Improving Media Coverage of Road Collisions

The Active Travel Academy drafted a set of "Road Collision Reporting Guidelines" meant to reduce partiality and increase accuracy in reporting.

"There’s a problem with how we talk about our roads. From news reports on “accidents” to who gets blamed for road danger in comment pieces, our media sources sometimes flip the sources of death and injury on their head. Language and accuracy matter, and too often reporting contributes to making the roads less safe," write Laura Laker and Martin Porter.

Laker and Martin point to research indicating that different verbiage used to describe crashes "affects how people see the causes of and solutions to road danger."

"Representatives from national roads policing, the National Union of Journalists’ ethics council, road safety and legal experts, academics, and with advice from the independent journalism regulator Impress" helped to composed the guidelines.

The guidelines set forth the following instructions for publishers:

1. Refrain from using the word "accident" when describing road collisions.
2. Avoid negative generalizations when referring to road users or specific groups of road users.
3. Uphold context and fact in reporting, including making mention of human actors involved in collisions.
4. "Avoid portraying dangerous or criminal behaviour on the roads, such as speeding, as acceptable, or those caught breaking the law as victims."