Kinetic Energy and cyclists

IT WOULD appear many at CaRT are not aware of the term 'Kinetic Energy' or its implications, writes Ralph Freeman. According to the Net it was Lord Kelvin around 1850, that coined the phrase we use today, so it's hardly cutting edge stuff!

Getting technical

So what has Kinetic Energy to do with cycling on towpaths? A great deal and here's why:

Kinetic Energy (KE) = 1/2 mass x (velocity) squared.

So if a cyclist is doing 20mph instead of 5mph, because KE is proportional to the square of the velocity that cyclist will have not 4 but 16 times the KE. In other words if that cyclists hits you, they will hit you 16 times harder all things being equal. If the cyclists speed is 25mph, which is not difficult on a modern bike, then the impact energy could be as much as 25 times higher than a 5mph impact!

Stopping distances rise

It also follows that stopping distances tend to rise as the square of velocity as the brakes and tyres on a bike have to dissipate that KE to bring the bike to rest, when the KE is zero.

That is why a towpath of restricted width populated by people, children, dogs and fishermen should have a 5mph limit. Besides, why has it always been illegal to ride a bike on a pavement? What is the difference between an upgraded towpath and a pavement? The width and usage, I would suggest, is much the same!

Credibility issue

I think Richard Parry has all but destroyed his credibility by 'doing a Chamberlain' ("I have in my hand....") in response to out Thomas's question regarding speeding cyclists.

Oh dear! Surely a better response would have been to promise to have the H&S department investigate and report on the problem? But CaRT habits die hard I suspect; the initial response to any problem raised is to deny there is a problem! It's a shame that the new CEO has caught the CaRT 'denial bug' so soon.