see http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000264.htm

Tortuous, Torturous, or Tortured?

Tortuous means “winding, crooked” or “tricky to handle.”

Torturous means “causing torture” or “painful in a cruel way.”

Tortured as an adjective means “receiving torture” or “pained.”

Examples: He had to take a tortuous route through the Alps.

He survived the torturous existence of the concentration camp.

The beggar gave a tortured look to the passers-by.

Despite being a troglodyte in his political views, the late Jeff Cooper did formulate the Four Rules of Gun Safety (you can Google them) which, if adhered to, should prevent all NDs. Moreover, an ND that results in injury to a person can only be achieved by violating at least two of the Four Rules: #2 “Do allow the muzzle to cover anything you are not willing to destroy” & #3 “Keep your finger outside the trigger guard unless you are intentionally in the process of shooting” (the latter being the Massad Ayoob revised version). Even in the highly unlikely event of a firearm discharging due to a mechanical malfunction, personal injury can only result from the wielder failing to observe Rule #2.

It is entirely reasonable to insist, by the same token, that traffic accidents–especially involving motor vehicles–should, more correctly, be called “traffic negligences,” as they almost invariably occur as a result of someone being insufficiently cautious and attentive to their surroundings.

Alan McHett makes some excellent points above, to which I’d like to add. I immigrated to the US seven years ago from the (urbanized) western Netherlands, where I’d relied almost entirely on foot, bicycle and public transport to get around. As Alan says, the US is highly car-dependent, not least because distances can be quite large. And because Americans are, to a very real extent, forced to spend so much time in their vehicles, they–make that “we” since I’ve been citizen for two years–are strongly inclined to try to “get stuff done” during that time, such as eating a meal, doing personal grooming, reading the paper and, of course, making phone calls. All these activities inevitably impair drivers’ situational awareness, but (as Alan notes) because we overestimate our driving skills, we think we’ll be okay. We have an annual death toll of 40,000+ that says this is not the case.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldIAgOzTLtw

The most egregiously bad reporting came from the San Jose Mercury News: “The group collided with the deputy’s car,” before describing the hazards of cyclists running lights, riding 2 abreast, and other ‘crazy’ cyclists behavior. This is in an article describing an incident in which the cyclists were riding lawfully on a normally safe, bike laned road.