Ending the Excuse: Why We Must Stop Calling Road Deaths 'Accidents

Ending the Excuse: Why We Must Stop Calling Road Deaths 'Accidents

Some views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of RTSGNSW.

NSW Minister for Roads Jenny Aitchison has announced a vital and long-overdue change: the NSW Government will move away from using the word “accident” to describe road crashes. Instead, the term “crash” will be used — a small shift in language, but a huge step in truth-telling, accountability, and justice.

As a founding member of the Road Trauma Support Group NSW, and more personally, as the father of a seventeen-year-old boy killed by a drunk driver, I welcome this change with open arms and a heavy heart. My son, Barney Wakes-Miller, was full of life, love, and potential. He died not because of some unavoidable twist of fate — but because of a reckless, criminal decision made by someone who chose to drive intoxicated.

To call what happened to Barney an accident is to deny that truth. It’s to imply it was random, unpredictable, or just bad luck — and that’s simply not true. Ending the language of denial is the first step toward recognising what these tragedies really are: preventable deaths caused by illegal and dangerous behaviour.

The word accident sanitises. It softens the sharp edge of grief and injustice. It allows society — and often, our legal system — to look away. But when someone is killed because another person was speeding, drunk, distracted, or deliberately breaking the law, that is not an accident. It is a choice with fatal consequences.

Minister Aitchison’s decision aligns NSW with a growing global movement of road safety advocates, victim support groups, and legal reformers who understand that words matter. Language shapes policy. It influences media framing. It affects the level of public outrage, the pursuit of justice, and the seriousness with which we treat road trauma.

Every year, far too many lives are lost on our roads, and countless families are left shattered. Changing the way we speak about road deaths is not about semantics — it’s about acknowledging that these are not blameless events. It's about honouring the victims with truth, and holding those responsible to account.

I speak not just as a bereaved father, but as someone who has met dozens of others like me — families who have been told to move on, who’ve heard the word “accident” used again and again in courtrooms and headlines, as if their loved one’s death was just a fluke.

It’s not enough to lower the road toll. We must raise the standard of responsibility. And that begins by telling it like it is.

We cannot change the past, but we can choose to stop hiding behind the language of denial. Saying “crash” instead of “accident” is a start — and it matters.

Duncan Wakes-Miller

RTSG Founding Member

26 March, 2025