What Is The Difference In Meaning Between A Crash And An Accident?

What is the difference in meaning between a crash and an accident?

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What is the difference in meaning between a crash and an accident?

Question: 

From the options below, how would you characterize the difference between a crash and an accident:

• There is no difference
• It’s just semantics
• An accident is something that is unavoidable 
• Crashes caused by poor driving are avoidable 
• Accidents happen when a driver is not paying attention to the traffic 
• Crashes cause vehicle insurance rates to go up but not accident damages 

Answer: 

• An accident is something that is unavoidable 
• Crashes caused by poor driving are avoidable 

Crash vs Accident

What is the difference between a “crash” and an “accident”?

Here is the difference in the meaning between crash vs accident:

• A crash is caused by poor driving and is avoidable 
• An accident (or collision) is something that is unavoidable 

For example, if you take your car and intentionally hit something with it, you have caused a car crash.

This is not a case of a car accident as the incident did not happen accidentally.

On the other hand, if you were driving and you lose control of your car due to a flat tire, you are effectively in a car accident.

As a result of the accident, you ended up crashing your car.

Crash Examples

Here are some examples of crashes:

• Deliberately speeding
• Texting behind the wheel 
• Tailgating 
• Knowingly driving a defective car
• Burning a red light
• Driving drunk
• Driving without a license

Accident Examples

Here are some examples of accidents:

• Getting distracted by a passenger in a car
• Human error 
• Flat tire causing a crash
• Another person hits you
• An obstacle suddenly appears on the road 
• Someone runs in front of the car 
• Sudden mechanical failure 
• Medical incident like heart attack 

Takeaways 

So, let’s look at a summary of our findings in looking at the difference in the meaning between a crash and an accident.

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