Paul Berton: When a pedestrian is struck, was it by the car or the driver?
A group of Twitter users objected to the wording in a Spec headline this week, raising once again a debate that is gathering steam.
In print, the headline read Four-year-old struck by car is in critical condition."
Online, thespec.com's posting on Twitter read A four-year-old boy was seriously injured Monday afternoon after being struck by a car in central #HamOnt."
The problem, according to various posts on Twitter, is that it was an alleged driver" - not a car" - that struck the boy.
- Let's stop with the passive language. A car is not a force of nature, human beings pilot them. Directly into small children. They are personally responsible, not the car."
- Struck by a DRIVER."
- Unless you are reporting that the vehicle was unoccupied and acted alone, please use #DriverNotCar."
- The car was driving itself in the wild, as usual."
They have a point. As one of our editors pointed out, it is the stabber, not the knife, who does the stabbing.
There is increasing pressure these days for journalists to write more accurately, and it's always a challenge in a changing world with a language as fluid as English.
For example, we long ago replaced car accident" with collision" or crash." Police and other groups lobbied for years to eliminate the word accident" from news accounts.
After all, most collisions are caused by excessive speed and carelessness. It wasn't an accident that a driver was speeding or distracted; that was intentional and preventable.
In our newsroom conversation on the issue this week, we decided the driver question was different. Not all motorists who strike pedestrians are necessarily speeding or driving carelessly. While it may often be the case, to imply it universally is misleading.
Many pedestrians jaywalk. Some dart out from hidden entrances, from behind parked cars or around blind corners without looking. Others are unaware of the rules of the road.
To imply drivers are immediately at fault is legally and ethically problematic. Like our legal system, we assume people are innocent until proven guilty.
Yes, it's true people are stabbed by a stabber, not a knife. And I am not a fan of those who say guns don't kill people, people kill people," but they have a point.
And sure, cars are sometimes used as weapons, and all too often marketed as toys rather than transportation. Things need to change.
But we are not ready to equate motorists with shooters and stabbers - not yet.
Paul Berton is editor-in-chief at The Hamilton Spectator. Reach him via email: pberton@thespec.com