{"id":2629,"date":"2021-01-02T11:41:34","date_gmt":"2021-01-02T11:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.happycyclist.org\/?p=2629"},"modified":"2021-01-02T11:41:34","modified_gmt":"2021-01-02T11:41:34","slug":"why-i-chose-this-picture-for-active-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/happycyclist.grahamecooper.com\/?p=2629","title":{"rendered":"Why I chose this picture for Active Travel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I recently changed the profile picture of the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BoltonActiveTravel\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\">Bolton Active Travel Forum Facebook page<\/a> that I run. I chose this picture, which I took in Copenhagen in 2019, because it captures so many aspects of active travel, what we mean by the term, and where our priorities (should) lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/happycyclist.grahamecooper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/128636666_2140266572775913_2930753035098221416_o.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/happycyclist.grahamecooper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/128636666_2140266572775913_2930753035098221416_o-1024x519.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2630\" width=\"640\" height=\"340\"\/><\/a><figcaption>Active travel in Copenhagen.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are the reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It shows very clearly the <strong>road user hierarchy<\/strong> that has been clearly set out in UK government policy for the past 14 years in the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/manual-for-streets\" target=\"_blank\">Manual for Streets<\/a> (See Table 3.2). People on foot are in the foreground, with people on cycles behind them, and people in motor vehicles are visible right at the back on the right.<\/li><li>People on cycles are <strong>separated and protected<\/strong> (by kerbs in this instance) from motor vehicles, which is in line with summary principle number 3 in the UK Goverment&#8217;s cycle infrastructure design guidelines, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/cycle-infrastructure-design-ltn-120\" target=\"_blank\">LTN1\/20<\/a>. <\/li><li>People on <strong>cycles are separated from people on foot<\/strong>, which is in line with summary principle number 2 in the UK Government&#8217;s cycle infrastructure design guidelines, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/cycle-infrastructure-design-ltn-120\" target=\"_blank\">LTN1\/20<\/a>.<\/li><li>The zebra crossing markings make very clear that <strong>people on foot have priority<\/strong> over any vehicles entering or exiting the side road. <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk\/road-junctions.html\" target=\"_blank\">This is the case in law here<\/a> as well, but most drivers seem to ignore that. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2019\/jun\/23\/chris-boardman-at-odds-with-dft-over-zebra-crossings-in-manchester\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Work is underway<\/a> to convince the Government to allow similar markings here.<\/li><li>The people on cycles in the picture are dressed in exactly the same kinds of clothes as those on foot. <strong>Riding cycles is a perfectly normal way to get about<\/strong> that is no more dangerous than walking and does not require special clothes or plastic hats.<\/li><li>Yes, it is sometimes necessary to use motor vehicles, which is why there are motor vehicles in the picture. In the words of our Council&#8217;s Executive Member for Highways and Transport, it is about getting <strong>the right balance<\/strong>, and this picture shows what &#8220;the right balance&#8221; looks like.<\/li><li>There is a lady walking on the zebra crossing, pushing a bicycle. Is she a pedestrian or is she a cyclist? Actually, like all the people in the picture, she is a person. Sometimes she walks, sometimes she rides a bicycle, and for all we know, sometimes she drives a car.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I recently changed the profile picture of the Bolton Active Travel Forum Facebook page that I run. I chose this picture, which I took in Copenhagen in 2019, because it captures so many aspects of active travel, what we mean &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/happycyclist.grahamecooper.com\/?p=2629\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-space4cycling"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/happycyclist.grahamecooper.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/happycyclist.grahamecooper.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/happycyclist.grahamecooper.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happycyclist.grahamecooper.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happycyclist.grahamecooper.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/happycyclist.grahamecooper.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happycyclist.grahamecooper.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/happycyclist.grahamecooper.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happycyclist.grahamecooper.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/happycyclist.grahamecooper.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}