Bicycle Accidents That Aren't

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A recent Slate magazine article by Henry Grabar titled "It’s Never a “Bicycle Accident”" stresses a point that Bicyclists United with Motorcyclists and Pedestrians for Safety (BUMPS) have been making over the last decade, namely that the media have a tendency to blame the blameless accident victim when they are a vulnerable user of the road.  The author makes a simple point:

"A child falling off his bike in the park is a bicycle accident. A wipeout on the Tour de France is a bicycle accident. Getting rammed from behind by a car is not a bicycle accident."

Then applies it to the coverage of a former NBA player's ordeal that happened when he was peacefully and lawfully riding his bicycle.  Former Dallas Mavericks center Shawn Bradley has been a bike enthusiast since his retirement 15 years ago. At 7-foot-6, he had to get Trek to build him a custom bicycle. He lost 30 pounds when he took up cycling in the canyons near his home in southern Utah, and clocked a number of “centuries”—biking more than 100 miles in a day. 

Not the kind of guy to tip over all of a sudden, in other words. But there’s no need to speculate. The details are right there in the Mavs’ press release which notes he was paralyzed after suffering a traumatic spinal injury in an incident where he “was struck from behind by an automobile while riding his bicycle a mere block from his home.”

This doesn't contradict the earlier police reports and media stories, however, if you were to look only at headlines following this press release, you might be inclined to think that Bradley did something dangerous while on his bicycle and that there was no vehicle that plowed into him from behind:

Former BYU Cougar, Dallas Maverick Shawn Bradley paralyzed following bicycling accident (Salt Lake Tribune)

Former BYU basketball player Shawn Bradley paralyzed in bicycle accident (Gephardt Daily)

NBA world sends prayers to Shawn Bradley, who was paralyzed in a bicycle accident (USA Today)

Bradley paralyzed in bicycle accident (Berkshire Eagle)

Former Mavericks center Shawn Bradley paralyzed after bicycle accident (Sports Grind)

Grabar continues by echoing our frustrations: 

"Every time a bike rider gets killed by a truck, police spin the incident as the result of some kind of bicycle malfunction. The press repeats the assertion, and the myth of the bicycle accident is renewed.  In New York, for example, the first Citi Bike rider killed in the streets was hit by a bus. Though video later confirmed that Dan Hanegby was riding in a straight line when he was clipped by a bus, the initial police report said he had swerved. The New York Times article that announced his death still does.  That’s not a bike accident any more than getting bit by a shark is a swimming accident."

He's absolutely correct, and we can verify that in looking at incidents that have happened over the last year where headlines scream "bicycle accident" and a little reading confirms that  there is a bicycle victim of a car crashing into him from behind.  With such an attitude by the investigators and reporters, is it any wonder that there is rarely even a citation issued in these situations to the at-fault motorist? :  

Boynton’s Neil Goldman Killed In Bicycle Crash On Lyons Road (Boca News):  "...was riding southbound on Lyons Road right of the fog line on the shoulder. Bella Altman, 79, was driving her Lexus RX350 southbound on Lyons and “for reasons unknown failed to maintain (her lane)... No charges have been filed”

UD student killed in Trotwood bicycle accident mourned (Dayton Daily News):  "the driver told police that Parker was riding her bike in the street, but the driver didn’t see her due to the sun in their eyes.

Carle doctor killed in bicycle accident was 'warm, funny and caring' (News Gazette):  "He had been in a group of three bicyclists riding west on the right side of U.S. 150 on Sunday afternoon when he and another cyclist were struck by a westbound semitrailer whose unidentified driver didn’t stop and left the scene."

Richland High outstanding graduate dies after bicycle accident (Tri City Herald):  "was hit by a pickup whose driver failed to see her bike Sunday evening in Charles City."

These types of incidents should never be called bicycle accidents or bicycle crashes in the headlines or anywhere else.