Being an avid cyclist

[Old Crank]

I have always felt that the media coverage of collisions has been biased by the people reporting. I won't mention the bias that seems inherent in police reports.
Here is now more confirming data of the fact that drivers get let off the hook in reports in the press.


Researchers, based at the University of Westminster, found that media reports tend to erase driver agency “in all but exceptional cases”
by RYAN MALLON
WED, FEB 09, 2022 15:01
14
A recent academic study from the University of Westminster has found that car drivers, cyclists and pedestrians are depicted differently in newspaper reports of road traffic collisions.

The study, entitled ‘Rogue drivers, typical cyclists, and tragic pedestrians’ and published in the scholarly journal Mobilities(link is external) last month, analysed how fatal road collisions were reported in stories in the Evening Standard between 2012 and 2019.

Professor Rachel Aldred and Dr David Fevyer, both based at Westminster’s Active Travel Academy(link is external), researched stories related to three types of collision: when a cyclist dies in a collision with a car or van, when a pedestrian dies in a collision with a car or van, and when a pedestrian dies in a collision with a bicycle.

The researchers examined how these articles portrayed the incidents and the people involved in them – and in doing so, were able to identify “distinct discourses” around each type of road user.

Aligning with the findings of previous similar studies – and as pointed out on numerous occasions by our readers – the researchers found that car drivers were frequently given “low prominence” in reports, and were often referred to indirectly through references to their cars (for example, ‘A man in his 30s died last night after being hit by a car’).


https://road.cc/content/news/study-finds-drivers-and-cyclists-treated-differently-290201

[bullwinkle428]

1. Big K&R. Not sure if you've ever had the opportunity to watch this video

from Phil Gaimon, a retired pro, talking about what he feels is a lousy attitude on the part of the police and media when it comes to cyclists being struck by motor vehicles.

[Old Crank]

4. He came out of nowhere

Should be an admission of guilt for drivers.
I've seen all the excuses he listed in the video.
Thanks for sharing.

[hunter]

2. I was thinking about this just this morning.

One of my mentors, an avid cyclist, was killed by a car in the 'nineties.

Some of the press coverage implied it was odd for a bicyclist to be on that road.

I guess it was his fault he wasn't deterred by hills.

[BlackSkimmer]

3. I was a cyclist for years.

Unbelievably cycled on 535 in central Florida…the same road that has inspired bumper stickers that say “arrive alive on 535.”.

Also cycled for many years on US 1 in the Keys. I can’t remember which fatality finally stopped my cycling that road, but I do remember the car driver wasn’t even cited.

[Liberal In Texas]

5. I stopped riding on anything resembling a busy street when some jerk

deliberately tried to move far enough over to hit me with the side mirror or the side of the vehicle. There are people that don't think bicycles should be allowed where they want to go.