My wife and I want to share the enjoyment of a leisurely bike ride with our one-year-old daughter and are wondering which is safer, a bike seat or a bike trailer?
Basically, it comes down to what you are most comfortable with. That being said, many people feel that for truly young people bike seats are not the best idea. Although the parent rider can break his or her fall, the strapped child simply becomes a fixed extension of the inertia, weight and intensity of the bike’s natural fall. Depending on the fall, the child can be whipped to the ground, with a head being the tail of the whip that hits the ground hardest. Good trailers come with a flip hitch that causes the trailer to remain upright even if the parent’s bike falls or flips. Also, the seats in many of these trailers have a five-point seat belt/restraint system that braces the childe to stay on the seat in the event of a fall or flip. And, the metal frame serves as a protective cage. A brightly-colored trailer makes it most visible, and the roof offers protection from the weather and sunburn.
