Accidents: a word that’s familiar to all Canadians; from two-year olds “Oh oh mommy, me make accident” to 80 year-olds “Oh oh nurse, me make accident” – and frankly that’s the only legitimate use of the word.

Unfortunately in our society the word accident has become stuck like glue to another word – Automobile. Yes, Automobile Accident – a common occurrence which never seems to be anyone’s fault; as in “but officer it was an accident!” Nonsense. What we are really talking about is collisions – crashes for short; and surprise! It’s always someone’s fault. Just ask your insurance company.

However this so-very-Canadian trait of never assigning blame (or taking any) has gotten so out of hand that motorists would have you believe that every crash is now just an unfortunate no-fault accident; an event without cause and without consequence. I don’t buy it.

Take the length of HWY 401 for instance. More than 75% of the “accidents” that occur along its length annually (from Windsor to Montreal) are single vehicle uninvolved crashes. What? – Yes drivers simply run off the road for no seemingly good reason and crash; yet they’d have you believe these are accidents. There excuses are endless but each ends with the same lament – “it wasn’t my fault.” I say they are at fault and I for one am tired of letting them off the hook by labelling these crashes as accidents in the media. Losing control of your vehicle is not an accident it’s a completely at fault crash and Canadians need to start taking personal responsibility for their mistakes. And, to help them along I will never again refer to a crash as an accident in any story I write.