatement as it 2 to sometimes 4 lane like it was in the early 1900's before all this development.
I see a gentleman on a bike with a small toddler in a trailer behind him. I know he should have all the rights of the vehicular traffic and the right to be there but???? Would not this be like strapping your kids to the bumper in a car and going for a spin? Even the best driver may not judge something correctly and hit that trailer. At first I started to explain to the wife how he had the right to be there then I realized how much danger he was putting his child in.

I witnessed a situation exactly like that here in Indy. I had exactly the same thoughts. Of course it is his right to take his kid in a trailer in traffic. But I would never have done it when my kids were little.

No. The "best driver" wouldn't do that.

The "best drivers" don't plow into children due to motoring judgment errors.

Maybe a poor or very poor driver would.

Myself, I've had a few close calls with aggressively turning cars while walking the stroller across the crosswalk at busy intersections, and no real incidents of concern riding on the road with my child in a trailer, even on busier roads. This despite the fact that we ride far more than we walk.

How about that.

Cars kill more children over age 3 than anything else in the United States. At least this gentleman was trying to be part of the solution instead of the problem.

PS - Your child in a bike trailer is STILL safer than your child walking down the street.

EDIT- I have the same thoughts/gut reaction too, but it doesn't mean they are correct.

The OP and Making are opposed to pulling children in trailers? What about child seats on bikes? What about those half-bikes attached to adult bikes?
Or, is the opposition based on the particular roads?
I pulled my 20-something sons in a trailer (when they were little) in Indy and Atlanta and saw no great hazard to it then or now. Yes, they wore helmets.

I think it's a very situation-dependent judgment call. If the traffic is significant and the lanes are narrow and there are adjacent parked cars I would think a trailer is a non-starter. Risk goes down from there. You can't live your life in a bubble, but that ain't groceries in the trailer.

No, it is not at that I am opposed to it. I ride in city traffic daily and if I get squished by a truck, big deal. I do it because I enjoy riding my bike in traffic. I am very afraid of taking my kids out in that traffic. I am not saying anything bad about you because you do, it just scares me to have my kids out there. Dont be offended, it just is one of the points that worries me with kids. Course now my kids are in the teen's to mid 20's and I have so much more to worry about now than traffic. Just you and your kids be careful out there and have a good time.

I see all sides of the argument but you think of a trailer in a much more rural or MUP type situation. Especially considering the hubub with the Pitt game being on.

A little bit of fear is a good thing sometimes. It changes the way I ride with the trailer, and for the better.

Living in Pittsburgh myself, I am curious what part of South Side you are talking about. If he was around South Side Works or Station Square (and took the MUP to get there) I don't think it would be a big deal, but if he was out on Carson St for example (think narrow, high volume road), I would say he doesn't care for his kid's life.

I am all for cyclist's rights, but I think a child's safety is more important. To shed some light on it for those of you who don't know Pittsburgh, South Side is a long thin neighborhoods on the bank of a river. There is a MUP which runs along the river (the entire length of the neighborhood), and it literally 3 blocks away from anything in the South Side. I don't see why he would risk his kid being out on the street when there is a safer option that close to him.

Exactly!

2500 block ,leaving Southside works and heading towards Southside proper. Pitt game!!! Sat Night! It was so busy it at Mc cormick and Schmick's It was 90 min for a table.

What? On East Carson? At 7PM? Traffic would be heavy, but I would assume slow, as is typical. I guess there is always the danger of someone making a mistake. Globally, people cycle in way worse conditions.

I think the point is there are much safer options available that will not cause you to lose any time...

Personally I don't think anyone should trailer a kid behind a bicycle in traffic. May off the road but not on it. Seat for children to ride behind the rider are dangerous. I wish they weren't sold.

You assume the rider doesn't live off there or anything. Who knows what the rider's motivation was, I would do it if I needed to, personally, I don't begrudge the rider who chooses to take that particular route.

I'm not saying there isn't one but I have yet to read a story about a kid in a trailer getting killed. I have read many many times how using a kiddy trailer can get you tons of room on a road where otherwise people would get buzzed. Some of that might be because a trailer forces you not to ride the gutter but I would like to think alot of people see a kiddy trailer and give them lots of room.

Personally I'd be more worried about something happing like trailer seperation, tip over, flat tire, trailer jacknifing if I brake hard and that kind of stuff if I was out on the road with traffic.

Danger - Pedestrians vs. Cyclists ... ???
 

Interesting, perhaps even a bit ironic ... Where I live I seen myself personally, and read in the newspaper of many incidents where pedestrians crossing the crosswalk, or even standing and waiting for a bus, nearly hit, hit, and even killed!!!

We have many cases of this happening where I live, every year. I've witnessed many times when people crossing a crosswalk when they had the light for crossing, and cars have come very close to hitting them! And me!!!

There seems to be many more dangerous incidnets involving pedestrians, at least where we live, rather than cyclists.

I wonder if statistics would shed any light on this matter comparing pedestrians and cyclists ... ???

My first thought is, did he have a flag (or two) for the trailer? The car right behind him would see the trailer already, but the cars behind that car benefit from seeing the flag and, generally, gain more awareness of what's going on near the cyclist.

Busy, but like Ka_Jun was figuring, was it slow?

That's why I still look both ways before crossing the street, even when I have the light. And, yes, look both ways before crossing a one-way street, too; I figure that if someone's going the wrong way, they're not thinking clearly, are getting confused, and are, therefore, more dangerous.

I heard a mother tell her little girl, "Yes, you can cross now, because the sign says you can." That really irked me. You can't know when a driver approaching the intersection isn't paying attention. All it took to total my first car was one such driver -- imagine if I was a pedestrian instead.

I have no idea how children and the elderly manage to cross the street around here.

The ten seconds or so it takes me to get across with the baby stroller is more than enough time for a distant car to come screaming up to the intersection and do something stupid.

He's no more likely to get hit with the trailer than without it. In my experience he's probably less likely to be involved in a crash while towing the trailer. The only disadvantage of a trailer over a riding without it is the overall width and length. I have found that motorists give me noticeably more room when I'm towing a trailer. This is true regardless if the trailer is a child trailer, with or without child, a flatbed utility trailer, or a 14 1/2' canoe.

Super congested area? Sounds like a great place for a bike+trailer and a sucky place for a car. The people driving cars there must be idiots.

+1

The term "idiots" seems kinda strong...