Why Are They Called ‘Motorcycle’ Crashes?
Why do they get referred to only as "motorcycle" crashes?
Raise your hand if you–like me–are really tired of reading headlines about “motorcycle” crashes that are in fact car/motorcycle crashes that were caused by the driver of the car.
I have Google Alerts set up to bring me articles with the words “motorcycle” and “biker” and every day there are stories about crashes that involve motorcycles, many of them involving serious injury or death. Far, far too often the headline presents the story as if the only vehicle involved was the bike, and that is bound to lead the casual reader to assume that motorcycles are more dangerous than they are. “How come there are so many motorcycle crashes? Those things should be called murdercycles.”
Take today for instance. In just one Google Alert email for “motorcycle” there were these headlines:
- Driver enters plea in fatal motorcycle crash
- Two injured in motorcycle crash on Highway 26
- Two injured in motorcycle accident in Towamencin
- Man dies in Marshfield motorcycle crash
- Man killed and woman critically injured in Lyon Township motorcycle accident
- One person injured in a motorcycle crash
As it turns out, in three of those instances it does appear to have been a motorcycle crash, with the rider at fault. In one case the cause of the accident was as yet unclear when the story was published.
In the other two, however, the first and third in that list, the crashes involved cars and in both cases the drivers were at fault, having made left turns in front of the bikers. You really don’t get any sense of that at all from the headline, do you?
So I’ve decided to try to do something about raising consciousness. In both of these cases I sent the following email to the writers:
Hi. Just want to ask/raise the point: Why does your headline refer to a “motorcycle crash” when it was in fact a car/motorcycle crash and it was the car driver who was at fault? This is totally common and gives the misleading impression that motorcycles are dangerous, when in fact the danger is with the car driver. The number one cause of injuries to motorcyclists is cars turning left in front of the bikes.
I did this just a short while ago and have not received any replies but if I do get something I’ll come back and add in what they have to say. I intend to do this routinely from now on. Maybe you might consider doing the same when you see this. We need to do what we can to get it through people’s heads that far too often it is the driver, not the biker, who is reckless and causes harm. Sure this may be akin to sweeping sand off the beach but we need to at least try to make a tiny dent. Just my opinion.
Biker Quote for Today
Death rides. Ride faster.
October 1st, 2015 at 10:42 am
[…] I posted about my small personal campaign to get headline writers to stop calling car/motorcycle crashes “motorcycle crashes,” I have been sending emails out at the rate of about two a day, although I have only gotten one […]
October 12th, 2015 at 3:50 pm
[…] mentioned how I have launched my own small campaign against headline writers who describe crashes that involve a motorcycle and another vehicle, even […]