Citation

Stewart AE, Lord JH. J. Trauma. Stress 2002; 15(4): 333-335.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611-2250, USA. aestewrt@ufl.edu

Comment In:

J Trauma Stress 2003;16(5):527-8; discussion 529-30

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1023/A:1016260130224

PMID

12224806

Abstract

We assert that motor vehicle crash should replace motor vehicle accident in the clinical and research lexicon of traumatologists. Crash encompasses a wider range of potential causes for vehicular crashes than does the term accident. A majority of fatal crashes are caused by intoxicated, speeding, distracted, or careless drivers and, therefore, are not accidents. Most importantly, characterizing crashes as accidents, when a driver was intoxicated or negligent, may impede the recovery of crash victims by preventing them from assigning blame and working through the emotions related to their trauma.

(term-accident-vs-injury)

Language: en