The Charlottetown paper, The Guardian, had an interesting opinion piece on Saturday which dealt with bicycle safety. The writer, Ian Brisbin, who is a biking enthusiast, was proposing that unfortunate encounters between bicyclist and car drivers should be referred to as ‘collisions’ and not ‘accidents’. His reasoning for this is that ‘accident’ implies that the encounter was, “unfortunate yet inevitable result of using the road.” Brisbin maintains that they are, “inevitably the result of human error.”
I found this to the to be something that I agree with and I also found it interesting as it is as issue that was first advanced when I was working in the Ontario Ministry of Transportation a few lifetimes ago – actually it was perhaps thirty-five years ago. At that time the issue was how to report vehicle ‘accidents’ in the official statistics e.g., in 1980 there were 100,000 vehicle accidents on highways causing injury or death. The decision was eventually reached that they would be reported as collisions for just the reasons proposed by the writer of the article. Accident implies that the event was out of the result of using the road, whereas ‘collisions’ conveys that they are the result of human error and therefore preventable. This reasoning is basically sound as vehicle collisions are generally a result of human error such as excessive speed, driver doziness, carelessness, inattention, distraction or even in rare situations deliberate acts (road rage) - and then there is drinking under the influence of drugs or alcohol which is a whole other can of worms.
I’m not sure if this change in terminology ever directly prevented a vehicle collision but over the years there has been a general awareness that most vehicle collisions are preventable. I am always interested to hear the reports of vehicle drivers doing incredibly stupid and thoughtless things while driving such as putting on makeup or texting or spilling a hot drink on themselves. To confess, I can at times be distracted when I drive, as I’m sure Lorna will agree, but I don’t believe that it has ever resulted in an accident. Although there was the time I said goodbye to the passenger side mirror on my car when I tried to park in a too small spot in a Tim Horton’s. So perhaps I should amend that to serious accidents – oops collisions. Nothing and no-one was injured except the mirror and perhaps my pride.
Moving the issue beyond the realm of vehicle collisions to human activity in general, there is a theme that runs through psychology and perhaps even theology that there are no accidents. Things happen for a reason. Human behaviour can explain most of what happens to people if you explore events and people deeply enough and have enough information. Similarly, or perhaps not that similarly, in theology we can delve into areas such a divine and human will, fate, and predestination. In all this people seem to have a need on the one hand to believe they are in control and do not easily assent to the concept that their lives and actions are not in their hands. Conversely, on the other hand, people can look for excuses when things do not go as they hope or desire, “the devil made me do it” or “it was in the stars.” St. Paul agonized about this, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
In all this, the question that remains seems to be, how can I be the best person I can be or as I prefer, how can I be the best version of the person God intends me to be? I do not believe I am on this earth by ‘accident’ but it is no easy task to discover what God intends and how I can go about living that to a greater extent that I am doing so now.
It does make for an interesting journey. Blessings on yours.
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