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canal-83039_1280Canal and River Trust urge cyclists to stay below 8mph on towpaths
The Canal and River Trust is urging cyclists to 'Stay Kind, Slow Down' and will be encouraging riders to stay below 8mph.
A speed tracker will be trialled on canal towpaths in the West Midlands and Staffordshire to encourage cyclists on the shared use paths to slow down.
The device will be set up so anyone cycling below 8mph will get a 'Thank You' message while faster cyclists will be told to '#StayKindSlowDown'.
The automated signs will be trialled by the waterways and wellbeing charity for a month in Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Coventry, along with Stone in Staffordshire, The Express and Star report.
Gavin Passmore, community engagement manager at Canal & River Trust, said: "We know that our canals played a crucial role during lockdown for exercise and wellbeing.
"This was particularly important in urban areas where many people don't have back gardens, as people stayed local and discovered these amazing wildlife corridors on their doorstep
"We want people to use the canals, including cyclists, but ask everyone to be considerate of others on the towpath.
"Whilst most people are kind and courteous, if you are on a bike, it can just mean slowing down and cycling at a leisurely pace."
Trial locations include The Birmingham Main Line Canal at the Wolverhampton Lock Flight, in Birmingham at Cambrian Wharf, and The Trent and Mersey Canal in Stone.
Other spots are at The Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Selly Oak and at Coventry Basin – with the locations chosen due to them being the most popular in the region.
Mr Passmore added: "We're asking cyclists to be sensible and to think about where they are and the people around them.
"Those on foot, including boaters accessing the water, have priority on our towpaths and, quite simply, those on bikes who need or want to travel quickly should use a route away from the canal.
"On busy stretches of canal or where the towpath is narrow, the safest option may be to get off your bike and walk."
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66 comments
Folks it's just sensible. Just as you would expect dog owners to have dogs on leads on a towpath, it's not unreasonable to expect cyclists to ride slower than they would on a road.
Worth having a look at this:
I saw someone cycle into the canal next to Victoria Park in London (Union Canal?). Completely avoidable if they had just slowed down. They weren't happy...
"We don't specify speed limitson the canal we just as that everyone uses common sense"
In areas of road where there are many different types of road user, or where the road is narrow, it may be safer if you get out of your car and push.
As far as I'm aware, I don't have to have a 'speedo' on my bike, so how do I know I'm travelling above 8mph?
I'm happy to slow when passing pedestrians etc but I could do without them trying to shout at me once I've passed them, for breaking an unenforceable speed limit.
This will just create more tension and animosity
You could use a bit of common sense. 8mph is the pace of a steady runner.
It would be very inconvenient to have to ride everywhere with a friendly runner as a pace setter...
Maybe if they carried a red flag with them?
This is frustrating and justifiable in equal measure. Yes, the towpaths are very well populated with walkers and pedestrians so slowing down is kind of to be expected. Yes, those going 20mph on the towpaths are either going to a) fall into the canal or b) hurt someone, bad.
Frustrating, though, because the towpaths ARE considered a proper form of transport to me and many other cyclists in the Midlands (the alternative being bike through, say, Birmingham city centre? No thank you!) 8mph on a cycle lane is ludicrous! This is the same logic behind creating shared-use cycle paths that are so narrow that one can neither keep a decent pace nor avoid the many pedestrians.
Honestly? I wish drivers just were better trained so we could cycle on the roads safely, rather than creating these frankly rubbish cycling 'networks' in lieu of (rather than as a complement to) the former.
You can use discretion. Having been rammed by a cyclist passing under a bridge at 20 mph I can understand why this advice is needed.
An 8mph global limit is ludicrous especially where the tow path is part of an NCR like the Grand Union in and out of West London.
Slowing down to 8mph in narrow or high foot traffic areas I can mostly get on board for, however they if they are taking lots of cash to provide cycling routes this still doesn't sit well with me.
It's not a global limit, because they do not have the authority to apply a global limit. If the towpath is a public right of way as a bridleway, they cannot apply an enforceable speed limit.
If it's a permissive path, exceeding their speed limit may amount to a breach of the permission to be there, and therefore a trespass. That would be a civil matter, for which the remedy is a claim for damages... if nobody is harmed, there is no claim.
So generally, this is guidance (unless exceeding 8mph amounts to careless cycling in the circumstances - which is not dependent on it being 8 mph, but the speed may be a useful marker). And it seems fair enough to me.
Let the wind blow through your hair if the path is clear.
Take care if you're obliged to share.
"those on bikes who need or want to travel quickly should use a route away from the canal"
But a lot of the time routes away from the canal are hostile to cycling, and the reason people use towpaths is they don't want to get run over on the A-roads.
Come back with this suggestion when you've sorted out safe and convenient routes away from the canals.
"On busy stretches of canal or where the towpath is narrow, the safest option may be to get off your bike and walk."
This sums up the attitude of the Canals & Rivers Trust to cycling - they would rather it was banned (but they still gobble up government grant money for cycling to put a load of gravel and speed bumps down).
It's not up to the canal pathways to take on responsibility for all road planning. It's a shardeypathway where, like it or not, pedestrians have right of way.
No, but it is up to them not to suggest alternatives to canal towpaths where they don't exist.
true but they shouldn't take money intended to meet active transport needs and preventing it being used elsewhere, and then tell cyclists to use other routes (which don't exist) if they want to get to work in a reasonable amount of time.
Totally agree with this (certainly when there are or could be pedestrians around) but lets be honest...the sort of people who speed on towpaths know they are in the wrong anyway and won't change their behaviour one iota because of this. Not one bit. Depressing but true
8mph is too slow as a general speed limit.
People should be considerate in the circumstances they're in. A very low speed limit is irrelevant on stretches where there's no one else around.
yeah fine but no one will know or care how fast you are when there's no less around
Perhaps they could pursuade Strava to ban canal towpath segments.
Two questions:
will this mean that the canal and rivers trust will repay the millions they have received in grants to resurface canal towpaths with the specific aim of encouraging commuting cycling?
will this speed limit also apply to joggers and to dogs?
I've never seen dogs riding bikes. Or joggers tbh. Well not when they are jogging anyway....
We had a dog who would always bite people on a bike.
We had to take the bike away from him.
Tbh, 8 mph for runners? 7 minutes 30 per mile, they'd not be doing too bad for themselves - that's coming up for 1 hour 40 half marathon pace!
Sure, most joggers will be slower than 8mph, but it’s not unreasonable to expect the fastest 10% or so to be above that.
And????
+10% is the concession before the police will put points on your jogging licence
I'm pretty sure the grants and Section 106 monies were not for 'encouraging communting cycling' but to create paths that had surfaces suitable for cycling and for disabled users.
Famlly cycling and 'pootling' are improved by better surfaces, and smooth surfaces are great for getting those in wheelchairs and with mobility difficulties down by the water.
The towpath is not the place for fast riding - it's a place to enjoy the journey and savour the atmosphere - rural or urban.
This is perfectly reasonable.
If there's nobody around (including looking for footpath access through hedges and moored boats where pedestrians may suddenly join the towpath), then there is no harm in doing whatever speed you like - always at the risk that some paths can spit you into the canal.
But where pedestrians are around, we should be giving way to them in any case. At 8 mph, we are at a similar speed to faster mobility scooters. Many towpaths are narrow enough that one party or other needs to wait to allow another to pass the opposite way, even if both are on foot. They were never designed as high speed, multi-modal active travel routes, they were there for somebody to lead a horse at walking pace.
Canals are a great leisure opportunity for gentle cycling, but they aren't suitable as a sports route for cycling. And local authorities should not be factoring them into cycling connectivity, other than as leisure facilities. That means that, as Rick55tn says, some cyclists will be encouraged back on to the roads... which is where the cycle infrastructure should be going anyway.
Proper cycle infrastructure for decent local connectivity; well maintained towpaths for leisure, to be used considerately.
I'm with this. Ride to suit the most vulnerable user.
I agree. But why do the rust repeatedly and successfully apply for cycling related funds if they know their towpaths are unsuitable? It’s almost fraudulent how much money they have secured from cycling related funds
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