The San Jose Mercury News published a map showing the location of bicycle fatalities in Santa Clara County over the past 10 years. It's a sobering document. There are more than 40 markers pinpointing the location of cyclists' deaths.
What I found interesting from a broader perspective was that not once did the reporter, Leslie Griffy, refer to “accidents” in the story. In each and every instance, she refered to “crashes.” Good job.
Using the word “accident” to refer to a car-bike collision or crash is so common in newspaper stories that it's glaring in its absence.
Avoidable
That's a positive step. Most newspapers refer to any crash between a bicycle and a car as an accident. Too often that trivializes the tragedy and leaves the impression that it's just a chance event. Unavoidable.
Most car-bike crashes are not unavoidable. Turning left or right into bicycle traffic, not slowing down for a cyclist in the lane ahead or swerving off the road into a bicycle rider aren't accidents. They are tragedies that could be avoided with a little diligence and effort, like paying attention.
Stylebook
As a former newspaper reporter and editor, I remember the old AP stylebook prohibiting use of the word “mishap” for anything that results in a death. The editing bible also says not to use the word “collide” or “collision” anytime a moving object hits an inanimate object. A car cannot collide with a telephone pole.
Newspapers and other media outlets should consider banning use of the word “accident” in any crash — involving bicycles or not — that was avoidable. Not using the word “accident” doesn't assign blame, it just gets across the idea that maybe the crash could have been avoided.
If you go to the Merc and read that story, you'll notice that the word “accident” appears in the text above the map. It doesn't appear under Leslie Griffy's byline, so I'm assuming that was added by someone else who hasn't gotten “the word.”
That's why making such an addition to a stylebook is so important, it gets everyone working from the same set of guidelines. It also makes for more accurate reporting.
And in this case, it would help the public understand that most bike-car crashes aren't just accidents. They can be avoided.
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