Originally Posted by
ItsJustMe
By that definition hardly any incidents that happen on the roadway are accidents. Trees falling on the roadway, things like that, yes. Anything involving humans, IMO even including black ice, are avoidable. The idiots who wonder why I'm driving 25 MPH, pass me then spin into the ditch on the next corner probably think that it's "unavoidable" though.
That's pretty much the argument. The OED has two definitions for "accident," one of which only speaks to something happening unintentionally, and the other one talks about a lack of apparent or deliberate cause.
1 - an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury
2 - an event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause
The vast majority of crashes have an identifiable cause, and are usually something that someone was doing perfectly deliberately, knowing that they increase the risk of a crash, but thinking that it won't happen to them. The OP's crash, for example, seems to be the result of choosing to ride a fixie, knowing perfectly well that these bikes are more dangerous than a bike with freewheel and brakes. Rolling stops and riding with clipless pedals also risks.