Read it. Pay attention.

**Bonez** · 27th December 2010, 13:57

Appearently "There's no such thing as an accident. Someone will have screwed up somewhere."

**Brian d marge** · 27th December 2010, 15:20

Originally Posted by Bonez

Appearently "There's no such thing as an accident. Someone will have screwed up somewhere."

Id agree with this ... and add . it takes two to tango ..

usually in the ratio of 80/20
I wish more people would just say whoops , screwed up that one .. my bad or I did judge that to well ...

it really doesn't matter if it was an accident intended or not the front bonnet of Joe plumbers shaggin waggin hurts like buggery

Stop making excuses and improve ya road craft , stop being the hard done by victim and get on with it ,,, IMHO that its

Stephen

**Bonez** · 27th December 2010, 15:31

Originally Posted by Brian d'marge

I wish more people would just say whoops , screwed up that one .. my bad or I didn't judge that too well ...

There ya go, all fixed. I couldn't agree more with that.

**Voltaire** · 27th December 2010, 15:45

Joe plumbers

Wow I didn't know they had Joes Plumbers in Japan....done well that Joe

I work for a large US company who operate data centres....apparently 70% of all 'outages' are human error. God doesn't any blame as he can't be sacked.
Still I can't see motorists wanting to do a safe work method statement have it approved and filed every time they want to go to the shops....

**BMWST?** · 27th December 2010, 15:58

Ok i get it.An accident is not a accident really.Stop trying to convince us and tell us HOW to stop having accidents.
I want to know.

**MarkH** · 27th December 2010, 16:17

Originally Posted by Katman

I think what we're trying to establish here is that if '"accidents" were seen less as "accidents" we'd all start looking more closely at how we can avoid being part of an accident.

How about if we just establish that accidents are almost always avoidable things and we should start looking more closely at how we can avoid being part of an accident. Do we really need to alter the definition of a word that is in common usage just to tell people to be more careful? Taking care really doesn't need to be partnered up with an argument on the use of language.

**swbarnett** · 27th December 2010, 18:23

Originally Posted by BMWST?

tell us HOW to stop having accidents.

Stop being human.

As long as there is a human involved accidents will happen. We may be able to reduce the frequency but we'll never eliminate them completely and trying to is only going to lead to automated roads (i.e. no motorcycles) and turn us in to automatons.

The only sensible approach that I can see is to improve your own road craft and let everyone else worry about themselves.

**dipshit** · 28th December 2010, 15:18

Originally Posted by LBD

beg to differ...yes I was responsible and liable, no question and maybe if I paused longer or maybe if I looked harder or maybe if the other car had its lights on or was a different colour....

Or how about your decision to be riding in a tropical downpour with its inherent dangers of reduced visibility etc...

If you own a light aircraft would you choose to fly in severe weather conditions..??

If you own a small boat would you choose to go out to sea in a southerly 5 meter swell...???

If you did would not such decisions be labelled as irresponsible and contributed to your "misfortune".

**MSTRS:Me** · 29th December 2010, 10:02

Originally Posted by Ocean1

You insist on continuing to display your ignorance in the matter?

Originally Posted by MSTRS

If accident is the wrong word to describe an unintentional, unpredictable event - then, other than Act of God (something that few would agree really exists), then please suggest a word that does cover what I and others interpret 'accident' to mean.

You're quick to put a label on me, but can't give me an alternative word to describe what I (and there are a lot of us that do) refer to as 'accident'...and then you refuse to 'discuss it any more'. Hmmm...

**BMWST?** · 29th December 2010, 10:12

Originally Posted by MSTRS

You're quick to put a label on me, but can't give me an alternative word to describe what I (and there are a lot of us that do) refer to as 'accident'...and then you refuse to 'discuss it any more'. Hmmm...

but your labels and attitude are just as inflexible.Surely it doesnt do any good to argue about the semantics of accident,crash,wreck or incident.
i think we all basically agree that most "accidents" have some degree of prevention about them.How do we start to eliminate the most easliy preventable ones...How do we start to CHANGE peoples behaviour on the road.Some will argue that we have to change our selves first but i think it is a general road user issue.How do we change it?

**MSTRS:Me** · 29th December 2010, 10:19

Stop calling them accidents. That might help change people's attitudes to driving. Look at some of the causes of prangs...inappropriate speed, crossing the centreline, travelling too close, failing to obey stop signs, etc - a good case could be made for calling those acts INTENTIONAL, meaning a resulting prang is not an accident under anyone's definition.
I may be intractable (too) but that doesn't make me wrong.

**Owl** · 29th December 2010, 10:32

Originally Posted by MSTRS

but can't give me an alternative word to describe what I (and there are a lot of us that do) refer to as 'accident'.

How about "neglident"?

**avgas** · 29th December 2010, 10:37

I dunno if the problem is what he thinks it is.
Everyone is jumping on a bandwagon of "bad drivers crash - you don't know your own skills....blah blah blah"
but for an engineer the concept is very simple - say I take 1 ton of metal and throw it down the road at 100kph. I then make this into a piece of industrial equipment. I am then told by the government that I need to put a big sign on this machine to state "this equipment can cause death".

Next time you jump in the car, or on the bike......have a quick thought about what I have said - tell your family you love them then look down at the dash an imagine I have put sticker there for you saying "This vehicle can cause death"

Your all arguing about who crashes and who doesn't. Fact of the matter is we all have the potential to crash and die and that respect is not there. Whether you have been on the road 2 years or 20 years - the machine will kill you all the same.