"Accident happens somewhere, nobody cares"

Why we should talk more about traffic crash journalism.

And call them "crashes", not accidents.

Do traffic crash headlines tell the whole story?

"Woman and 2 children killed after car crashes into them at Brooklyn crosswalk"

Source: abcnews.go.com

Let's look at another headline for the same collision...

"Slaughter of the Innocents: Recidivist Speeder Kills Three"

Source: nyc.streetsblog.org

A driver with 90 speed limit violations and a suspended license killed 3 pedestrians.

These two headlines are for the same crash.

"Woman and 2 children killed after car crashes into them at Brooklyn crosswalk"

Source: abcnews.go.com

"Slaughter of the Innocents: Recidivist Speeder Kills Three"

Source: nyc.streetsblog.org

Which of these two headlines is "better"? Which is more humane? Which shows the real problem behind traffic crashes?

We believe reporting doesn't reflect the reality of crashes. We analysed 1000 500 collision articles to investigate how they are reported on.

We analyzed and plotted 10,000 500 collisions to investigate how crashes are reported

Our analysis found that only 5% of traffic crash reports use humanized language that acknowledges the people involved.

We evaluated reports against three key criteria:
  1. 1.Mentions all parties:
    Does the headline mention all parties involved in the crash?
  2. 2.Uses human terms:
    Are the parties referred to as humans, not objects or transportation modes?
  3. 3.Active Voice:
    Does the headline describe the crash using active voice?

Consider this headline for example:

The words highlighted in red are examples of dehumanising wording in article headlines. Click on them and explore why they are problematic.

Pedestrian dies after being struck by a car in Peterhead

bbc.com

Let's try to make the headline more humane, using the contents of the articles.

"Driver kills man, 61, in Peterhead"

Source: Rewritten from bbc.com

Explore the Data Yourself

Now that you've seen how traffic crashes are reported, you can explore the full dataset of 5,000 crashes. Zoom, pan, and click on individual dots to learn more about each incident.

Tip: Try clicking "Humanize" on a dot to see how we would report the crash.