Paul Hergott is a personal injury lawyer that practices in Kelowna are regularly writes on road safety. One of his latest articles compares the newspaper headline “Dangerously icy roads lead to crashes” with “Deep water leads to drowning.” His position is that we need to grumble and complain about drivers who fail to use good winter tires and who overdrive the conditions. Not about the naturally occurring ice and snow.
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I was taught how to drive by my dad and one of his sayings which I learned as soon as I got behind the wheel when my age was still single digit. There is no such thing as an accident, someone screwed up. Except for hitting the snowbank a few times before I was 16 I have been driving for 69 soon to be 70 years accident free.
As for those snowbanks, sorry icy roads didn't cut it. In my dads eyes I screwed up. I was driving beyond my abilities.
And as with many of those parental sayings that drove us up the wall where we were kids, today I agree with him.
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I agree completely.
Labelling collisions 'crashes' puts the onus on people to take responsibility for traffic collisions and to work to reduce these collisions and their severity.
'Crash' implies that a collision is preventable. 'Accident' implies that it was just bad luck and avoids responsibility for anyone.
Almost all collisions are preventable.
An inexperienced driver can get more training and not drive beyond her/his comfort. A speeding driver can drive slower. Cities can add lights/reflectors to improve visibility. Drivers can ensure that their cars are checked regularly and properly equipped for the conditions.
Here's a great article that's somewhat relevant:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-new-normal/201702/accident-vs-crash
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There is no such thing as an accident