The GafferOct 4, 2025

The excellent @pluralistic highlighted this Wired article from 2015 regarding car “accidents”. The author’s story mirrors our own loss of our three year old daughter playing in front of our house in 2012. There needs to be greater accountability for people using automobiles.

https://www.wired.com/2015/10/stop-calling-daughters-death-car-accident/

#CrashNotAccident #Cars

Stop Calling My Daughter's Death a Car Accident

When we say “accident,” we are saying deaths on our cities' streets are inevitable.

WIRED
Show threadAndrew ZonenbergOct 4, 2025

@thegaffer @pluralistic The shooting sports community has been working for years to do something similar, replacing the term "accidental discharge" with "negligent discharge" to reflect the fact that barring extremely rare mechanical malfunctions, guns don't just go off on their own.

If it fires without you intending, it's because you were doing something stupid and dangerous like having it loaded when you shouldn't have, leaving your finger on the trigger, etc.

So just like with a significant number of car crashes, it's not an accident it's negligent behavior on the part of the operator. This sort of terminology should become more prevalent in general.

Show threadshironekoOct 4, 2025
@azonenberg @thegaffer @pluralistic I have nothing against the new terminology here, but there is one difference between cars and guns. The problem with drivers is that the car infested society cannot reasonably strip someone of their license when they operate a car negligently because that's effectively grounding them and possibly starving them. The car centric urban design is probably doing 80% of the killing.
Show threadRon Beavis ❌
@shironeko @thegaffer @azonenberg @pluralistic I spent a few hours on a flight to DC talking to my seat mate who was going to an NIH-hosted event to lobby for better treatment for a disease that affected a family member. After about an hour I realized that the problem wasn't the lack of treatment alternatives. The problem was that by seeking a diagnosis & treatment, the patient runs the risk of having to turn in their drivers license, which is simply impractical in many parts of the US.
Oct 4, 2025 at 5:04pmWeb
Show threadMatt PalmerOct 4, 2025
@RonBeavis that reminds me of the conversation I had with a gun store owner about their untreated mental illness. Great combination, created entirely by the perverse incentives built into the current legal structures.