Is Darwin Awards still a thing?
This dead dude qualifies. WTF was he thinking? He didn’t even make it across the highway.
Evel Knievel and his son Robbie used math to calculate the ramp lengths and motorcycle speed to clear a line of cars or busses. Their wrecks happened after clearing the obstacles. The Landing can be painful. IIRC Robbie has rarely had any injuries. He’s quite skilled at planning his jumps.
“A bystander found him” strikes me as a bit unusual. These days, I’d have thought that someone trying a jump like this would have friends around to watch and film the attempt.
I wondered about the bystander. It might be a friend that doesn’t want to get charged for participating in the deafly stunt.
Yeah. I was guessing that the reporters were being careful, there.
I mean, why do a jump like that without friends to see it?
He should have invited his enemies, not his friends. And offered some champagne to celebrate. If you want to be an idiot, be an idiot in style.
This is why you do a practice jump so you can work out the kinks beforehand.
How do you work out a kink that results in you killing yourself? 
The key phrase in that headline is “21-Year-Old”. The impulsiveness of youth is a source of great achievement and great tragedy.
Ski Jumping is a legitimate Olympic sport. But, they use ramps and a specially prepared landing hill.
fa·ce·tious
/fəˈsēSHəs/
adjective
treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor; flippant.
"a facetious remark"
The OP is worded like Robbie Knieval is alive. He ain’t.
I didn’t know Robbie died. 
He couldn’t out jump pancreatic cancer.
It’s sad - throwing it all away for some stupid stunt. And yes, I would be surprised if there weren’t others present to capture video. Throwing your life away for a few “likes” - a damn shame.
Honestly, I’ve never understood Alpine sking. Lindsay Vonn had so many injuries and surgeries.
At least they have coaches and train for the sport. There’s still dramatic crashes at many of the events.
It doesn’t seem like much preparation went into this road jump.
I don’t think that’s a fair assumption. I (and many other pre-video/Internet kids) did lots of stupid stuff in my youth without the expectation of an audience.
Skiing is fun and good exercise, and people can do it into their old age and without injury. But, as with anything, one needs to pay attention to risks. When you are a kid, jumping and doing crazy stuff is just part of the fun, but as you get older and more risk averse, you tone-down the risk-taking, like anything else. For example, my skis and snowboard area ALWAYS on the snow (except when on the lift) - no jumping for me any more - it’s just not worth it. This kid probably thought he had the skills to complete this stunt, but likely overestimated his abilities, and was over-confident his skills, which is typical for young people, sadly.
In Soviet Russia, landing stick you.
GoFundMe - seeking $20k, raised $48k?
I’m often surprised at such efforts. Recently, a HS freshman from the Chicago area died in an avalanche in Europe while snowboarding. There was a GoFundMe. I’m sure the kid’s death affected many people, but the need to raise $ for a family from an upper middle class burb that could pay to send a high schooler to Europe for spring break?
And I used to really enjoy downhill skiing (tho I was never any good at it.) Unfortunately, last spring some hip arthritis convinced me that my skiing days are in my past.
I’m probably putting more thought into this than the kid did, but … if landing on the highway inflicted enough force to kill him, was there a landing area across the highway that was soft enough not to kill him?
Or was he hit by a vehicle on the highway? The article doesn’t say.
It was probably a downward slope rather than a flat surface.