How dangerous is this?

[Tangled Metal]

Woman riding a shopper with basket and a pre-school kid sat on the handlebars through rush hour traffic.

Good to see cycling as a part of normal life but this? First look I thought she had one of those cross bar seats then I saw his legs over the bars to the side of the basket. No child seat at all. Wouldn't that really affect steering? In traffic too.

[Vantage]

Clearly an idiot.
I've unfortunately seen similar stupidity myself.

[Tangled Metal]

You can get child bike seats that are perfectly useable and safe for about £30 or so these days. BTW the cyclist looked like she'd afford that. It was a heavy shopper but wasn't exactly a BSO.

Do you know what, I was too busy being shocked about how the child was being carried I didn't spot no lights. Thinking back I don't remember seeing any.

[Postboxer]

I wonder how dangerous it is compared to carrying a child in a car without a proper seat/without being belted in correctly.

[Tangled Metal]

Possibly less safe because you're not in a metal box when cycling and the child on the bars affects handling.

[profpointy]

would have been perfectly OK in amsterdam, and with another passenger on the luggage rack sitting sidesaddle making a phone call.

It's reckless and irresponsible in the UK though

[[XAP]Bob]

would have been perfectly OK in amsterdam, and with another passenger on the luggage rack sitting sidesaddle making a phone call.

It's reckless and irresponsible in the UK though

Remember that Dutch racks are usually specced to carry an adult, but yes, they do give "fronties" as well as "backies", and manage it perfectly safely.

I don't suspect that the effect on steering is all that significant...

[Tom Richardson]

It isn't dangerous at all but it's vulnerable.

[foxyrider]

most importantly its against the law! You can carry passengers on a bicycle only if it has been adapted to do so - a child seat is that adaption.

[Mick F]

At the end of Captain Correlli's Mandolin, there are three Greek girls on a motor scooter.
One driving, one in the middle doing her makeup, and the third facing backwards reading a newspaper.

Dangerous?

[Heltor Chasca]

At the end of Captain Correlli's Mandolin, there are three Greek girls on a motor scooter.
One driving, one in the middle doing her makeup, and the third facing backwards reading a newspaper.

Dangerous?

Something very appealing about dangerous people from the Med. [emoji6]

[Vorpal]

On a shopper, it probably doesn't affect steering so much. I see people do this (it's moderately common in Denmark and the Netherlands), but I don't think I would do it myself. I don't think I could have trusted my kids to sit still enough for something like that when they were small enough to sit there. I took my kids around regularly by bike, so it was worth investing in a child seat.

Who knows why she did it, or if she makes a habit of it. It doesn't necessarily mean she's an idiot.

Maybe she's just an aunt or friend who was asked to collect someone from play school in the middle of a family emergency, and it seemed the most practical way to get junior home?

[whoof]

At the end of Captain Correlli's Mandolin, there are three Greek girls on a motor scooter.
One driving, one in the middle doing her makeup, and the third facing backwards reading a newspaper.

Dangerous?

In some parts of the world this is just getting about with your family. One scooter: two adults, four children, two dogs and assorted luggage. But then India has one of the worst road safety records in the world.

http://www.freedomcyclelasvegas.com/wp- ... amily2.jpg

Or this one of four adults, four children and a bucket which may possibly contain Granny and Grampa's ashes.

https://www.freedomcyclelasvegas.com/wp ... amily3.jpg

[Tangled Metal]

Something similar appeared in a film so it's ok? Or two of the world's most cycle friendly nations do it occasionally it's not.dangerous here in the UK which is decades behind those countries for cycling provision of and awareness among motorists.

This was the nearest thing to rush hour Lancaster gets, early on a very wet, windy and dark morning. The cyclist had just negotiated a jam to get to a side street. The kid was sitting on the bars as far as I could see but the bars were kind of underneath his knees or even calf muscles. I couldn't quite make out how or what he was sitting on other than part of his legs were over the bars a bit. I was too busy trying to concentrate on the cars and a van that were around me to take a proper look. It looked like he might have been slipping back onto cross bar perhaps. In any country it wouldn't look safe.

BTW I'm curious, have you noticed a kind of cyclist solidarity thing going on in this forum? What I mean is you get a lot of defending of cyclists going on even if their actions are against the law or not safe. With the right case that's good, like when you get comments on newspaper websites banging on the about cyclists not.being insured, etc. However there's defenders of cycling on pavements (without safety reasons for doing so), rlj and cases like the above.

[Vantage]

On a shopper, it probably doesn't affect steering so much. I see people do this (it's moderately common in Denmark and the Netherlands), but I don't think I would do it myself. I don't think I could have trusted my kids to sit still enough for something like that when they were small enough to sit there. I took my kids around regularly by bike, so it was worth investing in a child seat.

Who knows why she did it, or if she makes a habit of it. It doesn't necessarily mean she's an idiot.

No I'm sorry, she's an idiot.

and a pre-school kid sat on the handlebars through rush hour traffic.

It's right there. Pre-school for starters is way too young to be balancing on the handlebar.
Through rush hour traffic. That means lots and lots of cars, vans and trucks all in a hurry and giving less of a damn during that time of the day than any other. These people are a big enough threat on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Anyone who has children automatically knows they are irreplaceable. If one falls off the bars due to a smidsy or some such incident then there's a fair chance a funeral will be getting organised. New replacement children cannot be bought at Adsa or Tesco.

Maybe she's just an aunt or friend who was asked to collect someone from play school in the middle of a family emergency, and it seemed the most practical way to get junior home?

Taxi. Bus. Walk.

If I ever found out that any member of my family or a friend had travelled with my kids in this way, they would be in urgent need of medical assistance.