Comments on: The Accidental Journalist (an occasional series chronicling how predictable, preventable crashes are turned into accidents)

By: Kate

Kate — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:10:53 +0000

From today’s Boston Globe, ‘“These are not accidents; these are crashes,’’ Sampson said. “They could have been avoided.’’’

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/06/23/police_say_traffic_details_have_grown_more_perilous/?page=full

By: Rich Wilson

Rich Wilson — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 07:22:54 +0000

I noticed that the AP referred to the death of Nelson Mandela’s great-grand daughter, hit by a drunk driver as an accident. A quick search now shows most headlines using ‘crash’, with the notable exception of NPR

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127760163&ft=1&f=1004

By: plr

plr — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:21:58 +0000

While I agree with this point when it comes to individual crashes (and this is a very common issue in reporting), I think you’re overreaching here. It makes sense to look at why there are more crashes on some roads or days than on others.

By: Sean P.

Sean P. — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 05:50:36 +0000

The Seattle Times recently published an article about the most dangerous places in the city for bicyclists. The article also included a link to a map of bicycle crashes. Not surprisingly, there was little correlation between the the “most dangerous spots” (usually avoided by cyclists for that reason) and the places with the most bicycle crashes (mostly places with relatively high amounts of both auto and bicycle traffic).

By: Jim PE

Jim PE — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:51:45 +0000

Mr. Vanderbilt, did you say anything to the Daily Beast? I think you have enough visibility that they might listen to you.

By: fred_dot_u

fred_dot_u — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:20:59 +0000

Thanks to your book and this blog, I’ve taken note of similar phrasing in the local papers and elsewhere. Dangerous roads, dangerous bike lanes, and as you’ve noted, dangerous days. It’s an amazing thing that human-kind has survived this long with all the dangerous inanimate objects around us!

As a commuting cyclist, I’ve been told by people how dangerous the roads are. I’ve been told by one client that he’d seen me riding in the rain with dangerous trucks right behind me.

A couple years ago, In Florida, a major series of crashes were the result of drivers entering an area of low to zero visibility on the interstate. It was blamed on weather, an out-of-control controlled burn, but the Highway Patrol handed out citations after an investigation. Oh, boy, were there some angry drivers and media discussions about that.

Drivers, don’t take responsibility, blame it on the roads, the smoke, the weather, sheesh.