Big boys need to play safely with their toys

WHEN will the BBC’s news reporters stop using the word “accident” when referring to road traffic collisions?

On Saturday, the news reader used it when reporting on a new laser camera which would help Road Traffic Collision Investigation Units to get a more accurate account of the causes of collisions.

Whenever local news travel reporters advise of traffic hold-ups caused by crashes/collisions, they invariably use it.

The police and the fire brigade – two of many organisations working to reduce road traffic casualties – no longer use it.

Furthermore, it’s almost 10 years since the British Medical Journal banned the word accident as it implies an unpredictable and chance occurrence while in reality collisions are predictable and avoidable.

On May 1, the United Nations launched a Decade of Action for Road Safety, to address what has been identified – with 1.3 million annual deaths – as a global road traffic epidemic.

For the UK to play it’s part, there needs to be a change of heart and minds.

From a psychological point of view, isn’t the use of the word “accident” rather childish? Basically, an excuse for not recognising right from wrong.

Cars might be “big boys’ toys” but those big boys have to be taught to play with them in the right and proper place – our streets and roads aren’t playgrounds for racing potentially lethal machines, they are, rightly or wrongly, playgrounds for little boys and girls – especially those from low-income families. Our NHS can no longer support the lethal games of those big boys.

Isn’t it shameful that young driver’s – boy racers – are blamed for most of the carnage, when it is their parents, or the likes of Jeremy Clarkson, who they’ve invariably learnt their roadcraft from?