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Originally Posted by blizzak
the way I see it, it's simple statistics. Just look at the accidents I've described. With the exception of my friend who hit the black ice(which although I have never encountered I would imagine is still visible and avoidable, regardless), every accident I have listed could have been avoided had the person kept more space around their vehicle, been more aware of their surroundings, had better judgement, you name it. That's 80% of the accidents that have happened to my immediate family and friends in recent years!
onesnowyowl, i'll doubt if my views on this matter will change in time, but I suppose we shall see. Ontario also has pretty damn good roads for the most part; i've never really experienced much standing water on roads. Really, I suppose we're all functions of our environments. Regardless of what's been said in this thread, I still love y'all.
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Dammit, now I have to come out of my hole again and be the insurance geek.
Insurance companies pool data and swap it around like its baseball cards. They all make more money that way. One of the ways they do that is by classifying accidents as either avoidable or unavoidable. Obviously, it's a subjective decision and one insurance adjuster might make different decisions than another, but according to the latest notes that I have from a trade journal about 50% of all auto accidents are avoidable. Guess what the unavoidable percentage is - that's right, 50%. I should point out that these are US numbers for 2003.
Blizzak, as long as your list is, it still isn't a statistically significant number. If it were well into the thousands, well then we could talk. That said, all of your points about paying attention, staying in control, understanding the performance of the car in varying situations, etc. are all very valid and very valuable. As with anything else there are exceptions and there are accidents that are nobody's fault. About 15 years ago a tunnel on a major highway in Western North Carolina collasped - are the people who were in the tunnel at fault when they were crushed? How about the folks in Chicago who were killed when scaffolding blew off a building and crushed their cars? Were they at fault? Are you at fault if you have a blowout? How about if you get hit by a drunk driver going the wrong way down a highway?
To stay on topic, this poor woman may have been distracted by the cell phone and she may not have been. An animal might have run in front of her or a tree limb fell in the roadway. Maybe the kid threw a toy at mom and distracted her just long enough for the truck to go off the road. Using your definitions of accidents and collisions, both do happen, but accidents are more frequent than I think that you imagine.