The truth of the matter is that the people involved weren’t in an accident at all.  They were in a crash.

By definition the word accident infers that nothing could have been done, it was just an accident. It is also a term of apology that removes the need to say ‘sorry’.

Basically it is a convenient way that evolved over the years to reapportion blame for an incident.

More accurately a car ‘crash’ is the result of the circumstances leading up to the incident.

It is a logical result of a set of circumstances. Someone went through a stop sign, failed to give way or was not looking … it is what happened, it was a crash.

According to BRAKE founder Rob Duncan the above is a fact that many people have trouble accepting – particular young people at BRAKE courses.

“It is always a great topic for discussion because kids argue the point,” he said.

“They say things like ‘what about if the wheel fell of the car because the mechanic didn’t put it on properly, that is an accident’.

“But that isn’t the case, because it was the set of circumstances that set up the crash, it was never an accident.

“It can almost get funny (at the courses) with it almost a competition amongst the kids to work out a scenario that was an act of God.

“They are always trying to catch us out, but it hasn’t happened yet because every fatal crash goes to the coroner who always says ‘what caused that crash’.

“The coroner never says ‘that was an act of God, it was an accident’. It was what it was – a crash.”