The legality of passengers....

[Dave 123]

For some stupid reason I drove to and from work today, and this evening I drove past a bloke on a hybrid. He had a boy of about 6 sat on/in a seat fixed to the crossbar and a boy of a similar age in a seat behind his saddle.

I don't think I would be happy with the stability of that little lot, centre of gravity and all.

But my first thought was what does the law say about multiple passengers on a bicycle made for one?

Your thoughts my learned colleagues?

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

This letter of the law is this:

24: Restriction of carriage of persons on bicycles.

(1)Not more than one person may be carried on a road on a bicycle not propelled by mechanical power unless it is constructed or adapted for the carriage of more than one person.
(2)In this section—
(a)references to a person carried on a bicycle include references to a person riding the bicycle, and
(b)“road” includes bridleway.
(3)If a person is carried on a bicycle in contravention of subsection (1) above, each of the persons carried is guilty of an offence.

The additional seats would count as adaptions so it is legal. I haven't tried riding a bike with two child seats attached but I believe it's something relatively common in The Netherlands and other bike friendly countries, so probably not a problem.

 

[Koga]

For some stupid reason I drove to and from work today, and this evening I drove past a bloke on a hybrid. He had a boy of about 6 sat on/in a seat fixed to the crossbar and a boy of a similar age in a seat behind his saddle.

I don't think I would be happy with the stability of that little lot, centre of gravity and all.

But my first thought was what does the law say about multiple passengers on a bicycle made for one?

Your thoughts my learned colleagues?

Very common in Holland, many mothers will have this arrangement. Perfectly ok in Holland, but not sure about the UK, will be interested to see the responses here.

 

[swansonj]

I had a phase in family life where I had one child on the rear seat of an adult tandem with kiddy cranks and second child on childseat over rear wheel. Legal for the reasons stated above. But a lot of weight quite high up and quite far back and I did once let it (them) all fall over when trying to negotiate a gate.

 

[Dave 123]

These weren't little lads, and the weight up high must have been tricky at low or no speed. My bike at work has a small basket on the front and a large one on the back, with moderate weight in it can be tricky to balance.

It would be interesting to know what a jobs worth police man might think of it....

 

[HLaB]

There's a good pic somewhere of somebody pulling a trailer full of kids, plus a rear child seat , plus one up front and there might have been another

 

[Deleted member 1258]

it used to be common in this country years ago but its something that I see rarely these days,

 

[Tim Hall]

He would think, "too much trouble, move on".

Or "you're going dahn, you slag". But your version is more likely.

 

[andrew_s]

It's probably OK if the seats are commercially available, but DIY seats are dodgy. A bloke got prosecuted a year or so back for carrying his kid on a top-tube seat that was just a saddle strapped on with gaffer tape.
We did once have a club member who occasionally came out with 5 kids on his bike (Thorn triplet, kiddy seat on the rack, and a trailer with the twins).

I must say that 6 seems too old/big for either a top tube seat or a rear seat

 

[ColinJ]

Someone I got to know years later used to ride around like that with twins on his bike. I always wondered about the weight distribution, and also how he could mount/dismount without dropping the bike, or accidentally kicking the child at the back! AFAIK, he never had any problems though. Next time I speak to him, I will ask him about it.

 

[DRHysted]

That was how my mother transport us around all the time when I was a young child.
It's also how my sister transports two of her offspring, (sometimes she even has another in a trailer behind).

 

[totallyfixed]

And not a helmet in sight, wonderful.
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgu...a=X&ei=lA-EUpfSH8PxhQfq8YDQDQ&ved=0CEEQ9QEwCA

 

[snorri]

Brings back memories of my pre school transport.
Funny thing, I still shudder a little when thinking what might have happened if i had had my fingers in the spiral seat springs when we had gone over a bump. I don't remember being warned of the danger, it only occurred to me when I was older.

 

[2Loose]

As Snorri, as a child I was ferried about by my mother on a bike, my younger brother sitting in an arm chair behind her while sat on a cross bar mounted saddle.

Thinking about it now, I've no idea how she got us both seated\unseated safely while mounting\dismounting the bike. But she managed.

 

[Globalti]

I remember my Mum taking me to the shops on a little steel seat attached to the back of her bike - it wobbled and I was always terrified.