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David T. Isaac

6 Dec, 9 tweets, 3 min read

In light of all the bad news for pedestrians and cyclists this week, this #CyclingScienceSunday let's look at how news coverage of crashes affects perceptions of pedestrians.

TL;DR: people are hit by drivers, not cars. @ your favourite journalist.

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

The authors wrote three versions of a news article about a collision: a pedestrian-focused, a driver-focused and a thematically-framed (i.e., putting the crash in the context of other similar crashes) version.

Around 1000 people were given one of these versions to read, and then were asked a series of questions about who was to blame, what the punishment should be, and how to improve safety.

When it comes to blame, shifting from pedestrian-focused to driver-focused language caused readers to assign 30% more blame to the driver. Shifting to thematic framing significantly increased the blame assigned to "other", which presumably means infrastructure.

In terms of the appropriate punishment, those who read driver-focused or thematically framed articles were much more likely to support punishments, including fines, jail time and impounding the vehicle. Support for more severe punishments (e.g., higher fines) also increased.

Turning to solutions, thematic framing but not driver-focused articles tended to increase support for building pedestrian infrastructure. Thematic framing increased support for reducing speed limits.

The authors suggest several easy things journalists can do to accurately report on pedestrian/driver crashes: use "agentive" language ("driver" not "car"), focus on the driver not the pedestrian, and include contextual data on the number of crashes, injuries or deaths.

While the authors of the study focused on pedestrians, I'm assuming that similar patterns would exist with news coverage of drivers hitting cyclists, but I haven't been able to find a paper studying that specifically.

It's fascinating how a subtle change in language can dramatically affect how people view who is responsible, what the punishment should be and what the best solutions are. I think it's incumbent on journalists covering collisions to keep this in mind.

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More from @DIsaac8

David T. Isaac

@DIsaac8

22 Nov

This #CyclingScienceSunday let's take a look at what factors prompt people to bike in the winter.

TL;DR: It mostly comes down to plowing bike lanes. If bike lanes are plowed, 40% of people say they would bike in the winter.

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

This study is from Sweden, which has a pretty robust cycling culture (although the study is 20 years old and it was a bit different then). The authors differentiated between people who frequently bike in the winter, don't bike in the winter, infrequently bike or never bike.

Study participants were asked to rank the importance of factors influencing what mode of transport they took.

Those who biked in summer but not in winter rated precipitation, road condition and temperature as the most significant reasons for not choosing bikes in the winter.

Read 6 tweets

David T. Isaac

@DIsaac8

9 Oct

Got bored and re-wrote The Charge of the Light Brigade to be about a group of unlucky commuter cyclists. Sincere apologies to Tennyson and my various English professors for the ungodly things I did to the metre to get it to fit into 280 characters...

I
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the bike lane of Death
Rode the six cyclists.
“Forward, the commuters!
Ride in the lane!” he said.
Into the bike lane of Death
Rode the six cyclists.

II
“Forward, the commuters!”
Was there a one dismayed?
Not though the cyclists knew
The City had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the bike lane of Death
Rode the six cyclists.

Read 7 tweets

David T. Isaac

@DIsaac8

18 Nov 18

In light of the #ONPC resolution stating that gender theory is "unscientific," here are a list of resources by medical professionals stating that sex and gender are distinct, and that gender has social aspects. #onpoli #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransAwarenessWeek

@TGranicAllen

I will also include excerpts from papers showing the link between accepting people's gender and reducing suicide among trans folks. @TGranicAllen's policy will materially contribute to the deaths of transgender people. Please feel free to share this with your MPP.