Cyclists slam “misleading” BBC “e-bike hit-and-run” headline – after SUV driver deliberately rams and kills rider; Cyclocross crash chaos and seamless shoe changes; Cummings joins Jayco; Colnago horror + more on the live blog

In the same week that new research carried out by road.cc contributor Laura Laker found that 70 per cent of police forces still refer to vehicles rather than their drivers when describing road traffic collisions, the BBC came under fire for publishing the headline ‘Police hunt mum’s killer after e-bike hit-and-run’ – despite the story in question concerning a SUV driver who deliberately rammed two people off their e-bikes, killing one.

Last week, the BBC reported that 25-year-old mother Alana Armstrong was killed while riding as a ‘passenger’ on an e-bike when she was deliberately struck by the driver of a 4X4, who had pursued them through the village of Pleasley, Derbyshire, on Tuesday evening.

The rider of the e-bike was also taken to hospital following the incident, where one of his legs had to be amputated below the knee.

Since then, police officers have said that a man and a woman have been arrested in connection with the incident on suspicion of murder.

> Police no longer describing road collisions as ‘accidents’ – but over two-thirds still refer to vehicles instead of drivers, new research finds

However, while the details surrounding the shocking incident remain unclear, the BBC has been criticised for what cyclists have described as its “misleading” approach to the story.

One Reddit user pointed out that the BBC’s original headline for the story was ‘Police hunt mum’s killer after e-bike hit-and-run’, which they claimed led them to believe that a “pedestrian hit by an e-bike had died”.

“Rather surprised to learn in the article that the victim was on the e-bike and had been deliberately hit by the driver of an SUV,” the user said.

The BBC has since changed the headline of the original article to ‘Hit-and-run murder probe after mum rammed off e-bike’. Nevertheless, the follow-up story, focusing on the murder investigation, still features the headline: ‘Murder probe after woman killed in e-bike “ramming”’.

“It’s an incredibly poor headline,” another Reddit user said. “The SUV chased two cyclists and hit them on purpose, according to the article. I don’t think ‘e-bike hit and run’ really captures that reality.

“It is just sort of incredibly vague, doesn’t tell you much, and what it does imply is that there was a hit and run accident, and the perpetrator was on an e-bike.”

One user also described the follow-up headline as “not quite as bad as before but again can easily be read as if she was rammed by an e-bike.”

“Anything to make cars look good. They know most people only read the headline and fill in the gaps,” another said.

“The focus of the article definitely does seem to be on the e-bike rather than the victims,” added a reader.

(Derbyshire Police)

“No no, it was the e-bike’s fault,” noted one user, sarcastically.

“Drivers don’t go round ramming their cars into people for no reason, it must be because they were on an e-bike and were speeding or something and even if they weren’t, it was the car that did the ramming, not the poor working-class driver who pays road tax.

“Anyway, they were probably all dressed in black.”

Meanwhile, another user said: “I’m guessing it’s because e-bikes are a hot topic at the moment, so they’re just determined to get ‘e-bike’ into the headline.

“But it’s weird how they keep on not mentioning the vehicle which actually did the ramming.”

> “We try to use language that ordinary people use”: BBC defends use of “accident” to describe road traffic collisions

This isn’t the first time, of course, that the BBC have been criticised for their use of language concerning road traffic collisions.

In November 2022, the broadcaster defended its use of the term “accident” when describing road traffic collisions, telling one Radio 4 listener that “we try to use language that ordinary people use, not the language contained in reports and documents”.

Cyclist Toby Edwards complained to the BBC after an 11am news bulletin on 28 September announced that “figures show that 39 people died after road accidents involving the police between 2021 and 2022”.

Edwards asked the BBC’s Complaints Team if the broadcaster was “sure that all of these collisions were indeed accidents”, or whether “the term ‘accident’ was used mistakenly instead of saying ‘crashes’ or ‘collisions’?”

The BBC said in response: “We’ve discussed your concerns with senior staff in BBC News and, although we take your point that ‘collision’ may have been a preferable word, our job is to write radio scripts that are relatable and understandable, and we try to use language that ordinary people use, not the language contained in reports and documents.”

> BBC “sorry” cyclist “did not appreciate” headline branding crash which saw drink driver kill ice hockey star and brother while cycling a “car accident”

And in September, the corporation apologised for its use of the word ‘accident’ in a headline and story concerning the deaths of US ice hockey star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew, after they were killed while cycling by a suspected drink driver who allegedly told police at the scene that he had consumed “five to six beers” before the fatal crash.

Responding to a complaint from a reader, who described the vocabulary used in the article as “biased and incorrect”, the broadcaster said that it was “sorry if you did not appreciate how we chose to cover this issue initially”, noting that the headline had since been changed to clarify that the Gaudreau brothers had been killed in a “bike and car crash”, while removing all references to an ‘accident’.

I couldn’t resist…

Spot the difference.

[image or embed]

— Jason (@jasoneccles.com) December 1, 2024 at 10:13 PM

And it turns out quite a few people have linked under-investigation Manchester City’s recent sharp downturn in form with a certain brash Texan.

“I must say watching Man City struggle is right up there with Lance Armstrong going on the Oprah Winfrey show and admitting he cheated his way to seven Tour de France wins,” Gaz wrote on (not so) Bluesky.

Who knows, maybe City will get away with their alleged 115 financial breaches on a technicality (the money was for saddle sores, I promise!), disappear from the sport for a bit, before – angered by Brighton challenging for the Premier League in 2027 – returning for an ill-fated crack at glory, eventually forcing David Silva to come clean to the FA about his personal sponsorship deal, triggering a tsunami of confessions and the club’s eventual total disgrace, forcing Pep to appear on a weird space-themed reality show?

What, too far?

Our tech team will have the full scoop on this later this morning, but I couldn’t carry on with the live blog until I mentioned the, ahem, intriguing new Colnago road bike design that was leaked across the internet over the weekend and is apparently set to be released next Monday:

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Cycling Spy (@cyclingspy)

Hmmm…

Let’s just say the cycling world is a tad divided over the… shall we say, striking new design.

“It’s an S5 with a stupid seat post. Has to be fake,” said Richard on Instagram.

“Please no,” said what I assume to be a Colnago traditionalist.

“Not a looker is it,” noted one user.

Meanwhile, our own Jo Burt asked: “Is it aiming to grab the ugliest road bike award off Pinarello? It looks like someone typed ‘make me a bike out of all the ugliest bits of our competitors’ bikes’ into AI.”

We should definitely try that before today’s live blog is finished…

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by GreenEDGE Cycling (@greenedgecycling)

Cheers Jayco, that’s all the goodwill for Cummings’ new move suddenly evaporated across the country.

Sorry, Steve…