Estimated speed was 85 mph at the time of the crash.
Witnesses say the driver was holding a phone.
A semi-truck was blocking the bike lane.
Construction had closed the sidewalk.
Driving too fast for conditions.
Pedestrians in crosswalk.
DUI suspect.
Did not stop.
Not An Accident.
Any car crash that involved the circumstances described here— examples of what we often see in police reports— is not an accident.
We have come to accept a certain amount of traffic violence as just the cost of doing business. But none of us ever actually agreed that it would be acceptable for 40,000 Americans to die on our roads, every single year.
Yet, here we are.
I don’t think it’s acceptable. I don’t think that you think it’s acceptable. It’s an ongoing public health crisis to which we all become too accustomed.
It is time to change the way we think – and talk – about predictable, preventable car crashes.
Say “car crash”, not “car accident”
Every “car accident” is a crash, but very few car crashes are accidents. Most are the predictable, preventable result of bad roads or bad driving decisions.
This is the easiest New Year’s resolution you can make, and keep: stop calling preventable car crashes “car accidents.”
When you hear other people do it, educate them.
When you see it in a social media post, comment about it.
If you see it in print or hear it on the news, then request that the journalist correct it.
It is time to change the way we think – and talk – about predictable, preventable car crashes.
Start now.
For more information: Crash Not Accident: Here’s Why.
What do you think?
Have you changed the way you talk about predictable, preventable car crashes? Are you willing to consider dropping “car accident” from your vocabulary? Let us know! Contact attorney Kevin Coluccio on Twitter.
