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Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS

@drlesleybarron.bsky.social
2K followers 982 following 970 posts

General surgeon, mom, and cyclist with an interest in healthcare policy.

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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Paul Eric @pauleric70.bsky.social · 8h
Mohamad Safa UN This is not Hiroshima, this's Gaza. Gaza is nearly 3 times smaller than Hiroshima, and Israel dropped 223,000+ tonnes of explosives, equivalent of ~15 "Little Boy" ATOMIC BOMBS, on Gaza. The world hasn’t seen anything like the destruction in Gaza since Second World War. 💔😢💔😢🤬🇮🇱♾️
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Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS @drlesleybarron.bsky.social · 11h
Terrible. ☹️
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 02/10/2026
Listen: I don’t want to minimize the danger of high e-bike speeds. But if the problem here is that stores sell e-bikes that can drive faster than legal limits, then where’s the story about how literally *every car dealership has been doing the same thing for decades*?!?
cbc.ca
Hidden cameras show some stores unlocking speed limits on e-bikes, selling e-scooters that go up to 120 km/h | CBC News
A new hidden camera investigation by Marketplace shows how some stores are selling e-scooters and e-bikes with top speeds much higher than provincial speed limits and with recommended rider ages young...
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Dread and Rosie @rosiemund.bsky.social · 22h
Give people an emoto & most won't ride very fast because riding fast on two wheels with nothing solid between you & anything you might crash into feels fast & scary. Give people a car & most will drive too fast. Because cars create the illusion of safety & we disassociate them from harms they do.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Urban Cycling Institute @urbancyclinginstitute.org · 02/10/2026
Reducing road safety to data about victims blinds us from larger systemic causes. This severely limits our thinking about effective solutions. The only way forward begins with knowing WHO KILLS WHO. Look for the #CollissionMatrix.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Josh Lappen @jlappen1.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
In the year I've been working w/ air pollution regulators on data center on-site emissions, I've seen almost no acknowledgement of this trend from energy-side advocates of data center buildout. This isn't just bad actors-it's a corporate playbook and a roadmap to a future of unconstrained emissions.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Lloyd Alter @lloydalter.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This is new: boomer on boomer and hit-and-run. Demographics ensure that we will be seeing a lot more of it lloydalter.substack.com/p/we-may-soo...
lloydalter.substack.com
We may soon have 70 million boomers too old to drive, too car-dependent to stop.
As the baby boomer bubble pushes into its eighties, we are driving into a demographic wall.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Parents For Future #EndFossilFuels 🪧🛢️❌ @parentsforfuture.de · 26/07/2026
"Being honest would mean admitting that we're failing and we can't do that because then we'd have to stop failing. That would mean ending fossil fuel subsidies and banning all new gas, coal and oil projects. And to anyone suggesting harming our precious children like that, we say, how dare you?"
youtu.be
Honest Government Ad | Net Zero (feat. Greta Thunberg)
YouTube video by thejuicemedia
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Urban Truth Collective @urbantruth.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
READ: Time to end the REAL war in our cities! “The road lobby’s war on walking, cycling, and transit have continued profitably for more than a century. The time has come for peace.” A NEW article on the #WarOnWalking by @grantennis.bsky.social @brenttoderian.bsky.social, and @tomflood.bsky.social
transportxtra.com
A time for peace: End the war on walking, cycling, and trans
The war on the motorist and 15-minute conspiracy theories are fiction. The truth is that there is a war on walking, cycling, and transit that has made a one-hou
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 01/10/2026
Doing the math Australian media can't seem to do on Australia's massive new coal mine extension Support @youth4climate.bsky.social www.aycc.org.au
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Living Streets @livingstreets.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
#InternationalWalkToSchoolMonth starts today! Spend quality time together and start the day with a smile. Share your photos with us throughout the month for a chance to win a Sprite Neochrome scooter from Micro Scooter. Terms and conditions apply: livingstreets.org.uk/October
Illustrated Living Streets promotional graphic encouraging active school journeys. An adult carrying a bag walks alongside three children, including one child using a wheelchair. Text reads: “Spend quality time together and start your day with a smile. Walk or wheel to school and feel great.” The graphic includes the web address: livingstreets.org.uk/October.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
maura quint @mauraquint.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Yes every woman has been harassed, many assaulted. But every woman has also experienced invisible loss from moments she avoided harassment. She felt a space becoming unsafe, so she left, while men stayed on. And in leaving, she lost: opportunities, experiences, learning, promotions, even simply fun.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Transportation Alternatives @transalt.org · 30/09/2026
Thank you to @bkbpreynoso.bsky.social for testifying at today's City Council hearing on "e-bike" safety.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Senator David Shoebridge @davidshoebridge.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Excited to be chosen as Leader of the @greens.org.au, together with @stephhodgins-may.bsky.social as Deputy Leader. Now is the time to build the Greens as the home for all who want climate action, a fair return on our resources, a secure home and income, and to not sell out to the US or the 1%.
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Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS @drlesleybarron.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Poor decision making. We need a transition plan now and to leave this stuff in the ground.
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Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS @drlesleybarron.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
www.instagram.com/reel/Dd3Mzdd.... Finals fever has hit Newy…
instagram.com
hmriaustralia on Instagram: "An important public health update from HMRI, with symptoms expected to worsen ahead of SundayGo @nrlknights! ⚔️View all 290 comment…"
An important public health update from HMRI, with symptoms expected to worsen ahead of SundayGo @nrlknights! ⚔️
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Paul (parking reform) Barter @paulbarter.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
What is parking for?
Slide with text: heading - What is parking for? 

Car parking helps accessibility to an area 
But only by car: which is spatially and economically very inefficient

Instead aim for multi-modal accessibility
This sometimes means reducing parking

Images: 1 a shopping centre in Auckland surrounded by surface parking. 
2. the centre of Shibuya in Tokyo showing an elevated Yamanote Line train and numerous people crossing the street.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A man replied to this saying in earnest that women need to get organized and fight for our rights and men will follow. We did that. We do that. We mobilized the largest single day protest in global history on every continent and yet I have fewer rights than my mom did at my age.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Polling USA @usapolling.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Jesus Christ dude
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 29/09/2026
Google Maps images show scale of Israel's destruction of Gaza, where more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed.
aljazeera.com
Satellite images show Gaza in ruins three years into Israel's genocidal war
Google Maps images show scale of Israel's destruction of Gaza, where more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“Doctors for Safe Cycling is BACK! We will be launching a letter to Premier Ford tomorrow, Tuesday, September 29th, 2026 at 10 am - Gerrard & University in Toronto. Sincerely, Doctors for Safe Cycling” Cc: @thebikinglawyer.bsky.social @cycletoronto.bsky.social #BikeTO
doctorsforsafecycling Doctors for Safe Cycling is
BACK!
We will be launching a letter to Premier Ford tomorrow, Tuesday, September 29th, 2026 at 10 am
- Gerrard & University in Toronto. Please join us in your health professional garb (scrubs, stethoscopes, white coats) if you can. Feel free to bring signs. All health workers are welcome.
Sincerely,
Doctors for Safe Cycling
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Erik Noonan @eriknoonan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Bike/pedestrian networks don't take 30 years to build. Stop accepting those timelines in your community. The best practices have been proven & they already exist. Safety should already be the #1 priority. The ROI is unbeatable. The timeline is a moral document and it shouldn't be generational.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
grace @gracemachine.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
For obvious reasons, I haven't talked much about it on here, but my father died suddenly while cycling. Grateful to @sltrib.com for letting me eulogize him and write about the absolute moral necessity of making roads safer for pedestrians and bikers.
sltrib.com
Voices: Deaths like my father’s are not anomalies. They are the bloody cost of our car-obsessed world.
“We can, we must, take action now, before some new senseless death proves the need for change all over again,” Grace Benfell writes in an op-ed.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan @london.gov.uk · 28/09/2026
The countdown is on for a traffic-free Oxford Street. Monday 26 October marks a new chapter for the nation’s high street as it becomes pedestrianised.
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Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS @drlesleybarron.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
My goodness this is so perfectly put. Priced out of time to get to know your neighbours and community.
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Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS @drlesleybarron.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Oh no. This feels like a loss but glad she is looking after health.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Thom Daniels @twvd73.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Pleased to share this teaching resource on #AirQuality from @rcphysicians.bsky.social, written by Dr Alderman, Professor Holgate and myself. Includes slideset, notes, and tips for how to improve the air you breathe (spoiler: doesn’t include moving house!) www.rcp.ac.uk/resources/te...
rcp.ac.uk
Teaching toolkit: Air quality and health
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Mums for Lungs @mumsforlungs.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
So glad to see this #AirPollution teaching toolkit. We need health professionals to be engaging with and advising patients on the sources and #Health impacts of air pollution, and how they can reduce their exposure and contribution.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
The Conversation AUNZ @aunz.theconversation.com · 28/09/2026
Across all jobs – from managers and professionals to labourers – a study found Indigenous workers earn an average of 15.9% less per hour than all workers.
theconversation.com
84 cents for every $1: why Indigenous workers earn less in Australia – and what to do about it
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Mums for Lungs @mumsforlungs.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The diesel scandal isn’t over. Since 2009, there have been 30,000 new cases of childhood asthma in the UK because of excess diesel emissions. Without action there’ll be thousands more. Watch our film, then email our leaders. www.mumsforlungs.org/news/the-die... #AirPollution #Diesel
Young boy on a bus blowing white smoke from a small metal exhaust pipe, overlaid by the bold caption "DIEsel" and a Mums for Lungs logo — a visual metaphor linking diesel exhaust to harm to children's lungs.
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Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS @drlesleybarron.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Dive-bombed by either Indian or noisy mynah on way to and from work by 🚲 in spite of slightly changing route to avoid aggravating it on the way home. VERY unpleasant with actual physical contact. 🥴. Glad for helmet and protective eyewear.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Pam Keith @pamkeithdc.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Cornell expelled students who were protesting genocide in Gaza, but made five of seven guys who gang raped a drugged girl for seven hours write essays. That tells you EVERYTHING you need to know about the morals of that institution.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Janel Comeau 🍁 @verybadllama.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Instagram algorithm: here's stuff you like Twitter algorithm: here's stuff that makes you mad Facebook algorithm: you will now be dropped headfirst into a bizarre public feud involving a small business in a town you've never been to and several socially maladapted strangers
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 26/09/2026
A MORATORIUM ON DATA CENTERS SHOULDN’T EVEN BE IN QUESTION AT THIS POINT And we definitely need more reporting on this issue: HEAT Data centers devour electricity and water, dump heat into communities, and Big Tech is building them faster than lawmakers are dealing with the consequences.
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Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS @drlesleybarron.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
www.abc.net.au/listen/progr.... I’ve nearly cycled into a tree after being blinded by these headlights. Also noted this is worse be a of the increased hood height of SUVs.
abc.net.au
LED headlight 'dazzle' is a common complaint. Are changes needed? - ABC listen
Have you been dazzled by the bright headlights of other vehicles when driving at night? A recent inquest into the death of veteran BBC broadcaster, Jenni Murray, was told that she died following a ca...
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Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS @drlesleybarron.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09.... I love how cycling lanes need sign off from every living and dead resident but a data centre requiring massive infrastructure changes …not so much.
abc.net.au
Double the height, 160 times the voltage. The latest ugly side effect of the AI revolution
Electricity distributor Jemena has been replacing 7-metre wooden power poles with 15-metre industrial poles rated to carry up to 66,000 volts, but there's been one consistent complaint among the resid...
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Bicycle Seen @frpaul1.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
STOP DRIVING YOUR FUKING CAR AT PEOPLE! and FFS stop allowing cars in a festival area where lots of people will be walking around.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Laskinator @laskinator.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Dear @en.ottawa.ca, the next time a large event like Nuit Blanche takes place in Byward Market, the streets need to be closed to drivers. It's absolutely ludicrous to invite thousands of people into one neighbourhood, and still allow cars.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
🦘Roseanne @roseanneb.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I think it's interesting and a good thing because insect life largely disappeared here after the big fires. It's been fun trying to keep them outside though. They get behind our screen doors. Raining so far fewer noticeable today. Hopefully Alps bound. 😊
static.klipy.com
Moth's Emotional Welcome Home
ALT: Moth's Emotional Welcome Home
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Brent Bellamy @brentbellamy.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I’m honoured to be one of four columnists in a Free Press feature today about Winnipeg’s upcoming municipal election. I argue that we have a responsibility to think beyond our own priorities and consider what kind of city our children will want to live in. www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews...
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Imogen @imogenib.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Political will is what keeps Australians in #poverty. Homelessness is killing 3k people per year in Australia according to the latest intergenerational report. We must lift people out of poverty. Nobody deserves homelessness or hunger. #RaiseTheRate #auspol thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...
thepoint.com.au
Extreme inequality is not a given. It is a political choice and we can unmake it
After a year examining global inequality alongside leading economists and experts, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz describes the crisis as both vast in scale and dangerous in trajectory. He outlines a ...
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I just find it kind of baffling how many people seem to forget that they were managing to do their jobs and live and accomplish things just fine three years ago or whatever when they couldn't ask the chatbot to do those things for them
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Melissa & Chris Bruntlett @modacitylife.com · 24/09/2026
Many don’t have the time, confidence or privilege to endlessly argue about urban policy online: Kids who want to move independently. Older adults who want to stay connected. Those with disabilities who need streets to work. Caregivers carrying groceries. Low-income residents who can’t afford a car.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
The Onion @theonion.com · 03/09/2026
Google Maps Introduces Crawling Directions For Cyclists Hit By Truck theonion.com/google-maps-introduces…
Google Maps Introduces Crawling Directions For Cyclists Hit By Truck
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
David King @cityplanning.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Emergency Streets is a program (credit Kevin Krizek for his work developing this) where every time there is a road fatality, the street is fitted with traffic calming measures to assess what permanent measures should be installed to improve safety. Spokane is the first pilot program for this.
kxly.com
Fatal motorcycle crash leads to first implementation of Emergency Streets program
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
📚⚾️ Leslie in CA ✌🏼🦋 @bayareafan19.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Billionaires should not exist.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Concern? How about arrest the f*cker?? Cripes. If you or I hacked Medicare, the AFP would bash down our doors. AI does it? Oopsies! I am concerned! www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
Anthony Albanese says OpenAI agent hacked Medicare and he expressed ‘extreme concern’ to Sam Altman
Prime minister says he told chief executive he was disappointed it had taken company ‘way too long’ to inform government of breach
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Chris Cox @coxyjindas.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Meanwhile, the number 1 recommendation of the emobility inquiry was to invest in suitable infrastructure. Today the Queensland Government announced its grants for the Active Transport Infrastructure Fund this financial year. $0 for Brisbane. www.tmr.qld.gov.au/travel-and-t...
tmr.qld.gov.au
Active Transport Grants Program (Department of Transport and Main Roads)
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Chris Cox @coxyjindas.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Because of the disgusting behaviour of media and politicians in demonising "ebikes", this is the kind of commentary on social media.
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Reposted by Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
Chris Cox @coxyjindas.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This makes me angry. Last night a 33-year-old man was riding his legally compliant electric bicycle home from work. His partner, expecting their first child next month, waiting for him. He never arrived.
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