Child-Proof Your Ride

Taking a child for a ride in your sidecar? Here are some basic safety precautions:

• The child should wear a helmet—DoT approved and preferably with a full-face mask. If the helmet doesn’t have a mask, the child should wear goggles or safety glasses to protect eyes from anything harmful.
• The child should wear heavy-duty boots, gloves to protect little hands, and a protective jacket. You can also get the child a chest protector.
• Instruct the child to keep hands and legs inside the sidecar.
• Be sure the child knows how to corner safely and when and how to brace themselves. Go over any scenarios in which the child needs to know what to do and what not to do. Practice in an empty parking lot if that’s needed.
• Carefully point out the parts of the motorcycle that will be too hot to touch or that pose other hazards. Use your imagination and remember Murphy’s Law—what can go wrong, will. Ask the child if they feel okay with riding in traffic. If the trip is scary, it’s not really fun, and you want it to be a positive experience. You can ride on neighborhood streets instead of on the highway, right?
• Never, never, never give a child a ride in the sidecar when you are not fully alert (when you’ve been drinking, for example). The child should not be the first person to ride in your sidecar.