Safe cycling for children, which position is safer?

To every responsible parent, the safety of their child goes hand in hand with seeing them happy and entertained. To those who will tell me that safety is more important than anything else, I reply, it depends on the situation and its duration. We cannot give in to a whim by compromising safety, but at the same time, we cannot keep our children in a bell jar. It would be counterproductive for their life and development.

So the idea is to let them enjoy themselves and live in harmony with their surroundings, but safely.

It is hard to overestimate the benefits of taking children by bike to school, for walks, for errands. It is fun, it creates bonds and wonderful memories together, it teaches them a simple and sustainable lifestyle. However, there are many of us who ask the question of safety.

will it be safe to transport my child on a bicycle?

is it better at the front so I can see it and control it or at the back so it is better protected in case of a fall?

These are the questions asked by parents who prefer to travel by car. They also use it for short distances, within a radius of 5 km. And sometimes very short, even 500 metres.

Many people wonder, children on bikes, is it better in front or behind the driver? There are different opinions. We often hear that the child in the back is better protected. In reality, the safer position of the child on the bike is already quite well researched. It is not for nothing that the Highway Code states that children up to 15 kg, i.e. small children, must be transported in the front seat. This position is considered safer. Furthermore, it is possible to have control over the child.

So why not always take children on bikes in the front?

The reason for this is that, on a two-wheeled bicycle, where it is necessary to maintain balance, the bulk in the front causes a greater imbalance than in the rear, and, therefore, the child weighing more than 15 kg is moved to the rear in the hope that he or she is also bigger to handle himself or herself.

In fact, when we no longer need to keep our balance, as in the case of the Three-wheel Family Bike, children are always moved to the front for this very reason: the position at the front is clearly safer and the fact that you can see your children gives an additional (but not the only) advantage.

And finally, we would like to present to you an experience of a parent in TAGA:

I wanted to relate my wife's experience, it was a Taga Family, with the girls, we live on Lake Garda so there is a lot of traffic, especially of foreigners on holiday who don't know the place and the roads very well.

A hatchback with an empty bike rack at the back (the metal ones for instance) starts to reverse without making sure that there is someone behind it, namely my wife with the girls on the taga, who was standing to one side as she slowly pulled back to move (she had no room on the side ahead).
Then the guy pulls back even faster and stag ! catches my wife right in the middle, and the front of the child carrier goes over the bike carrier, my wife starts screaming and finally the guy understands.

The Taga didn't get a scratch, the girls obviously didn't, except for the fear, and she even had the rain roof mounted so she was very visible, and during the day... the gentleman's bike rack broke instead...

We didn't think it was so strong, crazy.