&gt; Many (most?) accidents are predicated on a purposeful choice to drive dangerously<p>&quot;Dangerous&quot; is one of those words that have been so abused it has lost all meaning. Infiltrating a violent criminal organization is dangerous. Explosive ordinance disposal is dangerous. Driving 11MPH over the speed limit is completely mundane.<p>It is obviously <i>possible</i> to drive very dangerously, but people also have a pretty good sense about these things and therefore <i>don&#x27;t</i>. The number of people who are stupid enough to drive 120MPH in a residential neighborhood is small.<p>It is also true that e.g. driving faster can be, in a relativistic sense, &quot;more dangerous&quot; than driving slower. But that is true regardless of the point of reference. Driving 10MPH can be &quot;more dangerous&quot; than driving 5MPH. Driving 5MPH can be &quot;more dangerous&quot; than not driving at all. But that doesn&#x27;t make driving 10MPH (or 40MPH) &quot;dangerous&quot; in an absolute sense. It just puts it in the same category of weighing costs against risks that government engineers do when deciding whether to build a sidewalk or catwalk or traffic light, or pedestrians do when deciding whether to cross at a blind intersection or walk to a different one. Each of which is a &quot;direct cause&quot; when a driver traveling at 40MPH hits a pedestrian crossing at a blind intersection with no traffic light.