Child carrying advice please



On 6 Aug 2004 02:41:05 -0700 someone who may be [email protected]
(Rory) wrote this:-

>As for the exhaust aspect, I haven't yet been able to refind the
>website where I read this


It is a fairly well known figure. Perhaps Transport 2000 could point
to the source. I have references to it in a number of reports, but
do not have the time to look these up.


--
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"Sverre Amundsen" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<opscb11xqkvapsmc@pr6370>...
> On 6 Aug 2004 02:41:05 -0700, Rory <[email protected]> wrote:


> > The main research was done by TÜV Rheinland and the Allianz-Zentrum
> > für Technik (AZT), there is an article about it here ("Des Zöglings
> > Sänfte" - "The Pulled/Pupil Gently??") with pictures of the
> > crashtests:
> > http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/1033/9602anhaenger.html
> >

>
> Thanks! I don't understand a word of German, but my brother lives in
> Germany. I sent it to him for translation and further research.


I once did a translation for a guy in the Us but it never got posted
to the web. I'll try and dig it out, or do it again, as I keep having
to provide this information. And sure, there is always Babelfish....
 
[Steph Peters emailed me that for some reason she can't post in this
thread, so I'm posting this on her behalf - Roos]

[email protected] (Rory) of http://groups.google.com wrote:

>>"Sverre Amundsen" <[email protected]> wrote in message

news:<opscb11xqkvapsmc@pr6370>...

>>>> On 6 Aug 2004 02:41:05 -0700, Rory <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>>>>> > The main research was done by TÜV Rheinland and the

Allianz-Zentrum
>>>>> > für Technik (AZT), there is an article about it here ("Des

Zöglings
>>>>> > Sänfte" - "The Pulled/Pupil Gently??") with pictures of the
>>>>> > crashtests:
>>>>> > http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/1033/9602anhaenger.html
>>>>
>>>> Thanks! I don't understand a word of German, but my brother lives in


>>>> Germany. I sent it to him for translation and further research.

>>
>>I once did a translation for a guy in the Us but it never got posted
>>to the web. I'll try and dig it out, or do it again, as I keep having
>>to provide this information. And sure, there is always Babelfish....


Or German speaking newsgroup posters. Rough quick translation coming up.
Apologies for the remaining Germanisms.

Sedan for the Orphan
Children in trailers are particularly safe

Institutions close to the car industry fulminate against bike trailers for
transport of people, since the bright light sedans are becoming ever more
loved and replacing some second if not first cars. Hard projectiles must
occasionally take the blame for bringing the environmentally friendly
variant of child transportation into disrepute. Dekra* and Bruderhilfe
let
it be reported that a car speeding into a trailer can be deadly. That
cars
are particularly dangerous for everyone without a crumple zone, is also
sufficiently well known to the car lobby without such self publicity.

There are underwriters who make objective assessments of risk. Last year
for the first time the AZT (technical alliance centre) took the trouble to
compare the danger potential of trailers and traditional child seats for
their little passengers. 27 crash tests give a clear message: children
sit
more safely in trailers than on the bike. When AZT chief Dr. Dieter
Anselm
gave the results on 21 March 1996 in Munich, he described them as
"surprisingly positive" - the AZT had approached the set of tests with a
certain amount of reservation.

Subjectively children in a trailer look especially vulnerable, situated at
the height of cars' bumpers. But precisely this can save life in the
event
of a collision: a car shoves the trailer wholly in front of it, while the
cyclist "high on a horse" is catapulted first onto the car and then onto
the
road. The transport of children in the area of the handlebars is
particularly dangerous; above all when they are behind the saddle they
come off lightly in head on collisions.

The trailer does not fall over as easily as a bike - and when it does,
then the height of the fall and the potential for injury are clearly
lower.
With child seats bad accidents can take place when the vehicle is being
loaded - a trailer with a coupling at axle height remains untouched, when
the
towing bike falls over.

The AZT stresses the importance of a stable trailer construction with
full belt harness and the use of helmets, so that the children do not come
into contact with the bumper bar. Unfortunately the correct line for
coupling
is missing; the models tested could all have been improved. The sellers
and providers of trailers are moving here in uncharted territory:
paragraph
21of the StVO* forbids carrying people on the "goods area" of a trailer.
This regulation does not directly apply to bike or special child trailers,
but there is room for doubt. In the view of the AZT this is a pity: "The
manufacturers of bike trailers must be given a clearer legislative
framework, so that they can further develop this - so far as we can
determine - currently safest transport mode for children and thereby can
contribute to better protection for children in traffic".

*Translator's notes:
Dekra is a German organisation that tests cars for safety, promoting
themselves as consumer champions, I think funded by the car industry
Bruderhilfe is an insurer with church connections
StVO is a German law or regulation
--
Life is not so bad if you have plenty of luck, a good physique
and not too much imagination. - Christopher Isherwood
Steph Peters, Manchester, England
[email protected]