Details are still coming out in the story of a cyclist killed after being hit by a truck yesterday morning. The Cavalier Daily first reported that the victim is UVA grad student Matthew Steven King The portion of the story that is clear right now is that the accident took place just after 9:00 AM, at the corner of Fourth and Main (across from the market); that King was wearing a helmet; and that the vehicle that hit him was a Charlottesville Public Works truck. One version of the story have the truck making a right-hand turn and colliding with King, while another has King riding on the sidewalk and veering out into the street in front of the truck. (And those are both from CBS-19, who does not appear to have tried to reconcile these two claims.) Police were investigating the scene and conducting an investigation today, in order to reconstruct the accident.
Any sort of accident involving a cyclist and a car inevitably results in recrimination and finger-pointing, with cycling advocates blaming drivers for behaving recklessly around bikes, and opponents of cycling claiming that all bicyclists are dangerous law-breakers. In the past 36 hours, this incident has proven to be no different, with news stories on the topic receiving hundreds of comments, most of which ignore the death of King and focus instead on speculating on what happened and whether, broadly speaking, cyclists or drivers are to blame.
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