Originally Posted by
tomato coupe
Unless it's deliberate, it's still an accident. You don't get to make up your own definition of words.
When someone makes a deliberate choice to drive in a manner that is not recommended, not advised and may be against the law... then it isn't an "accident."
Failing to remain fully engaged, while driving a car, is a deliberate choice. Few auto "accidents" are "acts of god;" more often then not, they are failures in judgement.
Since we can identify the causes of crashes, we can take action to alter the effect and avoid collisions. These are not Acts of God but predictable results of the laws of physics.
https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/newsroom/crash-not-accident
Here is the big difference... could the crash have been avoided by the driver? Not an Act of God then.
Sure, accidents do occur... such as sliding on black ice that wasn't recognizable, or hitting a deer that jumped out of the woods at the last second... these can be considered accidents, and Acts of God. Speeding, distraction, changing the radio, driving tired, failing to signal... any of those are deliberate acts by drivers.
This is not about "making up definitions of words." It IS about accepting responsibility for one's actions behind the wheel and not passing poor driving judgement off as something "unavoidable." The term "accident" as it is typically used today with regard to automobile collisions, IS actually a variation on the original definition of "accident." (IE, it was indeed a "made up" meaning.)