It’s Crash Not Accident: Road Collision Reporting Guidelines Issued – Forbes
Carlton Reid May 17, 2021
Journalists reporting on road collisions can now check with a new set of media guidelines drawn up by legal, policing and safety experts. The ten guiding principles for the U.K. media, issued on May 18, have been supported by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).
“We hope the information can encourage accurate and fair reporting,” said the union’s general secretary Michelle Stanistreet. A NUJ member sat on the working group which drafted the guidelines.
Guidelines already exist to help journalists report on suicides, domestic violence, and refugees.
One of the new Road Collision Reporting Guidelines stresses that journalists should not use the word “accident” for a road collision but, instead, use “crash.” This is the language going used by the police, who may also refer to “incidents.” The word “accident” suggests no-one is to blame for a crash.
