The word “accident” is to be banned from the new edition of the Highway Code in an attempt to persuade drivers and police that someone is almost always to blame for a death or injury on the roads.

The Driving Standards Agency has deleted the word throughout the code and replaced it with “collision”, “crash” or “incident”.

But some motoring groups have objected to the move, saying that it will foster a blame culture and encourage the prosecution of drivers for casualties that they had no intention of causing.

The agency acted after lobbying by Brake, a road-safety charity which claims that describing road deaths as accidents encourages people to view them as unavoidable. The Department for Transport (DfT) has also begun removing references to accidents in its road-safety reports and documents. The DfT’s annual report on road deaths and injuries, which used to be called Road Accidents Great Britain, has been renamed Road Casualties Great Britain.

Some police forces refer to “RTCs”, or road traffic collisions, rather than RTAs.

Cathy Keeler, head of campaigns at Brake, said: “We believe changing the word used will help produce a major shift in thinking away from the idea that crashes are nobody’s fault and that nothing can be done about them.”

Ms Keeler added that using the word accident encouraged police to believe there was no point in taking action against any driver.

But the Association of British Drivers defended the word, saying that it was very widely used and understood and reflected the reality that it was extremely rare for a motorist to set out deliberately to cause injury. Nigel Humphries, spokesman for the association, said: “This is worse than political correctness because it will encourage a blame culture instead of a prevention culture.

“We suspect there is an agenda behind this change in language, which is to ensure that motorists are always held responsible in collisions with pedestrians and cyclists.

“Motorists don’t go out with the wilful intention of causing an accident. Deleting the word suggests there is an assumption that a casualty was premeditated.

“If the Government spent less time worrying about words and more time looking at the true causes of accidents, the roads would be much safer.”

Other changes in the language of the new code, which is being considered by Parliament and is due to be published this summer, include replacing references to “elderly people” with “older people”.

The agency has rejected protests from pro-smoking groups about its decision to add smoking to the list of distractions that drivers are told to avoid.

Proposals to improve courtesy have been broadly welcomed, including a new paragraph telling drivers not to hog the middle lane on motorways. It says: “You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower-moving vehicles, you should return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past.”

Cyclists object to a new sentence stating that cyclists should use cycle facilities, such as cycle lanes, “wherever possible”.

The Cyclists Touring Club is preparing a legal challenge, claiming that cycle facilities are often poorly maintained and dangerously designed, and force riders into an unsafe position close to the kerb or on a shared pavement. The club believes that lawyers acting for drivers involved in collisions with cyclists may also use the sentence to reduce or reject claims for damages if the victim was not riding in the marked lane.

Road to safety

2.3m Number of vehicles on the road when the code was first published in 1931

33m Number on road last year

7,000 Number of deaths in 1931

3,150 Number of deaths last year

The 1931 code advised drivers to beep their horns when overtaking

It also advised drivers of horse-drawn vehicles to “rotate the whip above the head; then incline the whip to the right or left to show the direction in which the turn is to be made”

The 1931 edition cost one penny and was the only one to include advertisements

The 1931 code contained 24 pages, whereas the draft of the 15th edition has 144

Triangular warning signs first appeared in the 1954 edition

The Green Cross Code for pedestrians was introduced in the 1978 edition

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