Should you take small children as passengers - Split thread

[ofblong]

good post badinfluence. The way I look at the way I take my children is I want to teach them how to properly ride. meaning hold onto me and dont let go. Stay awake the whole time (short rides), take your time and dont try to rush things meaning give yourself enough time that you arent in a RUSH to get to your destination. I am hoping that they will be less inclined to do 120mph on the highway on a motorcycle on a consistant basis when they do get old enough to ride a motorcycle on their own(which most likely wont be till they are 18 and considered an adult but thats a few years down the road yet lol). I cant expect them to NOT try and go as fast as they can because well I do it, though not around them, whenever I get a new vehicle/bike. My son is only 6 yrs old but he understand why I wont let him ride with me on the highway or country roads. His mother asked him this past summer if he wanted to ride on the motorcycle with me to his grandmothers house. He looked right at her and said "No because dad wont let me and I dont think I can hold on going that fast." I never told him he wouldnt be able to hold on nor that he couldnt ride with me on the highway (I wouldnt let him anyways even if I only did 45mph because even though the min speed is 45 I would feel VERY unsafe if I was alone doing 45mph on the highway) but he was smart enough to know (though not necessarily understood) his limitations.

[badinfluence63]

ofblong,

I think whenever the subject of children and motorcycles comes up most people are quick to jump to the worst case scenario and I don't blame them. Thats the only 100% guarantee for a childs safety with regards to motorcycles. To stay off the bad motorcycle. However I believe that in moderation, good judgement and crawl before you walk thinking and being careful you can minimize but not eliminate the potential for injury. Thats the choice, the decision.

While no state appears to have a age limit for a passenger let a representative from DCYF or CPS see you or have a nosey neighbor make a annonymous phone call on your behalf with regards to your child on a motorcycle. In todays political correct paranoia you need to be more concerned with DCYF which in my opinion are more dangerous then any old motorcycle ride, at least you have the potential to survive the motorcycle ride.

[ofblong]

I had to google those acronymes. the child protection agency has no authority over me giving my son a ride. They only have the authority to do anything IF there is a reasonable and just cause that I am ABUSING my children. I have been through the cps when I was a child so I know what its all about. However the DCYF I cant really find any information about them other than they are from rhode island. I have never heard of them till this post. I am reading more on their website but it seems they have no authority either. That doesnt mean they wont try to get laws changed (either organization) but right now it doesnt seem they have any authority to do anything. Plus the police around here (other than state) are lazy lol.


I do agree with you about the jumping to worst case scenario, however. That does mean we should attempt to prepare for the worst case scenario by, in this case, making sure full protective gear is worn and making sure rules are made and followed .

[badinfluence63]

DCYF is nation wide and unfortunately they can and will take your children for real or imagined promblems if "they" feel justified. And you have no say over it. While not wanting to make this a DCYF bashing thread I think if one is considering taking children for motorcyle rides one needs to be aware of the omnipotence and all powerful DCYF. Families have lost everything for less. If they are in school they are allowed to take them from there.

http://werme.8m.net/dcyf_tricks.html

[Bluebabe]

I grew up in an abusive home environment but one of the two good memories I have with my dad is riding with him on the back of a motorcycle when I was little.

That one memory is why I began riding. So, if I have the opportunity to do so, I will treat it with and give them the best ride of their life!!

[Patrick]

Lots of good posts on this subject, for those of you who saw my blog at this site it has a picture of a friends child on the back of my bike at the Christmas parade. Based on what I have read here, man I broke a bunch of rules "letting her throw candy and such at the side lines". Yes, I only put my feet on the pegs 2 or 3 times for under 5 seconds since we were going so slow and mostly we were stopped. It was scary for me not only because of the child thing but the fact that she was not mine. I took her back to the meet up point and we did need to go at 40 MPH 5 MPH slower then the limit which that alone scared me but the road had a good shoulder and I was watching my mirror like a hawk. She is not a very young child but I think a tween. After reading all of this both pros and cons I will really consider hard before letting her ride again but I did ride with my dad when I was a kid and never wrecked but on my mini bike I crashed a bunch and I was in car accidents as a kid and on my bicycle I did hit the side of a car that pulled out in front of me so nothing is 100% safe. Just walking outside can get one killed these days, but I will consider all said here when the next time comes. Thanks for all of the thought provoking views.

[Patrick]

1) I don't condone riding with kids who are narcoleptic... sometimes kids enjoy motion like on a bike, or in a car, and they get relaxed and fall asleep, even when unexpected by the rider. I am not saying to strap a sleeping kid onto the back of a motorcycle.
.

Your all going to think I am crazy (but what else would be new) and I just learned the name for my condition "Narcoleptic". I fell asleep on my own bike doing 70 MPH for a split second (it felt that short anyway) a couple months back. I can sleep in a second on anything moving even roller costers (well maybe not that bad). My bike is so stable I can take my hands off the bars for a long time and she just keeps on going so falling a sleep is something I have to watch out for. I normally only ride for about an hour or so before stopping not only because of my ole butt getting ready for a break but the sleeping thing unless I am on a fun road or lots of heart stopping traffic.

[ofblong]

DCYF is nation wide and unfortunately they can and will take your children for real or imagined promblems if "they" feel justified. And you have no say over it. While not wanting to make this a DCYF bashing thread I think if one is considering taking children for motorcyle rides one needs to be aware of the omnipotence and all powerful DCYF. Families have lost everything for less. If they are in school they are allowed to take them from there.

http://werme.8m.net/dcyf_tricks.html

trust me its different where I am. They tried pulling those "tricks" when I was younger and it ended up costing the state MILLIONS in dollars in lawsuits because of it. they have NOOO pull in my state now because of it. Sorry I didnt reply sooner. I just finally finished looking things up lol. One family that got seperated each child got $15million in retrobutions because of them.

[badinfluence63]

Patrick,

Children on motorcycles has its good side and its very obvious not so good side. Years later(20+ years) when speaking to my neighbor she said she was always so scared to death when she would see me load up my family on my bike(3 kids and my wife) and head on down the road. In hind sight, I can see why. Recently when she saw me doing about the same thing but with the sidecar now, she came over and was wishing there was a little more room for her. Perhaps I dodged a bullet all those years and all those rides. I would never have forgave myself if anything would have happened. Would/could you?

[badinfluence63]

ofblong,

Wish more states were like yours. DCYF currently wreaks misguided havoc of epic proportions thru out the USA. Too much or too little.