Should children be used as human shields?

In the last week I have had 3 near misses with kids when cycling past parked vehicles.

Twice a parent has been pushing a young (walking) child out into the street in front of themselves and once they were pushing a pram out. Each time the parent involved has given me an indignant look, I am sure they are the same kind of people who drive really dangerously whilst proudly displaying the "baby on board" sign in their rear window.

The last person I can remember who used other humans as a passive defense was Saddam Hussain and I don't think it earned him many +rep points.

It is quite terrifyingly stupid of them to push a child out when they themselves can even see what is coming. I guess this could be eligible for some kind of 2nd generation Darwin Award where if they are so retarded maybe their children are not particularly viable human beings either.

yep some of them seem to use their childs pushchair in the same way a cat uses their whiskers

Answer, no. When I was a courier, Oxford St was the worst place for this stuff. I always thought of it as parents using their pushchair as a minesweeper "at least it won't be me that gets hurt".
Fuckwits.

it's funny a friend of mine (who has a child herself) was just telling me of her friend who pushed her child into a cyclist's wheels and then shouted at the poor guy and accused him of trying to kill her child.

Because the child is facing the road they seem to forget they actually have a child in there. They might as well be pushing their shopping trolley. I don't get it why they don't have the child facing them, when you can talk to them, see they're ok...

The sad thing though is every year children are killed by moving traffic in their pushchairs.

Answer, no. When I was a courier, Oxford St was the worst place for this stuff. I always thought of it as parents using their pushchair as a minesweeper "at least it won't be me that gets hurt".
Fuckwits.

Strangely enough the last one was on Oxford St this evening.

In medieval times you could imagine them getting their children to look over the parapets during a siege.

I wonder about this sort of thing

1 Attachment

^looks like Max.

I wonder about this sort of thing

think youd be mental to use any child trailer in urban UK, let alone london.

I used to do deliveries with a cycle trailer, the amount of stick I got was a joke. A trailer attracts anger from drivers for some reason.

Get the kids up and out the way, in a frame mounted child seat etc.

Conversely, I never got given so much room as when I was carting around stuff in a single-wheeled trailer with a yellow flag.

I don't use one for chauffering duties though, due to living in a 3rd floor flat with no lift, and all the faff of locking it up and stuff. Childseat (rack-mounted) all the way.

I'd use one if I lived in the sticks though.

think youd be mental to use any child trailer in urban UK, let alone london.

the only thing that I'd take my kids (if I have kids that is) is simply the Dutch cargo bikes, sure expensive at a grands but it something I'd rather get if I have kids.

I kept seeing them around in Bloomsbury quite regularly it has to be said.

[SIZE=2]I suppose the crux is how do you feel about your children sharing the passive cycling experience including the vulnerability
[/SIZE]

For the most part, kids feel completley invulnerable ;)

What I find bermusing is when a parent is loading their kid into their car and the child seat is on the road, not the pavement side of the car. So what do they do? They take the kid out into the traffic and load the car from the road, instead of doing the (in my eyes) sensable thing of leaving the kid on the pavement and moving the seat over.

Is it just me, or does anyone else not understand this?

-Gordo

a couple of weeks ago i saw a fully lycra clad bloke (by bloke i'm trying to imply BIGNESS) on a mountain bike pile into a small 7 year old child. who was being a kid, and not really looking properly as they arsed around on their bike on the edge of a cycle lane in hyde park. the bloke was doing that "i'm on a cycle path and i'm going to go really fast even though it's clearly a summers day and it's busy around here, because i'm in my cycle lane". and then shouted at the kid.
i was so angry. i didn't do anything though. other than make sure everyone was really ok. what i wanted to do was tell the bloke to calm it down and bit and maybe he might not kill a kid this week.

unless that was his aim. in which case, fair play.

You can't speed along on a park, that is just stupid.

You can't speed along on a park, that is just stupid.

damn right, I got knocked over by a bike messenger who think it a good idea to take a shortcut through the park and knocked me over in the process, I didn't hear him.

the only thing that I'd take my kids (if I have kids that is) is simply the Dutch cargo bikes, sure expensive at a grands but it something I'd rather get if I have kids.

I kept seeing them around in Bloomsbury quite regularly it has to be said.

i have seen one of those (red i think) chained up in ucl for few times

What I find bermusing is when a parent is loading their kid into their car and the child seat is on the road, not the pavement side of the car. So what do they do? They take the kid out into the traffic and load the car from the road, instead of doing the (in my eyes) sensable thing of leaving the kid on the pavement and moving the seat over.

Is it just me, or does anyone else not understand this?

-Gordo

So while you're fucking around moving the car seat the child is free to do what he wants, any ol' time. Including running into the busy road.

Fine if you have a car seat that uses an ISOFix harness, but when you use a seatbelt to hold the seat down they can be a complete pain in the ass.

But I do understand you point though! Personally if I have to park on a main road with the boy in the back I always park on the side with the car seat. God knows what I'll do if I ever have another kid though, probably use one car for each so neither has to get out on the road side....

So while you're fucking around moving the car seat the child is free to do what he wants, any ol' time. Including running into the busy road.

Fine if you have a car seat that uses an ISOFix harness, but when you use a seatbelt to hold the seat down they can be a complete pain in the ass.

But I do understand you point though! Personally if I have to park on a main road with the boy in the back I always park on the side with the car seat. God knows what I'll do if I ever have another kid though, probably use one car for each so neither has to get out on the road side....

I'd have thought you'd always have the child seat on the nearside, no...? Not only does that make sense for when you're parked up, but you can look over your shoulder whilst driving to check on/bollock/slap him/her.

(Hi everyone, by the way. Newly registered, some-time lurker.)

i saw a guy today open his car door into one kid, then turn to see why the kid was crying, he threw his other kid over on the pavement, and the seccond kid started crying. it was a bit comical to watch as i was waiting for the londons calling people to turn up at my checkpoint in sw1

i have seen one of those (red i think) chained up in ucl for few times

Two a penny, or 2 a eurocent ,in Amsterdam. Cost a fortune and hard work cycling over a canal bridge. I'd never put my son in one of those coffins on wheels though! Stem kid seat all they way!

Oxford Street attracts some very simple people. Probably more than Lewisham.

I'd have thought you'd always have the child seat on the nearside, no...? Not only does that make sense for when you're parked up, but you can look over your shoulder whilst driving to check on/bollock/slap him/her.

As I said before. Fine, but what do you do with two kids??....

Hello BTW.

Having plenty of experience of the two kids conundrum (twins, 3.5 yrs old), you don't get a choice which side to put the seat on. You can get both kids to clamber into the car from the pavement side, strap the first one in then go round to the offside to strap in the other. Simple. Any sensible parent will try to instil some fear about dangerous traffic from an early age, but without making children so scared they'd never get on a bike ;-)

As I said before. Fine, but what do you do with two kids??....

Hello BTW.

Decide which one you love more... ;)