nicomachus.net

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun

DURHAM — A Herald Sun article this past week described a hit-and-run by saying, “a recent Duke University graduate was critically injured when she was hit by a car late Friday on South LaSalle Street near McQueen Drive, according to police. The vehicle left the scene without stopping, police said.”

One from a few months ago, describing an altogether different incident, says that “two women walking next to Kingston Drive were injured when a teenage driver left the road and hit them Friday afternoon.” A later article concerning the same incident says that “a motorist ran off a road and struck two pedestrians Friday afternoon.”

There’s an important difference between saying that a pedestrian was hit by a car and saying that a driver ran off the road and struck pedestrians.

One way describes a world where accidents are the products of inanimate objects attacking innocent people. The other way makes it clear that those dangerous, inanimate objects are themselves driven by people too.

The language we use to describe accidents matters. If we go through life describing all accidents as incidents when inanimate objects unexplainably hurt people, then the world becomes a much scarier place. This careless use of language can contribute to the fear mongering of which the media is perpetually accused. The world described in this way is scarier, in part, because there is no responsibility and, therefore, no solution to the problems.

No one seriously defends the claim that we’re not responsible for anything we do unintentionally. And so it goes with driving. Just because there are circumstances beyond our control doesn’t mean we’re absolved from all responsibility.

But accidents happen, you say. Not every accident is someone’s fault, you’re thinking. And I agree. But as drivers, if we think that just because our vehicles weigh so much and extend so far beyond our reach that we aren’t responsible for what happens as a result of our driving, then we need to rethink what it means to drive a car.

Whether or not a driver involved in an accident is held legally responsible, it’s still the case that someone was driving the car when the accident happened. To tell the story without the driver is to dehumanize the incident.

Why take the human element out of the narrative? If no one is responsible, then who’s driving the cars?

If we take the human out of the vehicle, then we take responsibility away from the driver. And if we habitually describe these incidents with no one responsible, then we start thinking of accidents as inevitable.

We don’t usually choose to have accidents, but we all make bad choices that make accidents more likely. If we choose to speed, then we’re choosing to make our streets more dangerous for ourselves and for cyclists and pedestrians. Speeding, like driving drunk — or driving while on the cell phone, or while adjusting the radio, or while putting on makeup, or while changing clothes, or while eating — affects our ability to avoid accidents. And while drivers of Escalades, Expeditions, and Tahoes have at least an illusion of security, those of us on two wheels don’t have even that.

In order to ride bicycles safely in traffic, cyclists need to recognize that the laws of physics are immutable. Just because a 3-ton vehicle shouldn’t be passing through the crosswalk, much less at 45 mph, doesn’t mean it’s able to stop in a matter of feet. Just because a bus shouldn’t be driving in the bike lane doesn’t mean that it’s going to move out of your way.

Only if we’re all responsible for our vehicles is there a solution. More attentive driving, less electronic media distracting drivers, less alcohol intoxicating drivers, more driver (and cyclist and pedestrian) education are all changes that could make a difference in a world where drivers are responsible for their vehicles. These changes wouldn’t make any difference in a world where cars simply careen out of control and strike pedestrians and cyclists.

I challenge the media to describe incidents more accurately. I also challenge cyclists, pedestrians, and especially drivers to take more responsibility for our vehicles.