British Waterways' Novel Cyclists' Speed Trap

The speed camera is technology's answer to keeping the nation's motorists in check. However British Waterways have found a more artistic method of reducing cyclists' speeds on a section of canal towpath in Islington.

During Bike Week, 3D artists Joe Hill and Max Lowry painted a yawning chasm, complete with waterfall, on the canal towpath, as a tongue-in-cheek way of making canalside cyclists think about reducing their speed on these shared use paths, with many hazardous features such as low bridges, uneven surfaces and, well, murky water full of all sorts of unknown hazards.

British Waterways' towpath ranger Joseph Young said, "The majority of cyclists share the space amicably. However, there's a handful who refuse to slow down. That's why we commissioned this art - we hope it will shock."