Towpaths ‘ruined’ by cyclists and phone addicts
THEY were once a haven of tranquility, providing town and city dwellers with an escape from urban stress and a welcome taste of rural solitude.
But Britain’s canal towpaths are now so popular they threaten to become a battleground of competing interests.
With smartphone users engrossed in their screens, speeding cyclists, dog walkers and pram-pushing parents all negotiating a frequently narrow space, towpath collisions have become increasingly common. The result can sometimes be disastrous, with people tumbling into the canal waters as a result of being hit or not paying attention to the world around them.
Those in charge of Britain’s canals and waterways have grown so concerned at this perilous state of affairs on the country’s 2,000 miles of towpath they have now launched a campaign urging users to slow down, share the available space and be more mindful of others.
A survey by the Canal & River Trust (CRT) has found that people concentrating on their phones and not looking where they are going and speeding cyclists are among the greatest causes of irritation among towpath users.
Recent accidents reported include a cyclist crashing into a blind woman’s guide dog, a 76-year-old losing four of her teeth after being knocked over by a hit-and-run cyclist on a Wigan towpath last year, cyclists hitting walls, joggers falling over in a tangle of legs and walkers tripping into the water.
In July last year a kitten belonging to canal boat resident Katie Jackson was killed after being hit by a bike on the Hertford Union Canal, beside Victoria Park, in east London.
The true picture is thought to be far more extensive however, with the vast majority of accidents going unreported by victims who are either too embarrassed to tell anyone, or simply shrug off any resulting bruises.
Sarah Hall was four months pregnant when she was knocked off her bike into the Leeds canal last month by speeding cyclists, as they passed through a narrow section of the towpath beneath a bridge. Fortunately she was unhurt, other than a cold soaking in the murky water, but she was left shocked and dazed.
Ms Hall, 42, who works for NHS England, said: “It’s great that canals are being used by more and more people, because they are a great resource.
“It’s just that case of being careful, considerate and respectful.”
Dick Vincent, the national towpath ranger for Britain’s canal network, said: “People need to adjust how they behave in shared spaces by using their common sense and behaving in a more considerate way.”
In towns and cities, as many as 500 people an hour can pass along a particular stretch of often narrow towpath.
The CRT survey found that 27 per cent of towpath users named people glued to their phones as among their top five bugbears, along with people taking up too much space (25 per cent), cyclists going too fast (23 per cent) and above all dog owners not clearing up their mess (56 per cent).