Sara F.L. Kirk

@sflkirk.bsky.social

9555 Followers 2022 Following

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

POV from bike camera of a skateboarder on a traffic calmed street putting up his hands as a driver cam towards him on the wrong side of the road while trying to overtake me as I biked past parked cars. The skateboarder had jump out of the way to avoid being hit. There are houses and trees in the background and a hint of blue sky.
POV from a bike camera of a street with a crosswalk and someone waiting to cross. A driver overtakes me on my bike & blows through the crosswalk before having to stop anyway at the lights further ahead. There are trees and buildings in the distance and a lovely blue sky.
Image of a street with stone buildings on the left side and stone walls and trees on the right side. The street is called Wheatley Road, in Halifax, West Yorkshire. We lived in an apartment in the low building where there are two parked cars.
Freshly picked green beans, locally sourced new potatoes, garlic & eggs and a mint sauce dressing. The pepper, vinegar, olives & cornichons were the only things not grown or sourced locally.
A screenshot of the Halifax Harbour Bridges website on using the bike lane. It reads: The speed limit on the bike lane is 25 km/h, which applies e-bikes and e-scooters, in addition to bicycles. The safety of all bridge users is HHB’s top priority, and therefore we follow the Nova Scotia Motor Vehicle Act when it comes to allowing motorized vehicles such as e-bikes and e-scooters to use the bike lane: Provided the vehicle on the bike lane has an independent steering and braking system and is not required to be registered under the Motor Vehicle Act (MVA) Users must follow the posted speeds Any vehicle that is required to be registered under the MVA must use normal vehicle lanes
A red e-bike with panniers on the back carrying 4 x 8ft lengths of wood trim from a hardware store
A screenshot from Brightspace with a blurry image of a hospital corridor with health care providers dressed in blue walking in it. The words read "Online Community - Foundations of Relational and Human-Centred Approaches to Reduce Bias and Stigma in Healthcare"
A blue e-cargo bike parked at the Cow and Calf Rocks near Ilkley, a beautiful (hilly) part of Yorkshire. It's a sunny day & there are rocks in the background, plus grass & shrubs.
Image of a downtown street with a bike lane and sidewalk alongside shops. A person is riding a scooter with a cat looking out of a carrier on their front. There are two people walking in the background.
Image of a street with a dog running down it. It's a little foggy and there are trees and houses in the distance.
A paper gift bag with a raccoon drawn on it.
Image of a moving car on a street from the POV of a bike handlebar camera & a pigeon flying up in front of me as I biked past.
An old white guy with too much time on his hands talks on camera about pesky cyclists while ignoring the free storage of two privately owned trucks behind him which are cluttering up the space on the street he's concerned about. There are buildings and trees in the background.
Two children sitting in their "rocking chair" fashioned out of a couple of spools and some string in a grassy park overlooking the ocean.
Lots of people playing in a grassy park
An assembly of loose parts on grass which I’m reliably informed is a tank
A queue of people on bikes wait at an intersection. It's a warm sunny day and there are buildings and trees in the distance.
A bright red helmet with a sticker that reads "bikes good, mayor bad".
Three red ruffed lemurs recently born in Devon. They have big eyes and the one to the left has its tongue out. They look surprised and incredibly cute
A poster for the International Day of Play event taking place on Saturday June 6 2026 at Ferry Terminal Park, Dartmouth from 11-2pm. There are images of children playing, and QR codes for people to find out more.
A bar chart on forced car ownership in Canada by income group (low, medium, high). More people felt forced into car ownership to participate in daily activities across all income groups. This tells us that mobility choice is important and more cars isn't the solution that some politicians seem to think it is.
View from a cafe table of a historic building in Bratislava, a cobbled pedetrianized street and a cargo delivery bike with "Putin has a small dick" written on the side.
Image of an intersection with a bike lane, a coffee cafe and a #BikeHFX bike tethered outside. It's a fiery red beast ridden by a fiesty journo. There's a lovely blue sky, buildings and a couple of trees in the background.
A close-up of a plastic container with artisticly presented charcutie - chesse and deli meats, breadstick, fruit and sweets, plus a few yellow flowers as a garnish
POV of a bike handlebar camera of an intersection that is supposed to help cyclists cross safely. Of course, that relies on drivers not breaking the law which seems challenging in Zero Vision Halifax. One driver runs the red, the other turns left into my path, thereby ignoring the right turn only signs.
Two people on bicycles are waiting side-by-side and chatting at an intersection for the traffic lights to change. As they wait a driver from the opposite direction just decides to go before the traffic lights have changed.
Image of a bike next to a bike rack that is obstructed by snow, such that it was almost impossible to tether anything to it physically or without obstructing the sidewalk. The red bike colour pops against the grey snow and the grey asphalt and there is the bottom of a shop window in view from across the street.
Image taken from inside a cafe of a street with two bike racks outside it and bikes tethered to them. The window also overlooks an intersection & there is an oversized jeep waiting at the traffic lights alongside a rider on a cargo bike, illustrating the ridiculous imbalance on our streets where people, often alone, drive around in a vehicle many times their mass & then wonder why there is congestion. There are buildings in the background too including a pharmacy and a residential block.
POV from a bicycle handlebar camera of the Harvard diverter, a segment of the Kjipuktuk (Halifax) AAA bicycle network, designed (badly) to limit drivers cutting through a residential area while still allowing active mobility. There are bollards/pylons in place to prevent drivers from short-cutting, but unfortunately drivers don't like to be inconvenienced even if it makes the street better and safer for everyone, so the bollards keep getting moved, often at night. It's a sunny morning and there are buildings, trees and publicly subsidised car storage in the background, plus someone on a bike.
A short video of the Harvard diverter "pylon wars" in Kjipuktuk (Halifax). Featuring stills of the disappearing, reappearing & multiplying cones plus the urban legend, Scritchy the raccone - plus their cute hi-viz jacket & 'bikes only' sign. Tubthumping soundtrack courtsey of Champs Utd via Canva. Also featuring images from Ben Macleod & Katy Jean.
Image taken in the early morning of a raccone (a raccoon made out of a cone) called Scritchy holding a sign saying "bikes only" on a block of concrete with reference to the Harvard diverter which is designed, yes - you guessed it - for bicycles only, but remains under attack by drivers who don't want to experience the slightest inconvenience to their journeys. Scritchy has been vandalised twice but is now sporting some screws to hold their head and ears together. Long live Scritchy!
The scene I came across this morning with the bollards/pylons/cones moved aside (again) on the Allen-Oak diverter in Kjipuktuk (Halifax). Scritchy the raccone (a cone dressed up as a raccoon) is headless on the side. The moving of the bollards & ignoring the signs is actually an offence. There are some bad people out there.
Image of a bollard/pylon/cone that was kitted up to look like a raccoon (or raccone) as a lighthearted way to remind drivers not to use the Allen-Oak diverter in Kjipuktuk (Halifax) as a shortcut because it is part of a AAA bicycle network. The raccone has been vanadalised, with its head ripped off and arms broken. Still, at least is wasn't crushed under the wheels of a car, but there is, of course, still time for that fate.
Yet another image of the Allen-Oak diverter with the bollards removed, despite the exceptionally cute raccoon explaining that this really is a bikes only piece of infrastructure. Can't stop those drivers going wherever they like, no matter what the signs or the law say. It's an early morning image with the asphalt glowing in the street light, houses and trees in the background.
Image of a strange piece of bicycle infrastructure comprsing concrete barriers, bollards (pylons) that is the subject of an ongoing saga whereby drivers ignore the rules of the road and people who cycle try and maintain the integrity of it in the absence of any leadership from the city of Kjipuktuk/Halifax. The back of a small pylon dressed as a raccoon in a high viz vest can be seen in the red circle. I'm anxious for its future but relieved it is still standing 9 hours after I last saw it. There are buildings and trees in the background, a person walking and a person riding a bike while also checking out the cute critter.
Video of a two-way side street in Halifax that is separated by a median. A massive delivery truck is turning from the main artery into the wrong side of the road coming towards me as I ride my bike. Road markings clearly indicate the driver is going the wrong way.
Image of the Harvard (Donham) diverter in Kjipuktuk/Halifax which is designed as a bicycle only route, except designed badly & the focus of an ongoing battle between drivers looking for a shortcut & people who walk or cycle just wanting a safe route along what should be a quiet residential street. Alongside the bollards/pylons is a model of a raccoon in a high viz jacket holding a sign that says "bikes only".
The first page of a report from 1999, talking about the need for greater municipal action to promote active transportation, especially cycling. The report has bullet points that touch on the value of physical activity, how cars contribute to air pollution, the need for healthier and more sustainable transportation modes and blah blah blah. 25+ years later & the same old excuses are getting trotted out by the municpality about why they can't do anything. So utterly depressing.
A view of the Allen-Oak diverter from the POV of a bicycle handlebar. There are snow patches, bike and car tyre marks through the middle, captured by the snow, because drivers are incapable of following signs and that's all that the HRM seems capable of relying on to enforce the rules of the road. Patches og blue sky in the distance, plus houses and trees in the background.
A cone-shaped bollard (pylon) lies broken in a street, crushed under the wheels of a car or truck. It is dark and there are private vehicles being stored for free along the street, plus houses, trees and a bright streetlight.
Image of the Allen-Oak (Donham) Diverter with not just two large circular bollards but one smaller cone-shaped one as well. There are houses and trees in the background plus grey asphalt in the foreground. It's also a cloudy grey day.
A screenshot of an infographic from an Ellen MacArthur Foundation factsheet (https://content.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/m/1c919f88a238cb51/original/Circular-economy-in-cities-Opportunity-benefit-factsheets-Urban-Mobility-System.pdf). The first column says "Congestion costs 2–5% of global GDP annually in lost time, wasted fuel, and increased cost of doing business". The second column says "As much as 50% of European inner-city land is devoted to roads and parking; but, even in rush hour, cars use only 10% of urban roads". Third column says "On average, European cars are parked 92% of the time and when in use only 1.5 out of 5 seats are occupied". Final column says "In India, electricity to power street lighting and maintenance costs can account for 5–10% of municipal budgets in large cities and up to 20% in smaller cities". These statements each have a link to the evidence not included in this description.
A book called "School Food Programs in Canada: Models for Success" lying on a wooden table. The book cover is blue with white and yellow text and an image of different foods on a green cafeteria tray. I wrote one of the chapters
An early dawn image of the Donham Diverter with the bollards once again moved to the side to allow drivers to pass through, despite this going against the signage and spirit of the diverter. There is a street light glow on the asphalt, plus houses and trees in the background.
View of a street intersection with bollards placed to the side of an installation that forms a diverter to reduce traffic. They should have been in the middle of the intersection but people move them. There are signs that say stop, all-way, right turn only excpet bicycles & a big flashy "NEW" sign that drivers have become very good at ignoring. There are trees and houses in the background plus a cloudy grey sky and dirty grey piles of snow.
A screenshot of a car vs bike calculator. There are words and numbers to describe the benefits of cycling over driving which for me with a 3km commute each way would still be a saving of almost $4k per year.
An early morning image of a school with a large pile of dirty snow in the middle of the turning loop that is serving as a roundabout. The school is brick built with lots of windows and a light fixed to the roof which casts a cheery glow on the grey snow banks & sparkles off the asphalt.
Image of a residential street in my neighbourhood which shows well gritted pavement for drivers & a snow obstructed sidewalk for pedestrians although at least the curb cut is cleasred. There are houses & a street light in the background.
An early morning image of a sidewalk on a main street in my neighbourhood which is snow covered. To the right of the image is a massive dirty snowbank comprising snow plowed from the street. In the distance a person waits in the street for a bus because the bus stop is unplowed and there is no access to the bus directly from the sidewalk. It is dark with the distant glow of street lights.
Black text on a white background - a quote from a report by Heart and Stroke from Dr. Sara Kirk (me) that says: “Our environment is not neutral. We are living in an often health-disrupting environment with social and structural determinants that can prevent people from being able to make decisions that would improve their health and wellbeing. The choices we make are dictated by the choices that we have, and in some cases there's not even a choice,”
Image of a snowy street with a piece of AAA bicycle network infrastructure that has been properly cleared.
Two young people both riding on the same bike along a Dutch street. One is pedalling the other is straddling the front of the bike facing them. They look care-free. There are people walking and buildings in the background. There is not a car to be seen.
A cartoon from Andy Singer's "No Exit" series, featuring city planners showing a map to people which has a straight line for car traffic and a convoluted alternative for people cycling designed to be twice as long all to stop any inconvenience to drivers. The story of city planning in many cities due to a bad case of "car brain".
A pothole filled with rubber ducks
Image of corn chowder soup, juice boxes and cookie packets in a community fridge that is otherwises almost empty.
Image of a Frontline Traffic Services truck making an illegal left turn from Seymour to Coburg in Halifax (Kjipuktuk) just as the bike/pedestrian activated lights came on. This intersection is supposed to protect cyclists moving from Vernon-Seymour or vice versa, but it falls down when drivers ignore the signs like this one. It's a sunny autumn morning and there are buildings and trees in the background of the image.
An image of two women, past Victoria Mayor, Lisa Helps, on the left and current Velo Canada Bikes chair, Kate Walker on the right. Taken as Mayor Helps was celebrated as the National Cycling Advocate of the Year for 2019. There is a Canada flag and a presentation screen in the background.
A black metal bike rack on a concrete patt with small green fir trees obstructing it. There's a window and part of a brick wall in the background.
A cartoon by the very talented Jen Sorenson about the absurdly oversized trucks that are being foisted onto our streets. It is called "The Height of Folly". First image is of a truck with children sitting in front to illustrate the blind zone of over-sized trucks, like the F150 (there are 10 children sitting there, invisible to the driver). Second image is children on stilts & giant truck, with tagline line "obviously we need taller children, it's time for stilts!". Third image is a cop on stilts handing out tickets for "shortwalking" to pedestrians on a crosswalk who are not using stilts. Fourth image is someone on stilts saying "maybe we should try regulating vehicle sizes?" and another stilted person saying "are you kidding? That would be ridiculous".
A much loved German Shepherd dog with a mouthful of sticks that she'd collected during a walk (maybe 4 or 5 sticks - it's hard to tell). She's standing on a muddy path with a grassy verge to the right of her. She's classic black and tan in colouring with lovely pointy ears typical of the breed.