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Sara F.L. Kirk

@sflkirk.bsky.social
9.6K followers 2K following 2.7K posts

Health Promotion Prof @dalhousie.bsky.social. UK export in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, Canada. Pop health, climate anxiety, safe streets. Volunteer with @velocanadabikes.bsky.social, @visionzerokh.bsky.social, @urbantruth.bsky.social. She/her. Views are my own

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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
Vision Zero Kjipuktuk-Halifax @visionzerokh.bsky.social · 12h
The long-awaited Traffic Safety Act will take effect on October 19th. We have questions, including yielding to persons not on foot using crosswalks, key vulnerable road user offences, and the unexpected turnaround on photo radar www.halifaxexaminer.ca/transportati...
halifaxexaminer.ca
Nova Scotia has a new Traffic Safety Act. Here's what some road safety advocates and elected officials have to say - Halifax Examiner
Advocates talks about concerns around clarity of language in the new act, as well as no photo radar.
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Tom Flood @tomflood.bsky.social · 11h
Be Ready For Action. follow @cycletoronto.bsky.social and @thebikinglawyer.bsky.social for updates
ripping out bike lanes is premeditated raod violence

be ready tuesday oct 13th.

over tope of images of a red doug ford on blue background
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Union of Concerned Scientists @ucs.org · 11h
Today is International Children’s Environmental Health Day, which is a day of awareness and action bringing people together to create a healthier, safer, and more equitable world for all children.
cehday.org
Children's Environmental Health Day
Healthy environments for all kids!
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Sara F.L. Kirk @sflkirk.bsky.social · 11h
It's blustery out there eh?
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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
Vélo Canada Bikes @velocanadabikes.bsky.social · 11h
Federal cycling policy relies on non-partisan teamwork. 🚴‍♀️ At #BikeDayOnTheHill 2026, co-hosts @juliedabrusin.bsky.social (LPC), @senatormartydeacon.bsky.social (ISG) & Gabriel Hardy (CPC) joined @gordjohns.bsky.social (NDP), Andréanne Larouche (Bloc) & @elizabethemay.bsky.social (Green).
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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
Safe Kjipuktuk @safehrm.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I hate hate hate this law requiring cyclists to yield to vehicles when they exit a bike lane. And all these other requirements, like keeping to the right of a bike lane where all the debris is and the gutter
(3) A cyclist travelling in a bicycle lane must do all of the following:
(a) keep right, if practicable, unless overtaking other traffic travelling in the
same direction;
(b) for a divided bicycle lane, drive in the lane marked for traffic travelling in
the same direction;
(c) go by any oncoming traffic on the right;
(d) overtake any traffic travelling in the same direction on the left;
(e) use a bell or horn to alert other traffic, if intending to overtake or go by.
(4) Before exiting a bicycle lane, a cyclist must yield to any other traffic lawfully travelling in the area of the highway that they are entering.
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Safe Kjipuktuk @safehrm.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
"Tilley said there’s more research required before the province decides it will move ahead with using photo radar in the province" Really? What more could possibly need researching - consider their impact along high crash roads and school zones
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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
Halifax Examiner @halifaxexaminer.ca · 16h
Nova Scotia sees dramatic drop in number of children in ‘temporary emergency arrangements,’ but there’s still no child and youth advocate reported by Madiha Mughess @mmughees.bsky.social
halifaxexaminer.ca
Nova Scotia sees dramatic drop in number of children in 'temporary emergency arrangements,' but there's still no child and youth advocate - Halifax Examiner
Craig Beaton, deputy minister with the Department of Opportunities and Social Development said the department has "full intention to have the office stood up within the remainder of this fiscal year."
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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
Trevor Bennett @tgabben.me · 16h
individual people make awful, heinous choices, and the ultimate fault is with the men who chose to assault Jane Doe. that said - the societal permission structures and double standards that enabled and encouraged them the whole way along run DEEP, and they are hard at work downplaying this horror.
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Trevor Bennett @tgabben.me · 16h
why aren't the same people who want trans women to stop existing because someone *might* get uncomfortable in a bathroom /some day/ expressing full-throated support of the actual human who was provably raped by a gang of cis men? ...could it be that they don't actually care to protect women at all?
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Tim Bousquet @timbousquet.bsky.social · 16h
Nova Scotia sees dramatic drop in number of children in ‘temporary emergency arrangements,’ but there’s still no child and youth advocate reported by Madiha Mughess @mmughees.bsky.social
halifaxexaminer.ca
Nova Scotia sees dramatic drop in number of children in 'temporary emergency arrangements,' but there's still no child and youth advocate - Halifax Examiner
Craig Beaton, deputy minister with the Department of Opportunities and Social Development said the department has "full intention to have the office stood up within the remainder of this fiscal year."
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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
Halifax Examiner @halifaxexaminer.ca · 16h
Nova Scotia has a new Traffic Safety Act. Here’s what some road safety advocates and elected officials have to say reported by Suzanne Rent @suzannerent.bsky.social
halifaxexaminer.ca
Nova Scotia has a new Traffic Safety Act. Here's what some road safety advocates and elected officials have to say - Halifax Examiner
Advocates talks about concerns around clarity of language in the new act, as well as no photo radar.
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Suzanne Rent @suzannerent.bsky.social · 16h
Nova Scotia has a new Traffic Safety Act. Here’s what some road safety advocates and elected officials have to say Story by me www.halifaxexaminer.ca/transportati...
halifaxexaminer.ca
Nova Scotia has a new Traffic Safety Act. Here's what some road safety advocates and elected officials have to say - Halifax Examiner
Advocates talks about concerns around clarity of language in the new act, as well as no photo radar.
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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
Melissa & Chris Bruntlett @modacitylife.com · 16h
Therefore, the main takeaway from the Netherlands shouldn’t be to just build more bike lanes. It should be to make the act of getting on a bike easy at first, and let the network grow from there. As Dutch planners learned long ago, the most important part of your bike plan is actually the car plan.🔚
A cycling priority street in the Netherlands where drivers are guests and cyclists are the main users.
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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
Melissa & Chris Bruntlett @modacitylife.com · 16h
The better approach is to create the conditions for cycling first: build demand; then invest in high-end infrastructure where the numbers justify. Not every street needs a protected lane, and sometimes the most important intervention is just a street where cars have been slowed, filtered or removed.
A cycling priority street in the Netherlands where drivers are guests and cyclists are the main users.
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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
Melissa & Chris Bruntlett @modacitylife.com · 16h
Yet planners elsewhere often reverse this sequence: building segregated lanes assuming people will use them and support will follow. When those lanes are expensive, disruptive, isolated or lightly used, they become easy targets for opposition; creating a vicious circle of low ridership and support.
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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett @modacitylife.com · 16h
One of the key lessons from Dutch cycling history is cities didn't start with protected lanes. They began by making streets safer, calmer and more inviting; with lower speeds, parking restrictions, traffic filters and reduced through-traffic to create an environment in which cycling could flourish.🧵
A cycling priority street in the Netherlands where drivers are guests and cyclists are the main users.
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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
Tim Bousquet @timbousquet.bsky.social · 16h
Nova Scotia has a new Traffic Safety Act. Here’s what some road safety advocates and elected officials have to say reported by Suzanne Rent @suzannerent.bsky.social
halifaxexaminer.ca
Nova Scotia has a new Traffic Safety Act. Here's what some road safety advocates and elected officials have to say - Halifax Examiner
Advocates talks about concerns around clarity of language in the new act, as well as no photo radar.
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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
Matt Stickland @landofsticks.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
This BOPC survey is funny. Older people who benefited from the current systems of power trust the current system. People who have been abused by the current system don't trust it. I wonder why this is. Someone should investigate.
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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Another day, another way of destroying all life. We’re just accelerating towards that brick wall.
rand.org
A U.S. Strategy to Prevent the Creation of Mirror Life
Mirror life is a hypothetical life form that could pose global catastrophic risks. There are steps the United States can take to prevent its creation before the window for meaningful action closes.
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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
Vision Zero Vancouver @visionzerovancouver.ca · 08/10/2026
Today's announcement from ABC that they plan to remove traffic calming in neighbourhoods that badly need it will have dire and long-reaching consequences - and it's actually about much more than banana barriers. Our statement: visionzerovancouver.ca/2026/10/07/a...
visionzerovancouver.ca
Latest ABC campaign promise on removing traffic calming will have grave, long-term consequences for road safety
This morning, ABC announced a slew of dangerous campaign promises that will move the city backwards on road safety.
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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
Radical Graffiti @radicalgraffiti.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
"This system is sick and you know it!" Seen in Vienna
"This system is sick and you know it!"
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Suzanne Rent @suzannerent.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Nova Scotians need and deserve some of the same political will and guts shown by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
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Terri @terriclarke.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Weren’t bikes explicitly referred to as “traffic” in the dooring section. Seems a bit contradictory. Why not give municipalities the right to sign who yields to whom wherever a bike lane ends and the motorist and cyclists have to merge into the same traffic?
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Sara F.L. Kirk @sflkirk.bsky.social · 18h
Exactly, the wording in places is very problematic.
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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
Vision Zero Vancouver @visionzerovancouver.ca · 08/10/2026
Filming while driving, looking at her phone more than the road... that's a big yikes from us. Still no comment from "pubic safety party" ABC youtube.com/shorts/NOoap...
youtube.com
ABC candidate films campaign video while driving?!
YouTube video by Vision Zero Vancouver
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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 23h
The threats to our resilience are the same as the threats to our democracy: corporate lobbyists shaping policy, with dire consequences for our ability to withstand crises. Burnham seems to want to change this. But is he aware of scale of the task? My column. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Stockpile food – and wash your hands: is that really how to prepare for environmental catastrophe? | George Monbiot
The UK state is dumping its responsibilities on our doorsteps, while green-lighting policies that lead us closer to crisis, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 22h
This looks like a crucial investigation to me, building on an essential body of work by @bylinetimes.bsky.social Please help to support it. subscribe.bylinetimes.com/lightuptheda...
subscribe.bylinetimes.com
#LightUpTheDark – Byline Times
Dark Enlightenment: The US Far-Right War on British Institutions Help Byline Times Fund aN URGENT New INVESTIGATIVE SERIES #LightUpTheDark What is the Dark Enlightenment? The extraordinary anti-DEI me...
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Kevin Wilson @kwilsonhfx.bsky.social · 20h
But my first order preference would be for municipalities to just solve their often very solvable problems themselves. The amount of "We are not responsible, we are not in control" you get from people managing billions in budget is *wild* and you can't be surprised provinces hop in.
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Kevin Wilson @kwilsonhfx.bsky.social · 20h
This is why I'm mostly ok with provinces pre-empting local governments on housing, but tend to be more uniformly negative about them being involved in local transportation (the province shouldn't rip out bike lanes but also should have to fund/plan you buses).
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Kevin Wilson @kwilsonhfx.bsky.social · 21h
This framework obviously doesn't consider a province actively jumping in to exacerbate the l9cal collective action problem to be a valid policy perspective.
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Kevin Wilson @kwilsonhfx.bsky.social · 21h
Breaking up that kind of collective action problem death spiral seems Fine, but you'd theoretically want it to be things like setting floors on zoning, standardizing it, etc. You wouldn't want provinces micro,managing individual developments, obviously.
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Kevin Wilson @kwilsonhfx.bsky.social · 21h
Where I've landed with this is that municipalities (and neighbourhoods within them) are all basically trying make new housing go Somewhere Else. It's a collective action problem where everyone in the province benefits from abundant housing, but no one wants change locally. So we get *gestures*
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Sara F.L. Kirk @sflkirk.bsky.social · 18h
Please add ALT text to your images to promote accessibility. You can change your settings to remind you.
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World Cancer Research Fund @wcrf.org · 19h
It’s #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth. With an estimated 3.2 million new cases and 1.1 million deaths every year by 2050, we will be taking the opportunity to highlight why prevention can’t wait and what policymakers can do to turn the rising tide of breast cancer rates around.
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Vision Zero Kjipuktuk-Halifax @visionzerokh.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Another major one: What about legalizing crossrides for cyclists?
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Vision Zero Kjipuktuk-Halifax @visionzerokh.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
"Tilley said there’s more research required before the province decides it will move ahead with using photo radar in the province: “As of right now, we’re content with the enforcement levels we have” " www.halifaxexaminer.ca/government/p...
halifaxexaminer.ca
New Nova Scotia Traffic Safety Act has tougher fines and new rules on distracted driving, bicycles, but no photo radar - Halifax Examiner
Province released Traffic Safety Act on Wednesday.
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Reposted by Sara F.L. Kirk
Vision Zero Kjipuktuk-Halifax @visionzerokh.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
from the Act itself: ""pedestrian" means an individual on foot, and includes an individual" sounds daft, but that is it as drafted
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Jean-François @meanderingemu.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I can't find any definition for "Pedestrian" to ensure all the array of mobility support devices are included, or is this now up to Interpretation, and possible harassment.
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Vision Zero Kjipuktuk-Halifax @visionzerokh.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Provisional queries & concerns: - Clarification needed regarding the new Vulnerable Road User offences - Disabled cyclists need not dismount at crosswalks, but drivers only required to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks - Dooring offences don't mention cyclists, only "traffic" - No photo radar
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Sara F.L. Kirk @sflkirk.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
www.drivingwithellis.co.uk/post/underta...
drivingwithellis.co.uk
Undertaking?
What is undertaking? In simple terms undertaking is passing another vehicle on the left hand side. It is not strictly illegal but I’m sure you can appreciate it is a dangerous manoeuvre as other drive...
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Sara F.L. Kirk @sflkirk.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I have heard of undertaking in the UK context (like on motorways) but I can't fathom the meaning in the new TSA. In addition, the point about yielding to traffic when leaving a bike lane makes no sense. Are bikes considered traffic in the TSA or not? Seems to be some clarifications needed!
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Matt MacIntyre @thinkontheclock.com · 07/10/2026
"No one is suggesting that you bike through White Juan while fighting polar bears with your u lock as you cross the Macdonald." I'm suggesting that, but... watch Kevin's video anyway. His content is great & if you're on the fence about winter cycling... this may be the nudge you need. #bikehfx
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Dan Peterson @danp.net · 07/10/2026
There are some Morris / Peninsula South #BikeHfx pop-up sessions coming up (or happening right now): Oct 7, 11:30 - 1, VG cafeteria Oct 8, 11:30 - 1, Dal Sexton Campus Field, near B-Building Oct 10, 9:30 - 11, Central Library Lobby
engagehalifax.ca
Peninsula South Complete Streets
The municipality is exploring options for a safer, connected cycling route between University Ave. and Lower Water St. while maintaining two-way traffic, where possible.
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Jen @envirojen.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Attention #KidicalMassHfx! Take your kids to the Central Library on Saturday morning for a pop-up #BikeHfx engagement session about the Morris St. bike lanes. This is a family-friendly location & time, but the engagement activities will likely need your interpretation for kids' participation.
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Terri @terriclarke.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Lots of reading to do
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Safe Kjipuktuk @safehrm.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
section 185(2) seems to nullify the duty to drive with care in subsection (1) if the vulnerable road user is harmed or killed ?
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Safe Kjipuktuk @safehrm.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
section 185 of the Traffic Safety Act is critical to the new vulnerable road user offences, but the wording is nonsensical as drafted. I have no idea what this even means nslegislature.ca/legc/bills/6...
185 (1) A person driving any of the following on a highway or at any place ordinarily accessible to the public shall drive in a careful and prudent manner considering all the circumstances:

(a) a vehicle;

(b) a conveyance other than a vehicle.

(2) A person driving any of the following shall not contravene subsection (1) and a vulnerable road user suffers death or bodily harm as a result:

(a) a vehicle;

(b) a conveyance other than a vehicle.
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Safe Kjipuktuk @safehrm.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
"traffic" usually means vehicles, not people, so this dooring offence seems poorly worded - endangering traffic isn't a thing
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