Victim Blaming in Crash Reporting: What It Is and How To Stop It

With this in mind, we reviewed 200 local news articles and found that coverage tends to shift blame towards vulnerable road users and away from drivers. Worse still, crashes were almost always treated as isolated incidents, obscuring the public health nature of the problem. Next, we conducted an experiment to explore how these editorial choices affect readers. A thousand participants read one of three versions of a news article about a crash involving a pedestrian. Subjects were then asked to apportion blame, identify an appropriate punishment for the driver, and assess various approaches for improving road safety. In comparing the three groups, even relatively subtle differences in editorial patterns significantly affected readers’ interpretation of what happened and what to do about it. We close by offering advice to planners and advocates about how to engage the media to improve local coverage.

Location

Online

Trail Competencies

Relevant Trail Types

General. All trail types are relevant.