You're right, language is important and we should all be mindful. e.g. I hate when a driver kills or hurts someone and media report it as an 'accident'. This gives an 'unfortunately, these things happen' tone. It should be called a crash, which makes it harder for the driver to shirk responsibility (but they will still try) and indicates that it was preventable with safe driving practices, like almost all driver-cyclist/pedestrian crashes.
That said, I think we cut Andrew some slack here because 'hit by a Subaru' sounds a little more interesting, and maybe because 'hit by a driver' might conjure an image of a punch delivered through the window of a car; a bit ridiculous, but sadly not too hard to imagine these days. I think he does a good job of conveying the driver is obviously at fault. Unfortunately it sounds the driver can essentially shrug it off per usual because there are no real repercussions for unsafe driving.
With average car sizes (SUVs, trucks) getting humongous, drivers becoming more complacent and reliant on safety sensors/equipment, politicians more focused on fueling car-dependent suburban sprawl (more drivers) than densifying and improving person-based infrastructure in our city cores, it really feels like we're headed to an indoor-only world, especially in our cities. And people wonder why kids don't play outside anymore... We're doomed.
Dec. 23, 2022, 8:54 a.m. - BadNudes
You're right, language is important and we should all be mindful. e.g. I hate when a driver kills or hurts someone and media report it as an 'accident'. This gives an 'unfortunately, these things happen' tone. It should be called a crash, which makes it harder for the driver to shirk responsibility (but they will still try) and indicates that it was preventable with safe driving practices, like almost all driver-cyclist/pedestrian crashes. That said, I think we cut Andrew some slack here because 'hit by a Subaru' sounds a little more interesting, and maybe because 'hit by a driver' might conjure an image of a punch delivered through the window of a car; a bit ridiculous, but sadly not too hard to imagine these days. I think he does a good job of conveying the driver is obviously at fault. Unfortunately it sounds the driver can essentially shrug it off per usual because there are no real repercussions for unsafe driving. With average car sizes (SUVs, trucks) getting humongous, drivers becoming more complacent and reliant on safety sensors/equipment, politicians more focused on fueling car-dependent suburban sprawl (more drivers) than densifying and improving person-based infrastructure in our city cores, it really feels like we're headed to an indoor-only world, especially in our cities. And people wonder why kids don't play outside anymore... We're doomed.