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IT’S TRUE!
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Bid to end bikes versus walkers war
There's a war. Apparently.
Actually the article is fine, just a summary of recent proposals on improving access and provision on both the canal and surrounding streets. I assume the trollcommenters will be along and on it like flies on dog**** though.
TBH, at peak times, I'd suggest it's the cyclists that are the issue. Too many of them are going too fast, IMO.
It's just not a fast route.
@gibbo yes I'd agree there's a minority who get in the way/go too fast/generally make a nuisance of themselves.
Same goes for off-the-leash dog walkers and side-by-side joggists however.
It's a lot of people trying to use a fairly confined space with a lot of obstacles. It's always gonna happen.
I was walking on the canal a few weeks ago. I was outraged at all these pesky cyclists we met slowing down to a walking pace, ringing bells and the politeness of passing on their thanks.
It seems a strange war to me or could it be sensation journalism to sell papers :)
Bax is complaining about similar language on the BBC. Details on this thread.
People should totally be multi-modal on the canal. I absolutely hate cyclists when I'm running on the towpath (and I'm slightly more tolerant of out of control dogs).
I can well imagine that if you just want to grab the pram and meander around with a toddler off the reins then cyclists are a real barrier. I'd be interested to know whether people think uncontrolled dogs are worse or not.
At least you know that cyclists will be trying extremely hard not to end up in A&E (regardless of the social stigma of running down a toddler) but this isn't true of some of the slavvering monsters that are cut loose on the towpath. Then again, you don't exactly hear of many dog attacks (even fewer than cyclist attacks?)
Positioning the issue as one of cyclist behaviour is a non-starter either way. The best way to frame the debate would be to see issues on the towpath as transferred violence from drivers (at the top of the food chain) to the people lowest down, and in fairness that's sort of what's going on here.
"The best way to frame the debate..." How would that help?
wishicouldgofaster:"I was walking on the canal a few weeks ago.
Frozen canal or deity? ;O)
"I'd be interested to know whether people think uncontrolled dogs are worse or not."
Worse. Uncontrolled dogs can inconvenience/threaten/terrify toddlers, their operators, normal non-toddler-associated pedestrians and cyclists. And canal-inhabiting wildlife.
It's worth reading the proposals developed for SPOKES - which aim to take fast moving cyclists off the canal and onto safe, on-road cycle facilities - leaving the canal free for pedestrians and cycling bimblers.
http://www.spokes.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/UnionCanal_DRAFT_15march_lrs.pdf
I'm not sure about transferred violence and food chains - the canal always seems pretty civilised to me, and I only ever use it as a meandering pedestrian in charge of small children.
This sounds like a symptom of the lack of alternative attractive bicycling provision. If the canal is a main quiet off-road cycleway into the center, it's bound to lead to conflict with walkers. If we had other options, the volume of bicycles here would be less, I imagine.
Ah, I should have read the article first. Part of the plan is better off canal cycle provision. Good.
"If we had other options, the volume of bicycles here would be less, I imagine."
The other option for heading east-west from the centre which springs to mind is the Broomhouse path (plus associated tram-side links) which feature far too many motor-vehicle-flow-obsessed ped-and-cycle-impeding signalised junctions, for which the canal is attractive for having none. I'll only take the canal if I'm in a bimbling-without-being-stopped-several-times-by-junctions-whilst-listening-to-traffic-noise-and-breathing-exhaust-gases mood, whereas if I don't want to bimble I'll go on the roads or the other not-bordered-by-water path.
If the A9 can be converted to dual carriageway, I fail to see why the canal towpath can't be similarly widened. Or heightened, or whatever is necessary to allow mixed recreational and transport use of what is in principle an incredible corridor.
Most aquaduct and canal etiquette is outstanding, but the space is so tight that at times there is inevitable breakdown. I'd say that it is entirely up to bicyclists to look out for other life forms.
I'd say that it is entirely up to bicyclists to look out for other life forms.
If push comes to shove, I'm higher up the pecking order than a dog if we have to decide which is going to fall into the canal. I'll readily throw myself in if it was me vs. child though.
Perhaps 'they' should have filled in the Canal inside the Bypass. Can't say I see that many canal users apart from a few rowists from Uni and the odd house boat owner. This would triple of quadruple the width of the path.
@DaveC neat idea. If we were to all drop a few handfuls of cement in the canal each day as we pass, then it can't be long before we've got ourselves a path!
I'm digging a tunnel over under from Fife and doing just this as I cycle past each morning.
The ideal product for guerrilla in-fill operations;
http://lafargetarmac.com/media/107905/postcrete-product-data-sheet.pdf
You just dump it in a water-filled hole and hey-presto! instant land. Careful timing of operations could see rowists set in concrete.
And so as the ramblists, joggists and quadrapedal slaverers declare victory in their territorial conflict with cyclers, in parallel the rowists versus cyclers war begins...
All the while the drivists, secure in the knowledge that their land grab is not threatened, look on from the bridges and laugh.
@crowriver
Quadrupedal slaver? Is that someone who forces another to share their tandem?
@IWRATS ... wonder if there's a reason they don't use postcrete to fill in Edinburgh's water-filled potholes? Sounds a lot more durable than the black tarmac that lasts about 5 days !
The geniuses at Edinburgh Park have attempted to tackle the horrible surface on Redheughs Avenue with...
Cement!
So now there's loads of crushed cement and unbound aggregate all over the road surface.
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