you’ve ever had someone tell you about crashing their car, or if you’ve ever spoken about getting into a collision yourself, the conversation probably began with these words: “I was in an accident.” Whether it’s a story in the news or a personal anecdote, most people tend to use “accident” when talking about a crash. But for the past several years, we at DriversEd.com have made it an in-house policy to use “collision” or “crash” instead of “accident” in our courses, our promotional materials, and everywhere else we describe the dangers of unsafe driving.
The truth is, the use of the word “accident” to describe a crash can be very misleading. Few collisions are truly accidental. “Accident” describes an event that occurs by random happenstance, but the vast majority of crashes aren’t random. Most collisions occur because at least one driver makes a bad decision, performs the wrong maneuver, or isn’t paying attention to what’s going on. Frequently, crashes like these don’t have to happen–and if the driver were more focused on driving, they probably wouldn’t.
A lot of times when someone says something was an “accident,” what they mean is “that’s something I didn’t mean to do.” And to be clear, we don’t mean to imply that when drivers crash, they’re doing so deliberately–we just think it’s wrong to treat “accidental” and “unintentional” as though they mean the same thing. More accurately, an accident is something that just happens , a circumstance of fate that no one could have foreseen or avoided. But if a driver decides to read a text message, disregard posted speed limits, or get behind the wheel drunk, should anyone really be surprised if they get into a crash?
And in case you believe that crashes are caused just as often by truly random events like an unexpected mechanical failure or a hidden oil slick on the road, think again. According to the NHTSA, the main factor in 94% of collisions is driver error . To put that number into context, take a look at these statistics. Based on the sample the NHTSA studie5,000 crashes were caused by a tire blowout or another tire or wheel proble26,000 crashes were caused by sli84,000 crashes were caused by a driver who made a bad decision
In total, the study attributed over 2 million collisions to some form of driver error, including decision-making errors, attention-related errors, and maneuvering errors.
you’ve ever had someone tell you about crashing their car, or if you’ve ever spoken about getting into a collision yourself, the conversation probably began with these words: “I was in an accident.” Whether it’s a story in the news or a personal anecdote, most people tend to use “accident” when talking about a crash. But for the past several years, we at DriversEd.com have made it an in-house policy to use “collision” or “crash” instead of “accident” in our courses , our promotional materials, and everywhere else we describe the dangers of unsafe driving.
The truth is, the use of the word “accident” to describe a crash can be very misleading. Few collisions are truly accidental. “Accident” describes an event that occurs by random happenstance, but the vast majority of crashes aren’t random. Most collisions occur because at least one driver makes a bad decision, performs the wrong maneuver, or isn’t paying attention to what’s going on. Frequently, crashes like these don’t have to happen–and if the driver were more focused on driving, they probably wouldn’t.
A lot of times when someone says something was an “accident,” what they mean is “that’s something I didn’t mean to do.” And to be clear, we don’t mean to imply that when drivers crash, they’re doing so deliberately–we just think it’s wrong to treat “accidental” and “unintentional” as though they mean the same thing. More accurately, an accident is something that just happens , a circumstance of fate that no one could have foreseen or avoided. But if a driver decides to read a text message, disregard posted speed limits, or get behind the wheel drunk, should anyone really be surprised if they get into a crash?
And in case you believe that crashes are caused just as often by truly random events like an unexpected mechanical failure or a hidden oil slick on the road, think again. According to the NHTSA, the main factor in 94% of collisions is driver error. To put that number into context, take a look at these statistics. Based on the sample the NHTSA studi5,000 crashes were caused by a tire blowout or another tire or wheel pr26,000 crashes were caused by slick ro684,000 crashes were caused by a driver who made a bad decision
In total, the study attributed over 2 million collisions to some form of driver error, including decision-making errors, attention-related errors, and maneuvering errors.
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