The City of Madison and Wisconsin DOTs recognized this in 1989. Starting in 1990, WisDOT changed the name of their annual Wisconsin Traffic Accident Facts to Traffic Crash Facts. Here is the quote WisDOT included on the first page of that report:
Traffic crashes are not accidents, but avoidable events caused by a single variable or chain of variables. We are dedicated to reducing traffic injuries and fatalities by addressing the factors that cause them. During this transition year, the 1989 edition of ACCIDENT FACTS uses the term "accidents". Future editions will incorporate "crash" into the text and will be entitled CRASH FACTS. The City of Madison did the same thing and retitled its annual Traffic Accident Report to Crash Report, also starting with the 1990 report. Unfortunately, after over 10 years of traffic professionals recognized that crashes are not accidents, the use of the term accident, and the perception that goes along with that term, is still widespread, especially in the media and the general public. Arthur Ross Pedestrian-Bicycle Coordinator Arthur Ross _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
