[Crito]

Car crashes are often called "accidents" in America too. I found it interesting and insightful when my driving instructor back in highschool spent a good 10 minutes ranting about there not being any such thing as a car 'accident' (students mentioning the word "accident" later in the course were scolded, to drive home the point). Obviously you can dream up scenarios that you might be able to really call an accident, but the point was that even when legal blame or liability cannot be found, nearly all car crashes could have been prevented by both drivers driving more defensively and being more alert.

Edit

""You can do things to reduce your risk of accidents" is a vital message, using words in an atypical way can be a pedagogical tool to drive it home"

That was the instructors intent. He wasn't trying to propose a new way for insurance companies or the courts to look at liability, but rather trying to combat thought terminating cliches like "shit happens" (by arguably introducing his own).

[cek]

In firearms circles there's a saying "There is no such thing as a firearms accident. There are only negligent acts."

SOMEONE is always responsible, and should be held accountable.

[Crito]

Similarly "the gun is always loaded".

On it's face, it is a silly thing to say because obviously a gun can be unloaded. The point however is to drive home a respectful attitude towards guns, for the sake of safety.

[dllthomas]

This is silly. Nearly all accidents car or not can be avoided by being more defensive and alert. I dropped a glass - if I'd taken more care in handling it and been more aware of my surroundings, I probably wouldn't have. I said something dumb and accidentally hurt your feelings? Jeeze, if I'd only taken more care, been more aware of what I was saying. I accidentally deleted that file? Shoot, should have been more careful and considered better what folder I was in.

"You can do things to reduce your risk of accidents" is a vital message, using words in an atypical way can be a pedagogical tool to drive it home, but insisting that there's some deep sense in which that's genuinely the case is silly.