> The driver did not physically touch the bicyclist.
A headline would be used even if the car did physically touch the cyclist but hit the bike and knocked the off.
Also, we don't have headlines that say "bullet shoots child", because the person shooting the gun did not physically touch the child. In some of these cases, the car is the lethal weapon, the agency of person driving the car matters.
> but "driver hits cyclist" literally implies to me that one person punched another
"hits" can mean "impacted" or "run into", so it's accurate here even though it's not a punch.
A headline would be used even if the car did physically touch the cyclist but hit the bike and knocked the off.
Also, we don't have headlines that say "bullet shoots child", because the person shooting the gun did not physically touch the child. In some of these cases, the car is the lethal weapon, the agency of person driving the car matters.
> but "driver hits cyclist" literally implies to me that one person punched another
"hits" can mean "impacted" or "run into", so it's accurate here even though it's not a punch.