Words and wording matter. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) changed the term “accident” for “crash” because they wanted to underline something important without risking any type of confusion. Here’s what former Administrator Ricardo Martinez has to say about it.
Dr. Ricardo Martinez served as Administrator for the NHTSA for five years during the 1994-1999 period. He’s a real medic, not a Ph.D. holder. That may be why he was very interested in saving as many lives as possible with a couple of measures he took during his tenure. One of these was removing "accident" from the NHTSA's official wording used everywhere.
Dr. Martinez initiated and oversaw the introduction of the term “crash” when someone referred to one, two, or more cars being involved in some sort of a problem on the road that always resulted or included contact between the parties involved or with other road participants or parts of the infrastructure. Essentially, he wanted “accident” to not be used any longer.
Looking at it now, it’s a minuscule difference that doesn’t seem to have any kind of meaning in our current day. But it provides much-needed clarity for something that can cause harm to people and helps with preventing injuries by modifying how Americans generally relate to such events before, during, and after they happen.
The former Administrator said in a podcast with Jason Stein that looking at a car crash like an accident means “you’re not acknowledging that it could’ve been predicted.”
He exemplifies and shows that if two persons decide to go driving fast after intoxicating themselves, they might consider the possibility of an "accident," but subconsciously, they won't understand that a collision might happen because of their previous unwise decision. Dr. Martinez argues that a car crash can be predicted or prevented, and people understand this easier when you're making it clear to them.
“The words you use often reflect what you think now and what you think over time,” said the former Administrator as he pointed out that clarifying what an impact between cars, or vehicles and humans, or cars and other public property served as a good starting point for new NHTSA regulations that kept more fatalities from happening on the public roads.
Another interesting fact he confirms is that the American auto industry wasn’t very keen on helping him change mentalities and introduce new rules.
He also underlines that pedestrians are not the issue, and drivers must be very careful on the road.
Car shows on TV and his father's Fiat Tempra may have been Florin's early influences, but nowadays he favors different things, like the power of an F-150 Raptor. He'll never be able to ignore the shape of a Ferrari though, especially a yellow one. Full profile
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