Is a road crash an accident? When the crash was caused by a driver excessively over both the drink drive and speed limits? Do you call it an accident or a crash that was avoidable? An accident is an event that is without apparent cause or that is unexpected. Is driving over both the drink drive and speed level unexpected?
A couple of years ago, I did a piece titled, “Road Crash-Not Road Accident”. The piece was not an original piece but was culled. The aim of that piece was to increase the sensibilities of the average road user to align with realities as a plank to curtail irresponsible driving behaviour and reduce avoidable deaths on our roads. Please, permit me to run part of that piece as it provides the introduction for today’s focus.
The piece will among others show you how inconsistent governments across the globe are, in accordance with priority to road safety, whether in terms of policy formulation, or even funding. You will also read the opinion of concerned road safety professionals over the continued use of road accidents in describing road crashes.
You will be amazed to know that even individuals treat road safety as an accident. The same is the case with corporate organisations who would rather budget billions to fight crime than worry about road safety. I do hope that you will find this rehash interesting. Like I said earlier, in both low income and high income-societies, less attention is paid to traffic enforcement even though over four times as many lives are lost through road crashes compared to crimes.
The World Health Organisation (WHO), in its June 2024 injuries and violence reports, states as follows: both unintentional and violence-related injuries take the lives of 4.4 million people around the world each year and constitute nearly eight percent of all deaths. For those within ages 5-29 years, three of the top five causes of deaths are injury-related, namely road traffic injuries, homicide and suicide.
The report further notes that injuries result from road traffic crashes, falls, drowning, burns, poisoning and acts of violence against oneself or others, among other causes. Of the 4.4 million injury-related deaths, unintentional injuries take the lives of 3.16 million people every year and violence-related injuries kill 1.25 million people every year.
Roughly one in three of these deaths result from road traffic crashes, one in six from suicide, one in 10 from homicide and one in 61 from war and conflict.
For those within the ages of 5-29 years, three of the top five causes of death are injury-related, namely road traffic injuries, homicide and suicide. Drowning is the sixth leading cause of death for children age 5-14 years. Falls account for over 684,000 deaths each year and are a growing and under-recognised public health issue. Tens of millions more people suffer non-fatal injuries yearly.
To further justify this, hear The Police Foundation in the United Kingdom (UK). In its 2023 report, it noted that with more road deaths each year than homicides and terrorist attacks combined, there is a need for greater emphasis on road safety. In 2022, a Police Foundation report made the link between the failure to cut road deaths and the decline in roads policing, and called for major reinvestment in road safety despite the positive report so far, noting however that over the past decade, an average of about 25,000 people were killed or seriously injured on our roads each year without any significant reductions during this time.
If you still wish to contend these facts, please flip back to the COVI-19 era in our clime and compare deaths through COVID-19 and road traffic crashes. Also compare how much financial and human resources were committed to fighting COVID compared to fighting deaths through crashes.
Government at all levels from the federal to the state, and local government were all involved. The private sectors were not left out as their financial muscles tried to outdo each other as recommended by WHO. Individuals and families were active too. I must however give kudos to the national government for bearing the greater chuck of funding road safety initiatives with most states playing lame on the subject
I know that the current strategies by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) can speed up the progress in redressing road crashes. However, to further cause a drop in road mishap, we must sustain the focus on changing human behaviour. The first step in changing human behaviour must be to stop thinking of accidents as accidents but rather, to talk exclusively of accidents as crashes.
Since we entered 2025 by the mercies of God Almighty, there have been crashes and deaths. Some involved families and others individuals. As the year snails, every motorist should see this piece as a must read and a must internalised information. I just hope and pray that we will find these thoughts useful.
Let me start with Paul Wenham-Clark, who in his Photo documentary: “When Lives Collide”, involving RoadPeace members, explains why he used the term “incident” rather than “accident”. According to him, until the day comes when someone knocks at your door to give you devastating news of a loved one, you will not truly understand the difference between these words.
He noted that an accident is something that could not have been prevented as it was just one of those things and no one is to blame. How many of the stories you will read in this book fall into this category, he asked? RoadPeace and road crash victims, he said want everyone dealing with or reporting on road safety and collision issues, including the media, road safety and law enforcement professionals, not to use the term “accident” when referring to road traffic crashes.
For those who may not know, RoadPeace responded to the multi-million-pound investigation, led by Sir John Stevens, into the road crash in which Diana, Princess of Wales was killed. The investigation concluded that it was a “simple accident” while, perversely, at the same time confirming the involvement of a driver excessively over both the drink drive and speed limits. It may not have been a premeditated assassination, but the crash involved criminal behaviour and was certainly no accident.
Another notable figure, Professor Ian Roberts of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine notes that the Oxford Dictionary defines an accident as an event that is without apparent cause or that is unexpected. Its use in the context of child road deaths, he opined could not be more inappropriate.
The renowned professor noted that more is known about when, where and why child pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions occur and who will die as a result. The same is not the case for almost any other disease in childhood. It would make more sense to talk of a case of accidental meningitis or accidental leukaemia, the professor concluded. Therefore, a road crash is not an accident. It is avoidable if we drive responsibly.