There Are No Accidents with Jessie Singer

02/15/22 • 41 min

1 Listener

What do we mean when we say something is an "accident"? When a motorist kills a pedestrian or cyclist it is often described in the press and the criminal justice system as a "car accident" — even when there is a clear cause such as a driver who was drunk, distracted or speeding. According to a new book by journalist Jessie Singer, events that most people describe as accidents are anything but. Singer argues that who lives and dies by accident in America is not random but utterly predictable. Using the word, she says, protects the powerful and leads to "the prevention of prevention."

***This episode is sponsored by Cleverhood rain gear.***

SHOW NOTES:

Purchase There Are No Accidents at Bookshop.org

Follow Jessie on Twitter

"Stop Calling Them 'Accidents'" (New York Times)

Don't call the deadly Bronx apartment fire an accident. It's a failure of government. (Washington Post)

NYPD switches from using "collision" intead of "accident" to desecribe crashes (New York Times, 2013)

CrashNotAccident.com: Take the pledge

Get official War on Cars merch at our store

Follow and review us on Apple Podcasts. It helps people find us!

This episode was recorded by Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. It was edited by Ali Lemer. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Our logo is by Dani Finkel of Crucial D.

@TheWarOnCars

TheWarOnCars.org

***This episode is sponsored by Cleverhood rain gear.***

SHOW NOTES:

Purchase There Are No Accidents at Bookshop.org

Follow Jessie on Twitter

"Stop Calling Them 'Accidents'" (New York Times)

Don't call the deadly Bronx apartment fire an accident. It's a failure of government. (Washington Post)

NYPD switches from using "collision" intead of "accident" to desecribe crashes (New York Times, 2013)

CrashNotAccident.com: Take the pledge

Get official War on Cars merch at our store

Follow and review us on Apple Podcasts. It helps people find us!

This episode was recorded by Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. It was edited by Ali Lemer. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Our logo is by Dani Finkel of Crucial D.

@TheWarOnCars

TheWarOnCars.org

Previous Episode

What Uber Hath Wrought [Rerelease]

[This episode was originally released on October 16, 2019. We are re-releasing it in anticipation of the premiere on Showtime of the original dramatic series based on Mike Isaac's book. More new episodes are on the way!]

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Next Episode

TEASER: Jessie Singer on the Problem with Public Service Campaigns

***This is a preview of a bonus episode. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for ad-free access to this and all our exclusive content.***

Jessie Singer joined us on Episode 80 to discuss her new book, There Are No Accidents. We had promised Jessie she'd get a chance to explain the problem with public service announcements and why educational campaigns don't do much to prevent accidents.

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