Originally Posted by
mcours2006
We gotta stop calling cyclist being hit from behind 'accidents'. Crash, collision, vehicular maiming, caused by driver negligence. Though it doesn't have the same ring as 'accident', which just kinda rolls off the tongue.
Most collisions are not accidental, but are a direct result of driver error and negligence. Having a tree that was struck by lightning fall in front of you causing you to swerve into oncoming traffic and colliding with another car is an accident, and probably completely unavoidable and unpredictable.
Use of "car accident" instead of "car crash" isn't accidental. From
this page:
In response to the emerging public backlash against cars (which were, at the time, largely owned and driven by the wealthy), automakers and other industry groups pushed for a new set of laws that kept pedestrians off the streets, except at crosswalks.
To get people to follow these laws, they tried to shape news coverage of crashes. The National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, an industry group, established a free wire service for newspapers: Reporters could send in the basic details of a traffic collision, and would get in return a complete article to print the next day. These articles, printed widely, shifted the blame for crashes to pedestrians — and almost always used the word "accident."