In 2021, working with the University of Westminster’s Active Travel Academy, I launched a consultation on guidelines to inform better use of language in the media around road collisions, the toll they take on human life and how we can better understand them in public life. In autumn 2021 I launched the UK’s first Road Collision Reporting Guidelines.
Included in the ten clauses were those that recommended using the word collision instead of accident, and including the presence of a driver in collision reports, and not just their vehicle. Research shows subtle changes to news report wording can impact how readers, viewers or listeners understand not only the incident itself but the wider issues at play, and any solutions.
Since then, I’m delighted to note, a handful of news outlets and professional bodies have adopted the Guidelines but I recognise a lot still needs to change. Some publishers and broadcasters defend the use of potentially unhelpful language as ‘common usage’, i.e. the person in the street would understand what you’re saying. People are familiar with ‘accident’, goes the argument - why change it? With the driver/car clause, meanwhile, there were understandable if unfounded, concerns that mentioning a driver in a collision amounts to attributing blame when this is, in reality, not the case. It’s also not something that comes up when describing the actions of a cyclist, interestingly.
In early 2023 I won funding from the Foundation for Integrated Transport’s Alastair Hanton Memorial Fund, to continue and disseminate the Guidelines, not least ‘upstream’ of news reports. This means working with police and other emergency services on their press releases, many of which are copied verbatim by busy reporters in underfunded newsrooms.
This work has been ongoing for a number of months, with some success - and while I blogged about it on my Road Collisions Reporting Guidelines site, and on RoadPeace’s site as a guest blog, I was remiss in not updating my personal website, which I have neglected somewhat.
I am in the process of working with various stakeholders, and have reported on growing calls for National Highways to stop using ‘accident’ on its road signage, which came about as part of these discussions. I also presented to PACTs’ ‘tackling speed’ conference in November. I spoke about the need to improve professional language, if we are to change ‘common usage’ to something that better reflects the cause and impact of the five deaths and more than 20 life-changing injuries that take place on the UK’s road every day.
This is important work and I’m enjoying collaborating with those both inside and outside of journalism, from road safety campaigners to those working on the front line of road collisions in our ‘blue light’ services. I hope to have some positive updates soon, so watch this space. In the meantime, do get in touch with any questions, via my contact page.