Why are almost all car crashes called accidents?

inmotion

Dictionary.com: accident: an undesirable or unfortunate happening that occurs unintentionally and usually results in harm, injury, damage, or loss; casualty; mishap: automobile accidents.

All car crashes are not intentional (no one likes damage their car) unless someone is trying to make money of their insurance.

guess78624

They call them "accidents".because they weren't planned, -- however most of them were surely preventable, a small percentage of them were due to mechanical fialure,which may or may not have been predicted! But then there are the ones due to just plain "pigheadedness" . You know the kind I mean, the ones that think they are entitled to the whole road, and you shouldn't even be on it,-- so get out or their way!! They have no idea what the result of their ineptitude can cause to happen! Some leave the scene in a "hurse", - (which means that they have "reformed" and won't do it again)!!

I've been driving since 1952, and I have seen all types at least once!

brian d

I don't know of any case where both parties involved in a crash wanted to crash. an accident is unplanned uncontrolled event where someone usually gets hurt.

Ryan R

If you talk with transportation safety officials, they will tell you there is no such thing as vehicle accidents; they are crashes.

Vince M

National Safety Council now trains it's Defensive Driving Course Instructors to refer to automobile "crashes" as "collisions."

Very few collisions are accidents, since, most all of theme are preventable. A genuine accident would be if a meteor came crashing out of the sky and landed on your car, or a tree get's struck by lightning and the falling branch crashes through the windshield.

Even those agencies that keep statistics and investigate automotive incidents don't call them "accidents." The numbers refer to collisions, fatalities, incursions, etc, but, not accidents.

terrellfastball

Because the cops get in trouble if they call it
"A crash caused by an idiot!"

silverbullet217

the FHWA said they will all be call crashes in their eyes late in 06 or early 07. there is no accidents, something caused it, it is one of only two things the driver on the vehicle, something broke and caused it or the driver...following too close, not paying attention, went to sleep, going to fast for conditions..what ever

udontremember

Insurance companies wouldn't pay for on purposes. Think about it, getting in your car and deciding to get in a wreck on purpose just for the heck of it, because you don't have enough things to fill out your day. Silly hu?

Stan

An accident is a 'chance misfortune', such as when a tree falls on top of a vehicle; 97% of crashes are caused by human error and could be avoided by human care. To call them accidents encourages drivers to think that they are inevitable and that there is no possibility to prevent collisions. The police now investigate RTCs - Road Traffic Collisions not RTAs. Their inquires show how preventable nearly all crashes are. The old Highway Code used the word accident 30 times but the new HC has replaced that word with collision, incident and crash. A change in one word is not a major component of Road Safety but the eradication of the word 'accident' supports the good attitude that drivers must take responsibility for their actions.

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