Car Accident or Car Crash?
Did you know that there are over 37,000 fatalities every year from automobile crashes and ninety percent of those deaths are due to human error? That is why it is not proper to label them as “accidents,”
What is the difference between a “car accident” and a “car crash?” “Accident” means, by definition, a sudden event that happens by chance that was not intended or anticipated. “Crash” on the other hand is defined as to undergo sudden damage or destruction on impact.
Transportation activists have been advocating replacing the term “accident” with the word “crash” with the idea that motorists will comprehend better the full meaning of bad or reckless behavior when it comes to driving their automobiles. Activists hope that the chance in semantics will lead to changes in policy and behavior. This will go to reducing traffic deaths and injuries on our nations’ roads each year.
This past year, Nevada enacted a law that changed “accident” to “crash” in many of its’ state laws and legal documents. The Nevada law attempts to spell out that any person involved in a car crash cannot argue that there is a presumption that no one can be responsible for the collision or those injured, because it was simply an “accident” and no one’s fault. Transportation activists advocate that if motorists are more cognizant of their actions that can cause injury and/or death, those drivers will be more likely to avoid reckless driving behaviors such as driving while intoxicated, or drivers who become distracted behind the wheel, such as texting and driving.
Over 100 years ago, the word “accident” became adopted by corporations and businesses to avoid responsibility for industrial injuries suffered by their employees. As time went on, the word “accident” became commonly used by drivers to say that no one in particular was at fault for how the accident occurred, since it was simply “an accident.”
A representative from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) stated that the word “accident” has a connotation like it is an act of God.
So, as we move forward to bring greater awareness to the how serious a national problem car crashes can be, using the word “crash” instead of the word “accident,” should help in leveling the playing field. From now on, I am going to start using the word “crash,” instead of “accident” in every context when dealing with those individuals injured or God forbid, who lost their lives, as a result of a horrific car crash.
For more information, consult www.transalt.org, and www.personalinjury.com
