There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster―Who Profits and Who Pays the Price

Journalist Jessie Singer was deeply affected by the death of her friend Eric, who was killed by a drunk driver. In court, the driver claimed “this accident that happened,” and the premise of this investigation is that so-called “accidents” are rarely as blameless as the term seems to indicate. This is not news to anyone who has worked, as I have, in the field of injury prevention, but Singer re-discovers for a lay audience what public health audiences have known and discussed for decades.

She blames government agencies more than I would have, and politicians and corporations less so, all while rightly trying to shift the focus from “accident-prone” individuals or “careless” individuals to the larger entities at work. Singer also looks forward to how climate change will increase injuries, and she worries that we will “hear more about how protecting us from accidents is actually an infringement on our liberty.”

The solutions are available to us, but they are not easily won. We can start by listening for the word “accident” and thinking about what that simple term really means. How did it happen, and why? Anyone who has been seriously injured or lost a loved one to drowning, overdose, car crash, or fire will find important lessons in this book.