A short review of the ‘crash, not accident’ discourse from a personal perspective. Is it an argument worth reopening old wounds for?
“It’s crash, not accident”
For some time now, I have been aware of the drive -excuse the pun- in road safety circles to use the term crash or collision rather than accident when referring to an incident on the road. It is an international shift; I have read articles and had discussions with advocates here in Australia as well as in the UK, Canada and the US.
Evidence shows that almost all vehicular collisions are the result of driver error; a very small percentage are the result of vehicle malfunction, medical emergency or a freak incident- such as a tree falling onto a car. It is argued that the term accident implies that no one is at fault, thus removing accountability from perpetrators- hence ‘crash, not accident’. Driver error comes from driver choice.
I will admit, it wasn’t a distinction I made until I was prompted to think about it. In fact, the first edition of my book The Ballad of the Bunny and Other Poems: The Diary of a Car Crash and Beyond refers to my car accident on the back cover. As a writer, I could really have shown greater awareness of the powerful connotations of language choice; which in itself is a woeful oversight.
The (car crash, not accident) recovery rollercoaster
In terms of my own road trauma, my perceptions and feelings regarding life post crash continue to evolve beyond the growth depicted in The Ballad of the Bunny… As anyone managing the effects of trauma will attest, recovery is not linear and so yes, sometimes I do still feel anger towards the perpetrator of the crash I was involved in.
Perhaps this is why I didn’t instantaneously embrace the ‘crash, not accident’ argument. I desperately want to move on from that part of the trauma; I want to forgive. By considering the incident in these two apparently contradictory terms, I would be inviting resentment and moving away from my desired outcome. The concept just didn’t quite sit right with me yet and I couldn’t pinpoint why.
Making sense through poetry
Taking time to marinade on the subject has given me a much more favourable clarity. I played myself at Devil’s Advocate: Crash, not Accident edition. Are we being too sensitive? Very few people who break road safety rules (such as speeding) do so with the intention of causing harm to themselves or others- so surely it’s an accident? What about an honest mistake?
I also thought about what other situations spring to mind at the word ‘accident’ and the severity of their respective consequences. This is the poem that allowed me to articulate the melee of thoughts that have been rumbling around in my subconscious.
The Accident
You spilt a glass of orange juice today.
It happened so fast; yet as the promising young beverage
tumbled helplessly into the unknown
time seemed to stand still.
You didn’t mean to do it. Frozen
you watched your plans for the next ten minutes
splattered in a viscous tangerine catastrophe
across your jeans.
A silence fell, just for a moment
then questions, questions everywhere-
did you walk into the couch? Who put that couch there?
Did your hand spasm- are you possessed?
Then you remembered
oh God it had pulp and your nightmare descended
into Hell itself. How could you take such a risk?
Everyone knows the carnage fruity substance can cause
if spilled. Yet you dared attempt to make your miserable life a little sweeter
by naively buying the juice with pulp because
it won’t happen to you. The next minutes
-plural-
were spent in an awkward waddle to your bedroom
and the long search to find a replacement pair of pants
began.
You though you had time to nip across that intersection.
You thought you could quickly check your phone.
You thought one more drink couldn’t hurt.
You thought you could handle a car at that speed.
Oops.
(Copyright Catherine Hannah 2024)
(For more information on how poetry has supported my recovery, click here. This article is also available on Medium here).
Conclusion: Stepping back to move forwards
Considering this topic has prompted me to revisit blame around my accident and has certainly had an emotional impact. However -as with many of life’s challenges- I feel I have emerged stronger on the other side, with a fuller understanding of what happened that day than ever before. I very much doubt that the person who perpetrated my crash did so with the intention of seriously injuring themselves, their passenger or a stranger. Nevertheless, they made a risky decision- it was a mistake, but not an accident. Mistakes can be learned from and I believe that offending drivers can honour the casualties of those mistakes by doing just that. Driver education programs, such as those provided by Amber Community in Victoria, aim to change driver behaviour by helping perpetrators grow from past errors in order to make the roads a safer place to be.
The crash, not accident discourse reaches far deeper than sensitivities or offense. By using appropriate terminology, we are not only respecting the injured party by reporting the incident accurately, we are also promoting accountability; too many drivers do not recognise the responsibility we take in getting behind the wheel. Any topic that draws attention to this is surely a positive.
For further reading, please see:
Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional; any advice given is purely anecdotal. If you need support in managing the effects of road trauma, please see my resources page for worldwide contacts and information.
This article is also available on Medium.
