Comment on Tesla Has The Highest Accident Rate Of Any Auto Brand
Zagorath@aussie.zone 1 year ago
A friendly reminder that road safety advocates recommend against the use of the word “accident” to describe car crashes, because it downplays the fact that many crashes are preventable, either by better safe road design or by the drivers being more responsible with with 2 tonne machinery they are operating.
If it isn’t intentional then isn’t it by definition an accident?
If I break my leg while mountainbiking it seems a bit unreasonable to claim that it wasn’t an accident because mountainbiking is an extreme sport and this could’ve been avoided if I was knitting instead.
I’m speeding through a school zone at 60km/h… I didnt INTEND to kill anyone, but i didnt see the crosswalk and mowed down a bunch of pedestrians.
This is not an accident. Entirely preventable. Intent doesnt matter
The vast majority of car collisions are entirely avoidable.
It’s still an accident. Just look up the definition. I’d wager to say most accidents are entirely preventable as well, but that’s not what determines whether something was an accident
This is not an accident. Entirely preventable. Intent doesnt matter
This is quite literally the opposite of the truth. You should consult a dictionary.
It’s partly about it being preventable, but mostly about it being expected.
The expected outcome of drunk driving or speeding through crosswalks is hitting someone. It’s preventable by not driving drunk or not speeding.
A careful driver in the Netherlands killing a cyclist in a city center on a 20mph road is unexpected and fairly surprising - that would be a true accident. A drunk driver hitting someone on an American stroad is depressingly normal. It’s hard to call it an accident.
In aviation, an intentional accident is still an accident. A suicidal pilot can deliberately crash an airplane, and it’s still considered an accident.
Which “road safety advocates” are those?
“Accident” simply means it was not intentional and has absolutely nothing to do with preventability.
Dalvoron@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Relevant clip from Hot Fuzz
Rakonat@lemmy.world 1 year ago
First thing that came to mind, honestly thought it was the quote at first.
Zagorath@aussie.zone 1 year ago
I’ve actually never seen the movie. I just know that it’s a widespread view among people who focus on road safety.
Most news articles I can find dealing with this issue, like this one seem to focus mostly on the idea that one driver may be mostly at fault. Which is true and definitely part of the equation, but personally I’m even more focused on the ways in which the road design itself may have been a contributing factor. When you have high speed roads that also have a large number of driveways and side streets (i.e., a “stroad”), higher numbers of crashes are inevitable, and can be avoided by better design. Same with when you create bike lanes with no separation, or separated but giving cars high speed ways to turn across them at intersections. The design of that street is a significant contributing factor, and calling crashes an “accident” lets the designers and the politicians who signed off on it off the hook.
gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
No, it doesn’t. Accidents are just things that weren’t intended to happen
If calling something an accident let people off the hook for their responsibility in the situation then people wouldn’t go to jail for car accudents