Terrible - I wish there were more details on how this happened.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/jets-assistant-coach-greg-knapp-critical-condition-following-bicycle-crash-n1274475
I would await all the facts and a complete investigation, but, preliminarily, I'd infer that someone distracted or incompetent rushed to make a right turn and hit Greg.

Really disturbing given that California drivers are probably some of the most accustomed to cyclists being on the roads.

Teenager texting while driving.

Knapp succumbed to his injuries yesterday.

I took a several year hiatus from tris and riding my bike. When I started riding again just a couple of years ago, I noticed a distinct change in motorist habits. Drivers have gotten more aggressive and even less aware of their surroundings.

I read the story on CNN and it doesn't assign blame to the driver, if anything it makes it sound like Knapp caused the accident?

"Knapp collided with a single motorist on Saturday in California, according to the San Ramon Police Department. After a preliminary investigation, authorities said they do not suspect drugs and/or alcohol were a factor in the incident. Police said the driver of the vehicle cooperated with the investigation."

And in other links it says the car swerved into the bike lane. We used to ride those roads all the time. Very sad.

https://www.nbcnews.com/...;utm_content=curated

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

i came on here to post about how terrible the CNN wording is...yes, it makes him sound at fault. terrible. makes me mad to think how the story was deliberately framed that way. sad news, I will be interested to hear/watch how it is covered once the season begins, I'm sure on jets broadcasts they'll mention it at some point.

on a separate but related note, i have some new found optimism for changes in this area. as someone who works in the environmental field and has a degree in marine science, i have always been upset and opposed to how the media covers when sharks bite people, by calling them shark "attacks", and just having a fear-mongering approach. however, i've seen a slew of recent articles which show concrete movement toward not calling them attacks, and rather using the terms "bite" or "encounter" or "incident", and being considerate that sharks are not at really at fault in these instances. this is a much more accurate portrayal, and isn't demonizing to sharks. have you ever seen a shark "attack" a person the way they do seals? do the sharks eat the people? no. never. the sharks don't "attack" people in the literal sense of the word, yet it's been framed that way for decades now, and that affects the public's view of these beautiful, important creatures. so this new change is a step in the right direction for something that i personally thought would never change. here's a link to one article. https://www.npr.org/...-they-will-only-bite.

getting off my soap box now (thanks for reading if you didn't tune out, haha), but again perhaps this is a sign that there is possibility for change in widespread media behavior/bias. sharks are (or were) in a very similar place to cyclists in terms of media portrayal, that they're always made to be the villains when in fact they are at absolutely no fault - or at the very least, there is incomplete information, yet assumptions are made anyways. there are signs for change for sharks, so perhaps we can do the same with cyclists. let's all keep being vocal about this!

Phil Gaimon also took to IG to call out ESPN for this also. It's not a "cycling accident" if he was hit by a car.

That's good, I didn't see that. Guys/gals like him with the platform to be heard should be outspoken about this. I like Phil in general, and I'm especially appreciative how he is vocal about safety in general, kudos to him.

I never stopped driving my car, but I've noticed the same change in motorist habits when driving. My thoughts on why this is happening: 1. Less traffic enforcement for several reasons, one of which is that there is a long-term trend of reduction in fatalities in motor vehicle collisions which appears to justify less enforcement and higher speed limits. 2. Larger, faster, but safer motor vehicles. 3. Increased driver distraction, primarily from cellphone use. None of these changes appear to be positive re: cyclist and pedestrian safety.

I looked at the location where the collision happened on Google maps. Unprotected bike lanes on multi-lane suburban roads with 50 mph speed limits. The painting on the road is nearly worthless, in my opinion, in providing any additional protection to a cyclist.

I was still driving but some things weren't as obvious while sitting in a 4000# cocoon.

While riding, you can clearly see just how many people have a phone propped up on their steering wheel or in their lap.

I also see more people racing to the end of a driveway at a parking lot and hitting brakes hard to avoid colliding with traffic.

Gaimon is right. I like his example. something like: It's not a latte accident of a car runs into a starbucks.

I was driving last week and saw an oncoming truck drift wide in a bend in the road, go all the way across a shoulder that was at least as wide as a full lane and just miss putting his right tires off into a field, which given the speed he was going and the fact that he was at the apex of the bend would probably have ended very badly. He came back into his lane just as we went by one another and he was still holding his phone up above his steering wheel reading something.

This one really bugs me. Fearmongering and a lack of progressive policy on fuel consumption has led to ever larger and taller 5000+ lb behemoths, capable of slamming into a brick wall at high speed... and the driver just walks away.

Sure nobody *wants* to crash, but the Darwinian consequences of driving with your head up your butt has been greatly reduced.

Most urban and suburban driving could be comfortably and efficiently handled by <1000 lb vehicles. Road and parking congestion could be cut by half or more. To make them safe you just need to isolate them from larger vehicles where possible, and restrict the movement of larger vehicles where they have to share the road.

I'm with you. A Honda Civic and a MINI Cooper fit comfortably in our garage. I have to take off the front wheel, but my bike fits in the Civic.

They wouldn't be risky at all if other vehicles were a similar size... but IMO those are still more than 2x larger than the ideal.

I hate the modern use of the "fake news" stuff.............but that's a fitting phrase for the vomit news groups spew out when a cyclist is hit/killed. It's never ever ever ever ever ever an accident. Accident implies there is no fault or liability on anyone in the situation. Which is always categorically false.

An accident is a basketball sized meteorite crashing and killing you in your living room.

The media bears a LOT of fault and blame for normalizing crime against pedestrians, cyclists, and even against other drivers.

Premature death is the most destructive thing to happen to the fabric of communities, and the media treats it like fucking spilled milk.

I agree that media sources and government sources need to stop using the word accident, but I think they do that mainly because the population at large prefers the word accident because there is no fault attached. The media don't cause collisions.

To be intellectually honest, car on car collisions are termed "accidents" as well, despite the fact that in the vast majority of them, one of the drivers was found to be "at-fault" for causing the accident by failing to adhere to traffic regulations, including many cases of the same behaviors that cause car on bike incidents.

While there's some self-interest for me in changing the narrative to "driver hits cyclist", I'm not sure I would just accept the victim complex and desire for special treatment here.

I think using collision instead of accident is a more accurate description. I don't think every collision between a motorist and a cyclist is the motorist's fault.

I agree. I'm just pointing out that the way the media describes bike-related collisions is the same as how they describe car-related collisions. I know (being the victim of such a collision) that there's disparate injury in a car-bike collision, but the advocacy should be towards a society-wide revamp of terminology and not one focused on a single special interest ("cyclists").

This is exactly how my teammate Matt and friend Kristy were killed on the peninsula in Northern California in 2008. Sheriff deputy fell sleep and drifted across the road and hit them. He got all of 4 months house arrest.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

In most cases the collisions are accidental though. When a car veers into another lane and hits a cyclist due to distraction whatever it may be negligent but it’s also an accident.

It was accidental of the car driver not Knapp.

I think accident still implies fault it just takes the intent out. For all the “accidents that happen” if the people that caused them didn’t stop to help the person they hit there would be a lot more cyclists probably dead myself included.

Calling the cops and explaining the scenario to them is the person that caused the accident trying to make the outcome better.

I’m sorry for Greg Knapp he did not pull through but the event that occurred was most likely an accident.

Make the punishments for negligence or citations more harsh from both a time and monetary standpoint and you’ll see change. Or more likely you’ll see the auto industry focus on autonomous vehicles.

We unfortunately live in a society where people are addicted to their devices. Blame the tech companies ?

Whatever the case it sucks im not defending negligence I’m just jaded and know it’s part of the deal. It’s up to us to stay vigilant and we all have to know it’s a possibility when we choose to bike outside.

Also, not even a cycling crash any more than a pedestrian being hit by a car is a walking crash or accident. "Knapp killed by driver" - that's it.

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