Pushing Back on Misuse of the word Accident

I was reminded in an email thread discussing Jan Heine's recent crash in Japan about the frequently inappropriate use of the word "accident" to describe most crashes where motor vehicles hit cyclists and pedestrians (and probably fixed objects and other motor vehicles). Lynne Cooney wrote:

Again, this was not an accident, it was a negligent driver.  Continuing to call these crashes "accidents" implies that they are unavoidable.

Here's the beginning of the entry for "accident" on Wikipedia (emphasis mine):

An accident is an undesirable incidental and unplanned event that could have been prevented had circumstances leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon, prior to its occurrence. Most scientists who study unintentional injury avoid using the term "accident" and focus on factors that increase risk of severe injury and that reduce injury incidence and severity (Robertson, 2015).

Lynne also provided me a link to a recent opinion piece in Wired, which I think is worthwhile reading.

The opportunity exists for a small amount of advocacy.  Anytime you see the word "accident" incorrectly used in a report about a motor vehicle crash, here are a few things you can do to draw attention to the incorrect usage, yet not take much of your time:

• If the website provides for comments, add a comment to the article.
• If contact information for the author is available, tweet, post, or send an email.
• If there is a public editor or ombudsman (for instance, the NY Times has a public editor), send that person an email.

Cook up a short, polite form letter (extremely short if you are a Twitter-holic) and save it on your computer. Whenever you see the word "accident" used inappropriately to describe crashes involving motor vehicles, paste your form letter into your email/tweet/comment. On social media, include the hashtag #CrashNotAccident. Maybe reporters and news outlets will start to get the message and change their usage.

Do you already do this? Let me know in the comments. If you have a boilerplate response you use, feel free to include that as well.

Three things all cyclists and motorists should do

I firmly believe that bikes are fundamentally different modes of transportation than driving or walking. I think it's unfortunate that bikes are, for the most part, treated by the law as "little cars." I recognize that this treatment has a long history. Given the amount of time which has passed since bikes were last the dominant conveyance on our streets, it's not surprising that streets were largely designed with cars in mind. Still, from my perspective, there are at least a few important ways that moving around by bike is much different than moving around in a car or truck:

1. Cyclists can safely get much closer to intersections (and see much better around corners) before committing to stop or go.
2. When cyclists put themselves in any sort of traffic situation, they are completely unprotected. For that reason alone, they will (if they have their thinking caps on) be much more cautious about risking an incident involving a car, bike or pedestrian.

Accordingly, I have no problem with people rolling through four-way stops or proceeding through a red light after stopping (even cars, assuming they are doing it right, but that's a whole 'nuther kettle of fish). Still, those things don't remove your obligation from being a good citizen on the road. Most of my riding is done in an urban environment, which colors my view of how things work. I realize that in lower density suburban and rural areas things may work differently. That said, I think the entire system would work much better if cyclists and motorists all considered these three points.

1. Never deny someone else their right-of-way. If you come to a four-way stop and someone else has already gotten there, that person (driver, pedestrian, cyclist) has the right-of-way. It's their choice to yield it or not, not yours. Don't take it from them.
2. Always signal your intentions. Many people seem to think that turn signals are optional. They are not. Ignoring the codified laws (which seem not to be enforced anyway), signaling your intention to turn, change lanes, or stop reduces confusion, and thus the risk of an incident.
3. Never accelerate to make a yellow light for which you can stop. No matter how experienced or lucky you are, eventually your experience will fail you and your luck will run out. You will run a red light, and collide with someone going the other way.

Note that I used the absolute words "never" and "always" above. I realize people make mistakes, and that perfection is impossible. Still, it should be a goal. Some days, I try and count the number of mistakes on my commute. I think it's a useful exercise. If you're honest about it, it might help you see your actions as they appear to other people.

There will be times when you fail to notice a light changing until it's too late to stop. As a cyclist, I know when I'm looking to see what hazards await me, I am much more finely tuned to motor vehicles. That means I will sometimes fail to see a pedestrian. That's a mistake. I need to get better at seeing everyone, not just the people who can do me the most harm. I also admit to not being the best person when it comes to signaling turns or stops when riding my bike. I will try to to better at that. For people in cars, you have no excuse. Your stop lights better work. If you fail to engage your turn signal (or, perhaps worse, set it, then change your mind and go straight), that's your fault, not mine.

Theorem - you will eventually get into an accident...

I saved the title of this blog as a possible topic back in May. At that point it had been a long, long, time since I'd last been in a bike accident. I had known other people who'd been in accidents in the past couple years, but I had, perhaps miraculously, remained upright.

However, that changed last fall when I had not one, but two, mishaps on my bike while commuting. The first was largely my fault. While riding up Clark Street in Chicago (mid-October) I encountered a cab who was "stationed" several feet from the curb, completely blocking the bike lane. For some reason which I still don't understand I made the split-second decision to pass him on the right. Unfortunately, just as I was passing, the passenger opened her door. I strained my right AC joint when I went over the handlebars, but was not otherwise hurt. I missed a week of riding and swimming, but got on with my life.

On November 30 I crashed again. This time my chain decided it was mad at my hub and went on strike while I was accelerating out of the saddle after a stop. I hit nothing but the ground. Alas, my keys were in my back pocket and I landed squarely on what had been a round key ring. It is round no more. This took me a bit longer to recover from. I missed riding the entire month of December (partly from the crash, partly from the weather). I am only slowly getting back to the pool as well.

Introduction

I ride a bike. Not as far or as often as some people, but frequently, and farther than most. I don't consider myself a very good rider, at least based on how frequently I get passed, but I do ride a fairly nice bike, a 2006 Trek Madone 5.2. Which explains the title of the blog.

These days most of my riding is actually commuting from my home in Evanston to work in the Chicago Loop, about 25 miles round trip. Last year I rode through November then petered out when the weather got crappy in December and didn't really pick back up until March. This year I hope to ride through the winter. To that end I recently bought a Schwinn Madison on eBay as a bad weather beater. I like it well enough, though I must admit my knees are getting a bit old for all the starting from a dead stop required in the city. I think I need to find a slightly smaller chainring and suffer with lack of "top end".

I've been riding "ten speed" bikes of one sort or another since I was in college in Los Angeles. I've had a number of different bikes, including a nice early American Masi back in the 70s (made shortly after they moved from Italy), and nowadays can be seen bopping around Evanston on a Specialized Crossroads fitted with an Xtracyle longtail. I kind of wish I had the blender attachment. That would be cool at the beach on a hot day. While I used to have a mountain bike, off-road riding never appealed to me. I love the road, and I really like urban riding (more on that in later posts).

I started riding in LA, slacked off while in graduate school in Iowa, returned to it when I moved back to Northern California after graduation, then in upstate New York. I do miss not having hills here in the Midwest, but I love to ride. I love to swim as well, but that's a topic for another day.