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Comment by Kretinsky | Hacker News Reader

I enjoy dense and quality mass transportation, which is often faster and cheaper in large cities.

However, the trigger that made me buying a car was to start having kids. Between groceries, medical visits and leisure, it started to be very, very complex to manage it without a car.

Most public transportation infrastructure is hostile to strollers and babies; you don't want to see a crackhead do his thing next to your newborn (classic in the french subway); peak hour in a bus is hell with a baby; taxis often won't take you if you don't have a child seat, which is quite inconvenient, etc etc.

Until we solve those problems, and I believe we won't, then I'll use my car.

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Very true. However, at a certain age (10, 12, ...?) taking pub transport with the kids is liberating. And empowering, for them. I highly recommend it, as do my children.

Cargo ebikes can make a lot of this work if you live in a city, tho the more kids you have the harder that gets

Cargo ebikes are very dangerous for kids, and you can't sit a 0-3 year old in it. It can't be used in winter.

Aside from this, in many european cities, it will get stolen if you leave it in the street a bit too long.

Main problem currently is with bikes, where I live (Riga). Everyone rides on the sidewalk, making it a very dangerous place for pedestrians and kids. I would be keen to forbid bikes in the city center (and electric scooter), as bikers really can't seem to understand that they should go on the road.

Do you think banning bikes would be easier/less costly to enforce/better for your community than making it safer for cyclists to share the road with cars (which is usually why cyclists ride on sidewalks in a given area)? If a ban was established on bikes, but not cars, to parts of your city where people need to go, and cyclists continued to go to the places they needed to go… what would enforcement of that ban look like? Pulling them off their bikes?

I support bicycle lanes, but I believe that riding on the sidewalk is a very dangerous behavior that should be punished handsomely.

It happens in many cities, and those are the ones where bike riders are the most respectful usually.

Ask any deaf/old/parent about how it feels to walk while being overtaken at 25km/h by bike riders with headset on the head and phones in their hands. If you don't care about the weakest on the road, you don't deserve to be protected.

I took my daughter to preschool every day in a cargo bike from ages 2-4, winter included.

I ride year round with my 2 kids in Colorado as long as the roads are decent. I wouldn't ride main roads with them when the bike lanes are crowded with snow but there are plenty of neighborhood routes and bike paths around town.

I'm very happy for you that you took this risk.

- Did you drive on the sidewalk? If yes, you basically transfered the risk to other walkers. - How is the infrastructure? In many countries you'll see potholes for instance. - In case of a frontal crash, what is your % estimation that none of the kids will be injured?

Why so cynical? I ride on the road (or bike trails!) and follow all traffic laws, as I've done since reaching the age of 14 or so. I don't feel any less safe using this mode of travel than I do when traveling by car. I've never hit a walker.

I'm glad that you behave like this; many don't respect those basic rules, especially with kids.

I love that you want to ban bikes because they are dangerous for pedestrian when I would bet that most casulties are due to cars. Maybe build bike lane and limit/slow car traffic and they will stop riding on the sidewalk ...

The problem is that even in streets with no risk for bikes (on way, low speed limit), bikes ride the sidewalk. And why would bikes have the priority over walkers, endangering them in the process? The weakest has the priority. You're ok to threaten my kid who's learning how to walk because you feel unsafe on the road? I don't see how a bike riding at 25km/h is innocuous for pedestrians at 4km/h. You're just behaving like a car driver, accept it.

I rode a bike in Paris for 3 years, and it's as hostile as it can get for bikes. Never had a problem,never rode on a sidewalk. Why? I know how to behave with cars. I stop at red lights. I ride in the middle of the road to prevent them from overtaking me dangerously. I'm speedy and I can keep the pace with a late taxi driver if needed.

This kind of reasoning confirms that indeed, bikers are not reasonable and bikes should be forbidden on sidewalks.

Why the rant ? You said "forbid bikes in the city center" to which I answered if you want to ban something, ban cars then you'll have space for bike.

Nowhere I said that bike should ride on the sidewalk or have priority over walkers ...

I don't see why cars should have the precedence over bikes since cyclists behave just like them. Cars respect traffic lights and don't drive on the sidewalk. Bikes don't.

Sounds like you know how to ride a bike. Why do you assume no one else does?

Because many people don't. The sheer amount of cyclist that don't respect red lights and run through pedestrians crossing demonstrate this. I could film a busy crossing where I live and catch an infringement in less than 5 minutes.

My wife, while pregnant, got hit by a cyclist while crossing in Paris. She was well aware of what she was doing, had a very expensive bike and surely was riding everyday to work. But heh, can't slow down to let the peasants cross the road, right?

of course you can put a newborn in a cargo bike. It's no different than a car if you have the proper equipment.

Please show me a crash test for a cargo bike with a baby in it.

Show me a crash test for a stroller with a baby in it. Crashes are always bad and there are risks to living.

A stroller goes at 3km/h, I'm pretty sure that a collision with a wall at this speed is pretty innocuous.

How about a cargo bike at 20km/h? I can twist my foot while jumping on the ground, however I wouldn't say that base jumping is the same since you go up in the air in both cases.

I'm not worried about crashing on my own at 20 km/h. I'm worried about cars.

So yeah, I probably wouldn't take my infant on busy roads shared with cars, but i absolutely would put on a cycle path.

Cargo e-bikes are not dangerous to children. It is the cars that are dangerous to children. The cargo e-bike does not kill, the car does.

Cargo e-bikes are dangerous for children. Urban infrastructure is not pristine and contains risks even without cars. In Estonia for instance they don't salt the streets in winter. In Paris you have random public works stuff that were forgotten on the road. You can have potholes. Etc etc.

I don't see how a children wouldn't be injured while sitting in the front of a cargo bike, protected only by a thin slice of wood. Please show me a crash test.

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