Road safety: Why we now say crash, not accident

In the world and in the language of Road Safety Awareness, we are inviting the community to change the way we talk about crashes , and in doing so, change the broad cultural perception that road crashes are inevitable.

When it comes to language, innocent mistakes can lead to embarrassing moments, poor impressions and misunderstanding.

We have all been there. While these experiences can be quite mortifying to look back on, they often lead to a newfound appreciation of the power of the language.

When we use the word “accident" rather than “crash" we are implying that a road collision was somehow inevitable.

We are not only absolving and setting free the person driving from responsibility but also all stakeholders that are involved in the transport sector industry, which in Uganda include the Ministry of Work and Transport ( MoWT), Uganda National Roads Authority ( UNRA) and all the other stakeholders in the transport sector industry.

By using the word “accident”, society is saying that there is nothing that can be done about these deaths and injuries and that they are acceptable.

There is a public health crisis in Uganda because of the ever increasing road crashes that are claiming thousands of people every year.

Automobile and boda boda crashes are claiming many lives on Ugandan roads every week and a majority of us have been calling the problem by the wrong name for our whole lives.

Traffic safety activists are coming and rising up across the country to call on legislators, traffic cops, media houses and the public to change how they refer to collisions involving motor vehicles, trucks and now the boda bodas that are part of the public transport sector in Uganda.

The word “accident " makes it sound like the crash was not preventable, despite the fact that a majority of collisions are caused by human negligence and error.

Top causes of road crashes include poor street and road conditions, distracted driving, phone use while driving, drunk or impaired driving, excessive speeding and negligence on part of the drivers, ignoring traffic lights, making bad driving decisions etc.

All these causes are preventable. Planes do not have accidents. They crash. The Cranes do not have accidents. They collapse.

Driving a car is the most dangerous activity that most people do on a daily basis but because we do it so often, many drivers are dangerously casual about it and they think that their personal errors and poor behaviours on the roads should be comfortably referred to as “accidents".

As a society, we expect answers and solutions. Traffic crashes are fixable problems caused by dangerous streets and roads, unsafe drivers and hence they are not accidents.

The writer, Percy Mulamba Munwankyo, is a Road Safety Activist.