This week Donegal Daily’s motoring correspondent Brian McDaid looks back on ‘the clip on the ear’ and studies the implications of calling an accident and incident.
Remind me what we replaced a clip on the ear with?
Many years ago there was a riot on the streets of my home town outside a dancehall one night, the running battle progressed up the street. I was standing outside a chipper a good bit away from the fight. I decided to go down to see what the craic was. On my way down the street an elderly Garda who was on duty that night stuck his arm out and connected firmly with my chest with his fist and said, “Go home, McDaid”.
Three words and his firm actions was all it took, as I got into my car and aware that this Garda was still watching me I made sure he could see me as I put on my seat belt. As I pulled out on to the road and was on my way home I met Garda cars and Garda vans rushing to the scene to arrest everyone involved in the riot.
watching the fighting develop from the comfort of a backed up traffic jam. I spotted my friend’s child standing watching the fight. Thinking of the benefit of doubt that Garda gave me that night many moons ago I decided to ring my friend and let them know of the handling and suggested it would be a good idea to get his child home out of danger.
I thought my friend would have appreciate the call that night, but he didn’t, he asked if his child was actually involved in the fight? On reflection I did see why he ask me the question he did having young boys myself and know how difficult it is to accept blame for their actions.
It has become second nature for us to question everything now.
It’s in our culture to go on the defensive right from the start.
The same culture applies on the road – the biggest outlay for anyone now, especially the young is their car insurance. We are recommended, in the small print by our insurers not to admit liability if involved in a accident. We set out to question everything except ourselves.
That night that I got on the wrong side of the long arm of the law. I never was going to say when I got home what had happened. I know it was nothing major but I could ended up being arrested for nothing more than being nosey, had the Garda not intervened.
In those days we were raised to be afraid of the law, among other things. This might seem a bit stupid in the world we live in today.
But in those days the law was the law. That old Garda that I ran into that night had no data base to check up on me. He was stationed in the town for years and just knew his beat, he knew me, my car and probably knew my family.
His abrupt signpost in the form of his strong right arm was giving me an instant option to take the road he was suggesting. The unknown road that night appealed to the young idiot I was. But for him to name me, indicated that for one, he knew me, he judged me and was guiding me if I was prepared to listen.
In today our ways of dealing with things The political correct brigade have a lot to answer for in the world we live in. They were
the ones that set out to protect people that aren’t able to stand up for themselves. On the roads even the term car crash, car accident or RTA , (Road Traffic Accident) should be referred to as RTI (Road Traffic Incident) or RTC (Road Traffic Collision)
Incidents now have replaced accidents on the road
The Definition between these reads as follows.
Accident and incident, whats the difference? These words are easy to confuse, but they are not exactly the same! Incident is more general, and accident is more specific.
Incident can refer to any event – big or small, good or bad, intentional or unintentional. A bank robbery, a funny or controversial
situation, an argument between celebrities, – all can be described as incidents.
An accident is a bad event caused by error or by chance. Accidents are always unintentional, and they usually result in some damage or
injury. A car crash is one example of an accident. If some equipment malfunctions in a factory and injures the workers, that is also an
accident. Examples of very minor accidents are when you step on someone’ s foot or spill your coffee on someone else. You didn’t want or plan to do it. All accidents can also be described as incidents – but not all incidents are accidents.
If a drunk driver runs his car into a group of people, that is called an accident (he did not intend to do it; it was caused by alcohol and chance). It could also be described as an incident.
If three people were arrested after fighting in a bar, that is an incident (but not an accident – because the fight was not by chance;
they intended to fight).
Even the terms on the roads for a car crash are changing as the word accident is being replace with Incident.
I am confusing myself trying to explain this but we are advised to move away from using the word accident as we are attributing blame,
and the proper word one should use is incident.
How in under God can a car crash not be an accident, even if we called it an incident human nature is still going to judge what happen, who was involved and who is to blame (in their view)
And it’s the blame, or denial of blame is what the world is focused on now. The argument would be that nothing was proven yet in court, so until then it’s an incident!
What and where are the signposts for the young to be guided by today? Google? The world runs around wrapping them up in cotton wool. Its not appropriate for us to be chatting about life’s problems in their presents. We protect them that much we believe they are not ready to deal with life’s difficulties.
If the clip on the ear was so bad, or a slap in the chest in my case that night – it’s no worse than the alternative we have come up with.
by Brian McDaid
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