Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MPhil, FRACS
@drlesleybarron.bsky.social
General surgeon, mom, and cyclist with an interest in healthcare policy.
“What family needs a car with a 4.4-litre engine that goes from zero to 60 in four seconds?" Powerful piece on the need to ban SUV advertising and introduce limits on the width, length and bonnet height of cars. #Carspreading #RoadDanger
Daughter calls on Sadiq Khan to crack down on ‘monster’ SUVs after parents killed
Claire Corkery is calling on Sadiq Khan to back tougher controls on large SUVs after her parents were killed by a BMW X5 travelling at 87mph
standard.co.uk
Drivers when they have to pay to park at the hospital (usually with exemptions for long admissions, disabled parking, etc.) vs Drivers when people who don't or can't drive have to pay as much or more for a bus that goes near but not to the hospital or have to pay several times more for a taxi
Hospital parking is never free. Someone always pays. In the NHS it steals money that could be used by frontline services. Do you want to make children better, or park for free? Oh and I bet there's no free bus services to that hospital either, so it's even more unfair
Simon Christie@thebonnieloon.bsky.social · 7h agoCar Parking. Free at the point of delivery. Sorry your Mum died of cancer due to those waiting lists by the way. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Nothing so heartwarming as seeing children with the freedom to ride London’s streets on a sunny Sunday. Showing so very clearly the price we pay for the everyday traffic-clogged state of our roads. 🤸🏽 🌱 🚲
Carla Francome@carlafrancome.bsky.social · yesterdayIt was just amazing yesterday when Kidical Mass arrived in Westminster for the #LondonCyclingFestival. I spent the day in the heart of London and let me tell you that people are ready for change there. Let’s go. Sound UP loud for the total vibe of yesterday ✊🏻✊🏻✊🏻✊🏻
Hunter Valley Operations is the largest coal mine expansion ever proposed in NSW that - if approved - would unleash more than 800 million tonnes of climate pollution. We're expecting the decision on whether or not this project gets the green light next week, stay tuned.
Stuff for drivers left on sidewalks for pedestrians is just another front in the #WarOnWalking.
Urban Truth Collective@urbantruth.bsky.social · 3d agoThe WAR ON WALKING has taken many forms around the world. It’s often as simple as how we signal who space is and isn’t for. Once our eyes are opened to all the ways we’ve prioritized cars over people, we can’t unsee it. Frustrating photo contributed by @stadsplanering.bsky.social. #WarOnWalking
Everything that makes my dinner spot in Spain charming is illegal in most of the US: - zero parking - no setbacks - mixed use - single-stair buildings - a street width most fire departments wouldn’t allow I think it should be legal to build this in any US city, by right.
Off to Pedalfest in Dungog today for the first time. Going to do the Scones, Jam and Cream ride. 😋
Israeli apartheid is colour-coded.
eliko thalia@museinrevolt.bsky.social · 5d agojust learned this today
New book highlights the power of witness testimonies from Australian and New Zealand healthcare workers in Gaza - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/new-book-hig... By @mariemcinerney.bsky.social #AusPol
New book highlights the power of witness testimonies from Australian and New Zealand healthcare workers in Gaza
Healthcare workers who contributed to a new book detailing horrific suffering in Gaza spoke at its launch in Naarm/Melbourne on
croakey.org
In 2012, Addison Lee boss John Griffin was all over the news when he ranted that cyclists should “pay road tax.” Yesterday, HMRC won its case saying that, since 2013, the taxi man has been avoiding paying income tax. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
biked home with a week of groceries in two panniers using maybe 12 square feet of street. the guy circling the lot in an F-150 needs a 330 square foot parking space to buy one rotisserie chicken. i am INFRASTRUCTURE
Nice campaign by the Norwegian Consumer Council about the declining lifespan of products. Enjoy!
For those in the UK and other countries where the lie is called a “war on motorists” rather than a “war on cars,” here’s a poster version for you to use and share. Either way, never forget, if there’s REALLY been any war in cities, it’s been a century-long WAR ON WALKING. #UrbanTruth #WarOnWalking
‘It’s the best feeling’: how Copenhagen gave cyclists a green wave. “Traffic lights are synchronised so a rush-hour cyclist at 20km/h can catch green lights all the way.” If you want people to choose not to drive, make the non-driving trip better & easier for them. It’s as simple as that, really.
‘It’s the best feeling’: how Copenhagen gave cyclists a green wave
Traffic lights are synchronised so a rush-hour cyclist at 20km/h can catch green lights all the way
theguardian.com
Facts worth repeating: It would be cheaper to pay the ~40,000 or so people employed by the coal industry $1M a year to do nothing than to pay for the health damages (not including climate change) caused by burning coal in the U.S. publichealth.hsc.wvu.edu/news/story?h...
Counting up the costs of coal
Regular readers know that WVU’s Dr. Michael Hendryx has done work on that issue (subscription required), reporting that:
publichealth.hsc.wvu.edu
New — I wrote about this weird thing where people within the Republican party keep being exposed as Nazis and the party then tries to claim each one is an aberration. The facts, as I lay out here, indicate otherwise:
Republicans don’t have a Nazi problem—they are the Nazi problem
A spate of recent revelations have shown the ideologies and their adherents are one and the same.
thehandbasket.co
Flexposts aren't protection. They're analog long-term data collection indicating drivers don't stay in their lane.
@scottonabike.bsky.social · 7d agoI'm starting to think flex-posts don't post much protection 😬
In the <5 years I was riding regularly on Tyneside, a man told me he would kill me if he saw me on his street again, a group of men threatened to beat me up for using my bell on a shared-use path, & a man kicked my back wheel to try to knock me off my bike & then threatened to throw me in the river.
The LCC Women's Network@lccwomensnetwork.bsky.social · 2w agoAnd cycling Cinderella ? See our video to understand why we campaign for Freedom to Ride youtu.be/IT16B1xu3LA?... @londoncycling.bsky.social @london.gov.uk @willnorman.co.uk @carolinerussell.bsky.social
The "cyclists just want to play at being a marginalised class" talking point totally ignores that many people cycle because driving is inaccessible to them due to disability and/or poverty and that, when hostility towards cyclists is normalised, it disproportionately affects marginalised cyclists.
4 things that made me far less scared of cyclists as a pedestrian: 1. Thinking "did they 'nearly hit me' or did they just surprise me?" 2. If neither, "was there any credible risk of harm to anyone or was I just being a cop about it?" 3. Being aware that hitting me would very likely hurt them.
It always amazes me how fast drivers pull in/out of driveways, including across sidewalks where pedestrians could be in spite of on street cars often blocking safe sightlines. Higher hood heights on larger vehicles are associated with poor sight lines for small bodies. Absolutely tragic loss.
ABC News Bot (unofficial)@abcnewsbot.bsky.social · last wk.Police were told the girl was hit by a car while it was entering a driveway in Western Sydney.
Fine particulate pollution is linked to a higher risk of glaucoma and cataracts. People in the most polluted areas have up to 70% higher odds of glaucoma, while cataract risk is also consistently higher. The eyes are damaged through inflammation and oxidative stress www.healthday.com/health-news/...
Air Pollution Linked To Higher Odds Of Glaucoma And Cataracts
MONDAY, Sept. 14, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Air pollution doesn't just affect your heart and lungs. Your eyes may be at risk, too.“Every day, we see patients losi
healthday.com
Sometimes the WAR ON WALKING results in no sidewalks at all. Sometimes they put “something” in — but does that really make things walkable for anyone except those without any other choices? The #WARonWALKING takes many forms, but it’s always about making things comfortable for vehicles, not people.
The "War on Walking" is a great reframing of baked-in car dependency, and I'm sure I'll be using some of these images in future public talks
Urban Truth Collective@urbantruth.bsky.social · last wk.Sometimes the WAR ON WALKING results in no sidewalks at all. Sometimes they put “something” in — but does that really make things walkable for anyone except those without any other choices? The #WARonWALKING takes many forms, but it’s always about making things comfortable for vehicles, not people.
Dear cafe owners, I don’t want to drink coffee/eat food anywhere near where cars are driving, parked, or idling their engines. You are losing business if you aren’t fighting to minimize traffic & keep it at a distance from your storefront. Esp with sidewalk seating. Regards, Coffee drinker
$15K+ on average each year for each car in the United States. And Gas specifically is 55% higher than six years ago. That’s a shocking cost, especially when u consider how much of the U.S. has been planned and designed to be functionally car dependent, and that often means multiple cars are needed.
Car ownership costs an average of $5,851 a year on top of auto loan payments, analysis finds
The cost of insurance, gas, and maintenance or repairs can add thousands of dollars a year to the price of owning a car.
cnbc.com
And in Ireland also drivers underestimate the cost of running a car Irelandhttps://www.rte.ie/news/business/2026/0915/1591529-esri-car-costs/
Drivers underestimate the cost of running a car - ESRI
Most drivers underestimate the real costs of running their car, according to the latest study by the Economic and Social Research Institute.
rte.ie
Facebook is obviously trash, but it's always instructive to see how car-brained suburbanites react to a story about cyclists asking not to be killed
WCVB NewsCenter 5, Boston@wcvb5.bsky.social · last wk.Boston cyclists demand faster safety fixes after fatal crash and stalled projects | Click on the image to read the full story
