New York Jets Coach Greg Knapp Killed by Driver, Media Calls It an ‘Accident’
The death of beloved New York Jets assistant coach Greg Knapp following a collision with a driver has sparked an outpouring among football fans, and outrage among street-safety advocates who are sick of seeing cycling fatalities unilaterally referred to as “accidents.”
A celebrated passing-game specialist and father of three, Knapp, 58, was cycling northbound in an unprotected bike lane near his off-season home in San Ramon, Calif., when a driver traveling in the same direction reportedly “swerved” into him, a representative told Fox Sports Radio. Local police confirmed to Streetsblog that the driver, an unnamed 22-year-old man, was behind the wheel of a Lexus RX330 SUV — the kind of vehicle that’s long been acknowledged by experts as a major factor in America’s escalating pedestrian-death crisis — and that he struck Knapp from the rear.
Knapp died of his injuries five days later.
Described as an “avid” cyclist by NBC News — an adjective frequently applied to dead bike riders by journalists, but almost never to motorists, despite advocates’ objections that the term implies that cycling is a hobby rather than transportation deserving of protection — Knapp was variously remembered by national media as a “quarterback whisperer “ to NFL greats such as Peyton Manning, as well as a beloved husband and friend.
But many reports also referred to the crash that claimed his life as a “bicycling accident,” or simply a collision with an (presumably sentient) car rather than a driver operating a motor vehicle, effectively absolving the person who struck him and the designers of the 50-miles-per-hour road that failed to provide even the most basic separation between cyclists and high-speed vehicle traffic.
This is a story and will be updated should further details become available.
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