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I know everyone is talking about the US right now but I just need to get this off my chest. Two days ago I watched a woman die - the cyclist in portobello - and there’s a couple things that I need to talk about. 1/?
My deepest sympathies to the family of Heather Stronach. I know that anything I’m feeling right now cannot compare to familial grief. With that said, I’m still trying to process my own trauma and grief.
Nothing can prepare you for seeing an event like that. Witnessing the event, answering police appeals, making statements (having the police come into your home as a queer trans person isn’t fun). I’ve been having the worst nights sleep, I’ve been crying constantly, I can’t work.
And I don’t know when I’ll be able to properly process everything I saw on Monday. That’s ok I’m patient. But what’s been really stuck in my mind is the way I’ve witnessed people react to this event.
The minute the news broke, we saw papers make awful headlines about how ‘terrible’ it was that roads were closed; a priority on traffic and cars and jams and closures. I saw people tweeting complaining about the traffic on Twitter as well....
A woman fucking died. She was literally run over by a truck. And all you care about is the fact that it took you a little longer to get to wherever the fuck you were going? Get the fuck outta here. I can’t fathom having no compassion in this situation. It’s disgusting.
Last point, accidents involving cyclists in this junction have happened before. Edinburgh NEEDS to have the right infrastructure to keep cyclists safe and separate from traffic. Imagine thinking that it’s safe to have trucks and bicycles on the same road.
