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Canal and River Trust's Take it Slow campaignCanal & River Trust to cyclists: don't be trucks of the towpath
Cyclists are asked not to be the “trucks of the towpath” in the latest bid by the Canal and River Trust to improve behaviour on its most popular paths.
In a recent user survey, the Trust found nearly a quarter of people (23%) identified cyclists speeding past them in public places as their biggest bugbear. The charity, which manages 2,000 miles of waterways across the country, says pedestrians take priority on canal towpaths, and asks fast commuter cyclists to slow down, or seek a different route.
Speaking to road.cc the Canal and River Trust’s Dick Vincent and Claire Risino say they hope a polite request to slow down will eventually get the message across.
Canal and River Trust to hold live Twitter Q&A in wake of survey about speeding towpath cyclists
Dick Vincent says though he believes “cycling is awesome”, some attitudes need to change. “I can remember when I first ditched my car and got a bike,” he says.
“After a year I felt I owned everything, I was like: get out of my way. As more and more people take up cycling and get into that kind of mind set, it becomes a problem.”
“We want people to remember the cyclists do ask to be treated with respect on the road, and rightly so,” he said, adding when the boot is on the other foot cyclists need to respect others' safety.
Claire Risino, who is the charity’s Campaigns Manager, says it is about pace, not speed – and ultimately going too fast is a choice.
“It’s not the activity, but the behaviour,” she says.
“We want cyclists to use the towpaths, and have a good time,” she says, acknowledging “cyclists get a bum deal” in terms of a lack of safe infrastructure on the roads.
“You’re welcome, but slow down please”. “We just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
In 2016, 396 million visits were made to the charity’s towpaths by walkers, cyclists, boaters, anglers and runners, sharing the often narrow paths originally designed for horses to tow boats laden with goods.
"Trucks of the towpath"
Risino says there is a risk cyclists become the “trucks of the towpath” in their potential to intimidate others, but it is not just cyclists. She once saw two runners crash head-on into one another, knocking one of them unconscious.
The survey was carried out as part of Share the Space, Drop your Pace campaign. The Trust has repeated this “slow down” message for some time, from its “duck lanes” to the “two tings” campaign – which apparently encouraged some cyclists to incessantly “ting” people out of their way.
Because much of the UK’s towpaths are narrow, and cannot be widened, separating cyclists from pedestrians, or introducing other speed restricting measures, is not possible. Now the Trust is painting 3-D “sleeping policemen” on the towpath surface, in a nod to infrastructure seen on the roads.
Vincent says the constant messaging becomes “boring”, but likens the change of mind set needed to that around drink driving – it took decades of public messaging for driving under the influence to become socially unacceptable.
“We would love to be promoting those great cycling routes around the country more instead,” he says, highlighting Tardebigge Locks in Worcestershire, and Caen Hill Locks, near Bath, as great cycling destinations.
Quietways come to London's towpaths
A 16 mile stretch of towpath between Paddington and West Drayton in London is seeing £2.5m investment, to become part of a Quietway route. The money will be spent on resurfacing, and measures such as wheeling ramps - gulleys beside staircases to help cyclists push their bikes up and down. The route is being improved in sections and will be complete next year.
He says: “By the time we have finished you will be able to push a wheelchair from Brentford to Paddington.
“The reason we are doing Share the Space is that as work finishes we want to start as we mean to go on and use the route nicely.”
“A lot of people won’t have had problems on the towpaths but in specific areas, it can be a problem,” says Risino, adding “this is a destination, rather than a route.”
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17 comments
Time someone accepted that towpaths are no longer the quiet and safer alternatives to roads they once were.
The CRT have pushed for more and more users and are victims of their own success. Maybe they should stop taking cycling money to resurface the towpaths. There are plenty of other users that can be milked.
I personally use towpaths sparingly as I'm fed up of fighting with unleashed dogs, extending leashed dog, dog owner who have had a lobotomy, walkers with little awareness, joggers/runners, impatient cycle commuters going ding ding every thirty seconds, fishing poles across the path and finally barge owners using the path as a picnic place.
+1
I've said it before and I'll say it again (not sure about here) - things are much more civilised on bridleways. Let horse riders use towpaths (er - horse-wise, wasn't that their original purpose?) and everyone behaves in case they get a faceful of horseshoe. Job done.
don't need horses for that - just have volunteers giving each pedestrian (and cyclist over 50) a handful of horseshoes as they join the canal.
I commute on the Regent's Canal every day, and there are a lot of cyclists riding like dicks. I crap myself as they skim past me without ringing a bell or shouting "on your right" or similar. It must be really unnerving for pedestrians as they do the same.
When I'm in pedestrian mode I've got to say that I'm not a fan of cyclists shouting instead of ringing a bell. When you're walking along talking to a friend and there are other peds around talking to their friends then another voice just gets mixed in with the crowd, bike bells are instantly recognisable for what they are. Couple that with the fact that your voice just doesn't travel that far then you end up with people not having enough time to react.
As a pedestrian I want enough time to hear you, look around to see where you are, where you're heading and to move out of the way.
As a cyclist I want the pedestrian to move in a predictable manner. I ding them from about 50m or so away (more if I'm doing more than about 12mph towards them) and see if they react, if they don't then I ding them again. I'm looking for some sign that they know I'm going to pass and that they're not suddenly going to walk into my path. From my experience it takes a good 5-10 seconds for them to sort themselves out, so you need to make sure they've got that much time before you're on top of them.
Yes be considerate and slow down when passing others on shared paths, which I always do. But:
“After a year I felt I owned everything, I was like: get out of my way. As more and more people take up cycling and get into that kind of mind set, it becomes a problem.”
That's never been my attitude, and it certainly didn't have me saying 'oh yes, we've all been there.' More like, 'What are you on about?'
And some people just don't like bikes or the people riding them, and no matter what you do, they will scowl at you. There's nothing to be done about that except ignore their opinions.
That quote stuck out for me too, Audi driver purchased a Pinarello
As many here, I agree with the sentiment but it is a little ott and insulting. Trucks often have design faults due to poor visibility and upkeep, they are killing people. Not really a comparison.
I think this is fair enough. There is no excuse for passing people on foot too close or too fast. Canal paths are shared use for people on foot and on bikes, and I see pedestrians as more vulnerable than cyclists and treat them with respect by slowing down and not passing too close on all shared use tracks.
None of us enjoy close passes and lack of consideration from motorists, so let's not be hypocrites towards walkers.
However, I do wish people on foot would be considerate of cyclists on shared use tracks and not wander around vaguely and sometimes just stand in the middle of the path to bring you to a halt.
I slowed once on an otherwise empty canal path from 20mph 50metres away to 2mph to use the grass to pass a couple walking towards me who didn't deviate an inch - they stared at me and then told me to slow down as I passed. I'd call that a punishment block!
Cyclists are largely using towpaths because the roads are perceived to be too dangerous. Now there is a perception that cyclists are making pedestrians spaces more dangerous. Whatever we do we absolutely must not cater specifically for cyclists.
Were the canals not originally a transport network?
Maybe if the canal was filled in and a nice cycleway constructed
The CRT do some great work, but they really need to stop pretending they cater to cyclists in any significant way. All the canal path routes I've used have been plagued by bad surfacing, narrow widths and sketchy blind corners, especially at bridges. Instead of wasting time rehashing the same messages over and over, they should be pressuring the authorities to create decent cycling infrastructure elsewhere.
I'm sure some people will take offence at this but I think it's fair enough. It's just a case of setting expectations for all concerned and it is the same issue as the roads, just that everyone is human-powered. I like the towpaths and you can bomb along at a great speed when clear but I don't expect people to jump out of my way, especially if it's narrow. I'll call "excuse me" or ding a bell.
If anything pedestrians could be politely recommended to 'pick a side, either side, and stay there', because a panicky zigzagging is more of a problem and probably makes them feel like they're about to be run over even if I'm patiently rolling along at walking pace behind them. But let's face it, this is a minor problem compared to "oh dear, I've been hit by a truck."
Part of the trouble with that 23% is people's perception of speed when walking is grossly distorted.
This was the story
http://road.cc/content/news/214959-canal-and-river-trust-hold-live-twitt...
I'm sure I remember the survey that this came from. Wasn't it terribly biased in the way it phrased it's questions? ie "do cyclists travel too fast on towpaths?" Answers, yes, a bit, a lot or they're all hooligans...
But, yes, slow down around people and tunnels/bridges. Go quick when you have good sight lines. Remember to bunny hop the fishing poles...
Or unclaimed dog crap?
Mostly seems a fair point although I don't see any harm in riding at speed when the tow path is empty and sight lines are good.
I wonder what percentage of respondants (did they ask any cyclists?) would put extendable dog leads as their biggest bugbear?