Originally Posted by
indyfabz
They offer protection in falls. So do the bars and the rider's body. A trailer can easily be rear ended by an inattentive driver. Not much integrity to many of those things.
It's been a long time since my kids were toddlers, but I've done both extensively. No question that the trailer made it much harder to maneuver the bike, need a bigger turn radius, and the added weight makes the riding more sluggish. On the other hand, once the kid gets on the big side of toddlerhood, there's little question that they're more comfortable in the trailer.
Safetywise, I never had an incident, and felt it was something of a wash. They were in fairly secure seats and had helmets on, so unless I rode like a complete idiot, the chances of being hurt in a fall were pretty minimal. Either the bike or the trailer is always subject to getting hit by a car, and there really isn't much effective protection from that possible except avoidance. I always had a big flag on the trailer, so there really wasn't an issue of visibility, and I studiously avoided riding in poor visibility conditions with the kids. Since some of this was done in San Francisco, that often meant resorting to the stroller and buses instead.