Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Back to news
news
Campaigning
Infrastructure
Campaigners launch 'Insert Loved One Here' photo tool to highlight inadequate infrastructureInsert Loved One Here example, courtesy Cycling Embassy of Great Britain.jpg

Campaigners launch 'Insert Loved One Here' photo tool to highlight inadequate infrastructure

Initiative from Cycling Embassy enables cyclists to show where poor design creates danger
by Simon_MacMichael
Mon, Jul 03, 2017 19:13
1

Campaigners at the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain have launched an online tool that helps people starkly illustrate the inadequacy of some of the infrastructure provided for cyclists to use.

Called ‘Insert Loved One Here’ the tool enables people to upload an image of road conditions and add a pair of sights to indicate the dangerous situation their nearest and dearest might find themselves in if cycling at the location in question.

Once the image has been created, people are encouraged to share it on their own social media feeds as well as in campaigns they are involved with, or to submit it to the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain’s own gallery.

Insert Loved One Here how to guide courtesy Cycling Embassy of Great Britain.jpg

Here are some examples that have already been uploaded to Twitter accompanied by the hashtag #ILOH.

Interest has extended well beyond the United Kingdom, too.

Cycling Embassy of Great Britain chair, Mark Treasure, commented: “We certainly wouldn't want our friends, family or loved ones to be exposed to danger, or to be placed in frightening or intimidating situations.

“Yet this is what using cycling infrastructure in Britain routinely involves, even the kind of cycling infrastructure that appears in our latest manuals and guidance, and that is commonplace on British streets and roads.

“A powerful way of shining a light on this kind of poor cycling infrastructure is to ask a simple question: would you want your loved ones cycling on it?”

He added: “We hope people will share their examples of hostile or intimidating cycling environments, highlighting just how different they look when we imagine someone we care about using them.”

The picture does have to be of real-life cycling infrastructure, however, so this one from Erinsborough in Australia didn’t make it through.

The fictional Melbourne suburb is the setting of long-running soap Neighbours, which last year ran a plotline in which Dr Karl Kennedy painted a guerrilla bike lane after teenager Jimmy Williams was struck by a car while cycling.

Cycling Embassy of Great Britain
#ILOH
Insert Loved One Here
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

Add new comment

1 comments

Avatar
burtthebike | 7 years ago
2 likes

What an excellent campaign, and I hope it gets picked up by the MSM. 

Who am I kidding: it's only cyclists being killed, so who cares, certainly not the MSM or politicians.

Latest Comments