Road Accidents

[Snowy]

Graeme, I am curious as to why the police have dropped the word accident? And how do the police know that “most accidents are avoidable”? Of course I agree that we can all take precautionary measures to lower the risk of an accident in any situation. A road user who pulls out in front of another vehicle has in all probability done so unintentionally, so is it not therefore, fair to say that the accident occurred due to a lack of concentration?

Yes, I would agree Ken, in the case where someone pulls out carelessy from a side junction this is almost certainly unintentional. But, if a motorcyclist is coming down the main road, is it inevitable that it will result in an accident (or incident by another definition)? It might well do if the rider does not alter their speed, road position, roll off the throttle, have two fingers on the brake lever etc. If however, the rider does decide to do these things, it might well not. In this case, the riders actions almost certainly will affect the outcome of another roadusers carelessness.

I would imagine it's this kind of scenario the police are referring to by saying that "most accidents are avoidable". If each accident is minutely examined for cause then I would believe it's possible to come up with a way it might have been avoided by alternative actions on someones part. However, in the real world, it's impossible to do this with all the risks we take simply because of the number of risk actions we all take during the course of a normal day.

[Cemorah]

You do not need to be a behavioural scientist to understand this.

Most biking is done on Sundays.

For many this is their only practice on a machine that can clear the national speed limit in first gear. Mix this with relaxed car drivers digesting a large Sunday roast possibly washed down with an ale who may or may not have other distractions in the car:- spouse, kids etc the figures are inevitable. If you ride and don't take this sort of thing into account........... :-/

[redken1]

Good points Graeme - very interesting topic.

[Scotty]

The reason that the Police have dropped the word "accident" is that an accident is a totally random unavoidable occurrence, whereas most RTCs aren't. With the exception of sliding off on an unseen diesel spill for instance (though it could be argued that this is the result of another's negligence), most crashes involve driver error (SMIDSYs etc.) or rider error (TFF or running out of talent). Using "accident" as a label implies that nobody was at fault.

[Ducatista]

I am curious as to why the police have dropped the word accident?

As Scotty said, they don't want to imply they are genuine accidents as most are not.
I was at a talk a few weeks ago with a very experienced police officer who is now a car & bike examiner. He called them "mistakes".
For the record I fully accept that if a deer jumps out right in front of you then you probably can't avoid it and some are unavoidable random occurences.

And how do the police know that “most accidents are avoidable”?

They can measure all sorts of things speed, tyre tread, braking distance (from skid marks), blood alchohol level etc.

As an example if someone had bald tyres, but sufficient distance to stop with legal tyres, then the conclusion is obvious.
Similarly if someone lost control with no other negative factors but was 5 times over the blood alchohol limit, then conclusions can be drawn about the cause.

I would never be so bold as to say most accidents are avoidable.

You and I shouldn't make those claim I agree. I think the police are in a good position to though.

but it is very easy for the police and other orgoniseations to look back after the event and suggest that the accident was avoidable.

Yes they have decades of experience and statistics on their side.
Many accidents involve drugs, drink, illegal tyres, no seat belts. Those that fall into that category are definitely not random unavoidable occurences.
Remember a criminal conviction has to be proved "beyond reasonable doubt" so the police don't just make stuff up for fun, they have very strict criteria certainly at the crinimal level.
A deer jumping out in front of you is a random unavoidable occurence, but poor tyres, lack of braking distance too much alchohol, too much speed are not.

You can personally increase your odds by getting more training. There are some stats to show this and you can get discounts for insurers (and they wouldn't give you money back if they didn't think it as true).