Road Traffic Injury vs Accident

One of the painful shocks after the collision was when paramedics and Emergency Department (ED) staff kept calling it accident. The first time they used it was when paramedic come to me and asked:

- Are you the person who was involved in an accident.

- No. - I replied. - I was hit by a car.

I was disoriented and did not realized that they may call it an accident. However, I thought it is unlikely that someone else got accidentally injured near by, so they must be here for me. "They just have been misinformed" - I thought.

I found that in Australia in some cases term accident is used to describe traffic collision. That was quite shocking and offensive. For some time I was not willing to spend time on this subject. It is just too offensive and absurd to use that term. However, I heard it too many times, and it seems some people using it without realizing that they are affected and spreading propaganda. While it is so offensive, that I do not want to spend time and energy helping for someone to overcome their stupidity, but we all make mistakes. And I made way too many since I got injured. I wish someone pointed out when trauma was affecting my thought process. I do not know their story, therefore I will help others the way I was hoping to find help my self.

Chat at ED

There is well know impact of the words we use to describe something. The clear link between usage of term and attitude towards people was clearly demonstrated when I came to ED.

- Bicycle accident - paramedic introduced me to ED nurse handing my papers.

- Another one - replied nurse and nodded her head towards young man sitting in wheel chair.

- You would think none should be left by now. - continue paramedic, - Stay at home if you can not afford a car.

- Foreigners. - replied nurse. - They came to our country, but can not buy a car...

There were many things wrong in that conversation, but I had no energy to argue. I looked at the man in wheelchair. He was in his mid twenties. I would think Indian ancestry.

- What has happened" - I asked.

- A car cut in front of me. I felt of my motorbike and it fell on my leg." - replied man and nodded towards his swollen ankle. He had some Indian accent.

Lucky you, I thought. It will heal reasonably well in a few months. They could not even get the facts right, bicycle and motorbike and two different things. The fear rushed through my body. I wonder how long it will take for my body to heal.

- It must be painful. - I said.

- It is. - he replied. He smiled through the pain and a tear run down. - But not as bad as - he pointed to my swollen shin.

I smiled. The tears run down on both cheeks. "Do not smile", I thought to my self, "you can not control tears if you smile".

- Lucky you had a helmet - the nurse interrupted us, addressing the man, - you would have died otherwise.

- It felt on my leg, not my head. - he replied. - I did not hit my head.

We turned our head away from the nurse almost synchronously. She is a triage nurse. We had to remain polite or we will be in waiting room till the morning.

Terms

We use three terms in Lithuanian language to describe event on the road:

1. "Avarija" - fault, breakdown, collision - general term for event that usually means some interruption of the traffic flow.
2. "Autoįvykis" - car crash - when a car hits something on the road, can be another car, persons, tree and so on. Now it is replaced with eismo įvykis.