Fitting Childseat To Bicycle Increases Overtaking Distances By Motorists (No Child Required), Finds Study

Fitting Childseat To Bicycle Increases Overtaking Distances By Motorists (No Child Required), Finds Study

Cyclists with child seats on the rear of their bicycles. Photo: Bernd Thissen/dpa (Photo by Bernd ... [+] Thissen/picture alliance via Getty Images)



dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images

A new study has found that those cyclists who ride with childseats attached to the rear of their bicycles are given more room by motorists. Ditto for towing child-carrying trailers.

The Belgian-lead study has been published in the latest issue of Transportation Research. Researchers—using dummies rather than real children—examined whether motorists identify and classify the cyclists they see ahead of them.

In many collisions, motorists claim they were not aware of the cyclists they hit. Two-wheelers have an acronym for this supposed inattention from motorists: SMIDSY, “sorry, mate, I didn't see you.”

This new study, like