Another great Hate Mail article... discuss!

nicmason wrote:

Nasty article but its a fair point about towpaths. They are narrow and not designed for high speed cycling. The speed limit for a barge in the canal is 4 mph and imo that woud be a good speed limit for a cyclist on the towpath unless there are no pedestrians in sight.

I hear you about cyclists going hell for leather on towpaths, but .. 4 mph?   I consider myself an experienced and safe cyclist and don't have any problems (that I know of!) with balance, but I'd struggle to cycle at 4 mph along a towpath. 

nicmason wrote:

Nasty article but its a fair point about towpaths. They are narrow and not designed for high speed cycling. The speed limit for a barge in the canal is 4 mph and imo that woud be a good speed limit for a cyclist on the towpath unless there are no pedestrians in sight.

That's a confused comparison.

Firstly, I try not to cycle in a canal, but if I were to try that, I most likely wouldn't be going as fast as 4mph.

Secondly, whenever I've seen a barge on a towpath, it's been travelling at exactly 0mph, so maybe barges should be treated differently to cycles.

Thirdly, barges are big and heavy and take a while to stop, so 4mph seems reasonable. My  bike is small and light and can stop really quickly, so I'd suggest up to 10mph around pedestrians is more appropriate.

nicmason wrote:

Nasty article but its a fair point about towpaths.

Let's put this in perspective.

How many people are there killed or injured on towpaths every year?

How many people say they'd like to walk on towpaths more but daren't do it because they are frightened by cyclists?

<sarcasm> 

If pedestrians find towpath cyclists intimidating then they should wear hi-viz, helmets and use bright LED lights so they are visible.

</sarcasm>

nicmason wrote:

Nasty article but its a fair point about towpaths. They are narrow and not designed for high speed cycling. The speed limit for a barge in the canal is 4 mph and imo that woud be a good speed limit for a cyclist on the towpath unless there are no pedestrians in sight.

Insane. I do a lot of towpath cycling and there is absolutely no reason to be doing a general 4mph. That's barely faster than walking speed. Even the advocated 10mph limit is too low - if I'm not within braking distance of a pedestrian or a side path where dogs and pedestrians can run out, then what speed I do is no one's business but mine.

Pass pedestrians at a safe speed, yes, but otherwise, do whatever speed is safe for the surface, which is what most people do.

nicmason wrote:

Nasty article but its a fair point about towpaths. They are narrow and not designed for high speed cycling. The speed limit for a barge in the canal is 4 mph and imo that woud be a good speed limit for a cyclist on the towpath unless there are no pedestrians in sight.

I ran a half marathon in 2 hours. That's 6.5 miles an hour. An elite athlete can run at nearly twice that pace. Should all runners be banned from towpaths too then?