Road crashes and road accidents

#9 - I don't think so, a car can collide with a wall, with an eletricity pole, or whatever.

The California Highway Patrol has a CHP Traffic Incident Information Page which is real time information on things that might affect traffic on a highway. Not that the CHP is full of linguistic experts, but for them, "incident" comprises all sorts of stuff.

"Traffic collision" can be vehicles colliding or a single car that hits something. Right now, they've got a "WHI COMPACT OFF RDWY INTO BLACKBERRY BUSHES," as well as an overturned truck and a "BLK MERZ VS WHI SUV."

There are also categories for animal on the road, people on the road, disabled vehicles, fires, would-be suicides, traffic hazards, unexpected road closures & more. Hazards are usually something that fell onto the middle of a road, such as downed power lines, cargo from a truck,

CHP? I thought it was CHIPS...

CHP? I thought it was CHIPS...

It was never CHIPS, except in the minds of some TV producers. Some CHP officers call themselves "Chippies" and some people use that as a joke to refer to the officers. It's more of a Southern California thing than here in Northern California.

The agency itself is always CHP. See-atich-pee. The person in the black & white car with the flashing red lights is a "CHP officer" (most formal) or a "CHP guy/gal" or just "(a) CHP," as in "CHP pulled me over for speeding."

#13 - I sort of guessed that, it was more of a joke... though twenty years ago, it did greatly increase my desire for a Kawasaki motorbike at some point in the undefined future!

It "implies" is what I wrote.....I'd say that the word collision is usually used with more or one vehicle

"A car was in collision with a tree" doesn't ring true
"A two car collision " does.

"A car left the road and collided with a tree" does sound OK.......

the word "collision" has a sub-text and usage that is used primarily when vehicles collide. The verb may have a broader use.
"Incident" is a more general word with less overtones so this helps to prevent people from jumping to conclusions about what happened or apportioning blame.

In Australia there are many single file accidents - rollovers usually, they are not referred to as collisions but "Single Vehicle Rollovers"

In the UK, road traffic accident reporting often uses convoluted language in order to avoid implying blame.

For example papers won't write "Fred's car collided with Sheila's car". Instead, the reports state "Fred's car was in collision with Sheila's car". The intention is to avoid opining on whether Fred, or Sheila (or both) caused the collision.

Amusingly, this language has now become standard even when the fault is clear. See how many internet hits you get for "in collission with a lamppost" or "in collision with a tree".

Fault in an accident is NEVER 100% one party or another....it is usually the accumulation of a series of human errors by both parties. The balance may in the end swing towards one side but the "victim" is seldom if ever blameless.