The Traffic Accident Reconstruction Origin -ARnews-
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The Traffic Accident Reconstruction Origin -ARnews-
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I agree it can be argued what's in a name? Our name change has been
in place since 1995 yet I still fail to see the advantage.
The arguement goes that there are people throughout the world
who support the term CRASH as it more correctly describes the type of
incidents we investigate. But this may not necessarily be the case.
The meaning of the word ACCIDENT as defined in
the Shorter Oxford Dictionary on Historical Principle is:-
anything that happens - an unforseen contingency - a disaster
- the unforseen course of events.
The word CRASH is defined in the same publication as :-
To dash to pieces - to cause to come or go with a crash
- to break or fall to pieces with a noise - to make the noise
that a hard body does when smashed - a loud and
sudden sound.
While it seems small it has impacted heavily
on the public and professionals that Police investigators are
coming into contact with. These people are now commenting that the
name Crash Investigator sounds coarse and unsympathetic sounding.
My own section handles some 170 fatal and serious collisions
a year and as you would all be aware police are continually in
contact with the bereaved. Recently I spoke to the mother of a 20
year old who collided with a 4 wheel drive vehicle killing himself
and making a quadriplegic of the other female driver. Acknowledging
her son's fault this mother has actually sent money and gifts to the
victim. But she can only tend to her own grieving by argueing that
her son's death was only an Accident . She is not an isolated case
such contacts are growing.
There are the comments from health professionals i.e. Doctors and
Nurses who themselves work in Accident Reception Areas of hospitals
and even from social workers about what they perceive as an unfeeling
unsympathetic name. While there is ongoing talk from others who
support the name change after our 'trial' period of name change
I am afraid I fail to see any advantage but plenty of disadvantage
in allienating police from the public. I guess I have become an
advocate of traffic crashes or collisions being investigated by squads
of Police called Accident Investigators .
Paul Feenan
feenanpl@ozemail.com.au
For example, to continue this discussion look for a thread titled
Should title be: Accident Investigation or Crash Investigation
If this thread does not exist in the current archive, you can begin another one by using that title.