Call for 'safety railings' along side Manchester Canals.

[Guest]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-43299803

Apparently they are 'not going to stop until they get them'.

He added: "If this was a company the Health and Safety Executive would have shut it years ago."

Edited March 6, 2018 by MJG

[Victor Vectis]

How about starting a petition calling for the canals not to be fenced in?

[WhiteSuit]

A petition  to fence in drunks. Very sad but there is such a thing as personal responsibility.  And I am speaking as someone who has do e so e daft things and got away with it 

[Guest]

The same people would fall in, just means they'd have to climb a railing first. 

[X Alan W]

If Charlie had eased up on the "Amber nectar" he would possibly have realized that the towpath was icy & have made his way home by a different route if an adult which is what he was needs railings to stop him falling the "cut" there is not a lot of hope  if the towpaths hadn't been proclaimed as the be all for all manner of travel rather than a part of boating maybe it wouldn't require  extra Elfin Safety  Sad for the family but somewhat self inflicted, I wonder if an insurance claim against C&RT is iminent

[Sir Nibble]

I was once transiting saltford lock on the Avon and could not reach one end because a wheelchair user and pusher entirely blocked the lockside. Had to go round via two sets off gates. Had there been an emergency I would have been seriously delayed dealing with it. That clearly needs fencing off.

[Mac of Cygnet]

Presumably they are calling for railings at the water's edge.  I would have no objection to railings if they were to keep the general public off the towpath altogether, such as I understand was the case in Birmingham centre years ago.

[Hudds Lad]

railings will give a handy mooring point if no rings are available

[Detling]

Once the towpath is fenced in no one will go because there is nothing to see only the fence, you as a pedestrian will have no escape from the cyclist, just fast or mugger, boats won't pass through because there is no way of navigating. so you get a dark dingy trough for use of muggers and drug users + the odd bit of hanky panky. Soon there will be calls to fill it in for houses, mind you it will be full of floating homes tied to the railings not moving much anyway.

[Machpoint005]

"Manchester city councillor Pat Karney said the whole canal network could not be fenced off but certain measures could be introduced."

Sounds like a fairly measured response to me, in contrast to the dog-whistle reactions from both sides of the discussion.

[frangar]

Talk about snowflake generation. Maybe bars should stop selling alcohol as well?? People really should be able to look after themselves.  

[Machpoint005]

I noticed that the victim allegedly staggered out of a bar at 2:30am. It wasn't the lack of railings that was the primary cause of the accident. 

15 minutes ago, frangar said:

People really should be able to look after themselves.  

And their mates should also be looking after each other, or perhaps that's just too old-fashioned?

[billS]

It would be illogical not to fence the roads off from the pavements when we are at it.

[Peter X]

I'm generally against any fencing/railings which are going to get in the way of boating, especially where it's along the canal edge of the towpath, but can see that there are certain city centre locations where crowds gather and railings to prevent people getting pushed into the water make sense. I'm not familiar with Manchester, but at Camden Lock in London there's a railing around it, with a gate opened by a BW key, and it's needed. On one side is a pavement often heaving with tourists and other customers of a very busy market, on the other the lock area with enough room for crews to operate the locks (there are two double locks side by side). All the rich panoply of life in London is there, including a fair sprinkling of drunks and some drug users, and some of them do climb the railings, not difficult because it's just a few feet high with a smooth top rail, and get in the way. It's quite common to have to ask people sitting on the gate beams, or a small group having a picnic in the arc of a beam to move along, and they usually will if approached politely. But most of the crowd stays behind the barriers, and at least those who have climbed in can't say that CRT did nothing to protect them.

billS: Lots of roads are fenced off from pavements by railings at busy street corners, too many in my view. It delays those of us who know how to cross a road, and a bit more Darwinism would be a good thing.

[Guest]

We seem as a country to be losing all sense of the conccept of 'personal responsibility'. When something like this happens there seems to be the customary petition, the outrage on Facebook and Twitter and a complete lack of understanding that not every bad thing that happens is the fault of somebody else, or a corporation or govt. body.

I'm sure such bodies feel pressured to do something just be seen to 'do something' rather than it actually be a good idea.

Edited March 6, 2018 by MJG

[Machpoint005]

28 minutes ago, Peter X said:

Lots of roads are fenced off from pavements by railings at busy street corners, too many in my view. It delays those of us who know how to cross a road

And they can also obscure the view for motorists, but at least they are not usually as bad as the central crash barriers right up until you reach a roundabout.

2 minutes ago, MJG said:

the outrage on Facebook and Twitter and a complete lack of understanding

These (almost) always go hand-in-hand and fail to address the real underlying issue.

[WotEver]

40 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

And they can also obscure the view for motorists, but at least they are not usually as bad as the central crash barriers right up until you reach a roundabout.

Which are intentionally designed to obscure your view in order to force you to slow down as you approach said roundabout. 

I’ve seen several roundabouts that didn’t have obscuring barriers/fences/bushes acquire them over the last few years. 

[system 4-50]

I'm thinking of founding a charitable trust to provide counselling to those who read about people who fall into canals left-foot first and drown between 04:00 and 04:05 (except Tuesdays).  It will fill a gaping hole in this nation's support services.  Please send in your contributions.

Edited March 6, 2018 by system 4-50

[Taslim]

1 hour ago, system 4-50 said:

I'm thinking of founding a charitable trust to provide counselling to those who read about people who fall into canals left-foot first and drown between 04:00 and 04:05 (except Tuesdays).  It will fill a gaping hole in this nation's support services.  Please send in your contributions.

As much as I would like to contribute to your ,doubtless worthy, cause I can't guarantee which foot I enter with first, am not regular in my immersion timing and have ,so far, avoided  Darwin drowning. Therefor I could provide no input for your readers leaving the councilors short of work thus wasting your best efforts.

Yours etc...

[blackrose]

9 hours ago, Victor Vectis said:

How about starting a petition calling for the canals not to be fenced in?

Yeah, and the railways while we're at it... 

It's political correctness gone mad! 

[Taslim]

16 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Yeah, and the railways while we're at it... 

It's political correctness gone mad! 

Now I'll go with that one.  Anyone who doesn't like an unfenced railway is a chicken!  Southern region especially.

[TheBiscuits]

7 minutes ago, Taslim said:

Now I'll go with that one.  Anyone who doesn't like an unfenced railway is a chicken!  Southern region especially.

Don't be daft.  In Southern parts they don't even let level crossing lights and barriers inconvenience them!

[Cheshire cat]

There is already fencing along a good proportion of the Rochdale Nine. 

I'm suprised the " Manchester pusher" hasn't been brought up again.

 

[TheBiscuits]

25 minutes ago, Cheshire cat said:

There is already fencing along a good proportion of the Rochdale Nine. 

I'm suprised the " Manchester pusher" hasn't been brought up again.

 

You had to mention that, didn't you!

Last time there was a "pusher" claim someone pointed out that drownings in the Greater Manchester area are lower than the national average for population / area / watercourses, but that won't sell as many papers as "Serial Killer Loose in City!"

Edited March 7, 2018 by TheBiscuits

[Guest]

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

Yeah, and the railways while we're at it... 

It's political correctness gone mad! 

If you travel to France you will see large sections of rail unfenced even near roads.

They take the attitude if you are dumb enough to wander onto a track if a train is coming then you may die...........but don't come looking to us for compo.