Although the term accident is in general use it has some important drawbacks. In the English language the term implies that the event was unintended and that it was random with no apparent cause. No great issue will be taken with the unintended part of the definition (though driver suicides do play a small part, Hernetkoski & Keskinen, 1998). The reader should, however, not operate with the assumption that these events are random with no apparent cause. Although the disadvantage of the term accident is commonly voiced, one advantage of the term is rarely considered. Unlike alternative terms such as ‘crash’ the term ‘accident’ offers the opportunity (not taken up on this occasion) to examine behaviour across a wide variety of domains including occupational settings, home environment, aviation and maritime environments. While the term crash does not have much credence in domains such as occupational settings, the term accident can readily be applied and may offer the possibility that similar processes (such as inexperience, fatigue and violations) may operate across domains. Despite the clear flaws in the term it will, on balance, be retained for the present purposes.

An interesting feature of the study of traffic accidents is that they are relatively rarely considered in the context of health. This is most unfortunate.

The magnitude of the problem

Across the world the major cause of death among 1 to 40 year-olds is road accidents (World Health Organization, 2004).