Victim-blaming by Media, Police & Public Perception

Reckless motorists fling doors. Cyclists get maimed & blamed.

Studies of traffic crash reporting - by media and police authorities - find a bias towards blaming vulnerable road users rather than motorist perpetrators, bike lane "design" and edge-riding enforcement, de facto or by traffic law.  Such explicit or implicit victim blaming or minimization of risk, injury or responsibility is particularly evident with dooring.

Collected below are several articles and links which describe this bias, suggest correctives and argue that accurate reporting would shift attitudes, policies and practice, advance accountability and improve safety.

Bicycle Law: Victim Blaming in Bike Crashes

Six Ways the Media is Still Blaming the Victim, by Angie Schmitt, Streetsblog USA - Jan 14, 2019.

Op-Ed: Hey, Reporters, Stop Blaming Crashes on the Victims - Researchers find that the framing of articles greatly affects public perceptions of vehicle violence, by Tara Goddard, Kelcie Ralph, Calvin G. Thigpen and Evan Iacobucci, StreetsBlog USA, Nov 18, 2019.

Five Cyclist-Blaming Headlines—And How to Reframe Them, by Caitlin Gidding, Bicycling, Nov 11, 2015.

Cops Must Stop Victim-Blaming Crash Victims, Brooklyn Prosecutor Says, by Julianne Cuba, StreetsBlog NYC, Oct 28, 2020.

Even When a Driver Intentionally Causes Mayhem, Media Call It an “Accident”, by Angie Schmitt, Apr 16, 2015.

Does news coverage of traffic crashes affect perceived blame and preferred solutions? Evidence from an experiment, Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Vol 3, Dec 2019, 100073.  Full paper. PDF. As noted in: How the Media Shapes Public Perception of Roadway Safety and What to Do About it, by Melanie Curry, StreetsBlog CAL, Mar 9, 2020.

Crash or Accident?  -  Drop the 'A' Word.  Stop giving criminals a pass by calling it an "accident",  by Ben Yagoda, Lingua Francaj, The Chronicle of Higher Education. Sept 4, 2017.

NYPD Secretly Alters Victim-Blaming Narrative of Death of E-Bike Rider and Charges Trucker, by Julianne Cuba, StreetsBlog NYC, Oct 18, 2019.

Before “Accident,” Deadly Driving Was “Homicide By Automobile”, by Brad Aaron, StreetsBlog USA, Aug 6, 2015.

Bike Accidents: Blaming the Victims, by Bob Mionske, Bicycling, May 3, 2016.

Maine Voices: News coverage of pedestrian deaths reflects a blame-the-victim bias,
by James Hettenbach & Lauri Boxer-Macomber, The Press Herald,  March 1, 2017.

Six Ways of Victim Blaming Bias

#1. Lack of agency for driver

#2. Focusing on the victim’s actions

#3. Offering “counterfactuals”

#4. Treating the incident as isolated, rather than systemic

#5. Not consulting experts

#6. Using the term “accident”

 

 

Crash Not Accident

Missing Perpetrator (Motorist)