Originally Posted by
LV2TNDM
Let's not contribute to this injustice that perpetuates injury and killing of cyclists and all other vulnerable user groups. It's the LEAST we can do.
Obviously you feel strongly about this. I'm not convinced it's a car culture thing.
If I'm a hit man, or someone otherwise purposely trying to kill someone with a car, then it is definitely not an "accident". But since we are all "innocent until PROVEN guilty" in the USofA, then pretty much every crash is assumed to be by accident at first glance.
So other than the "hit man" scenario and a long list of negligence on the part of the operator (driving intoxicated, distracted, etc.) humans and mechanical contraptions are far from perfect. Most motorists do not want to ruin their expensive vehicles, waste their time at the scene, and maybe in court, or hurt anyone. People's minds wander. We didn't evolve to operate our brains at "mile-per-minute" speeds. Regardless of fault (an insurance company / ambulance chaser perspective) assuming the motorist is not KNOWINGLY impaired, most crashes are "accidents". Honest mistakes made by imperfect beings mostly incapable of "mile-a-minute" perfect judgement.
Like it or not, if it wasn't on purpose, it's an accident to almost everybody. Sorry the semantics causes you so much grief.