Examples
How to apply the guidelines
| Instead of | Consider | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Two people have been injured following an accident on Broadway | Two people have been injured following a collision/incident/crash on Broadway | Replace ‘accident’ with the more neutral incident, collision, or crash |
| Person injured after Audi crashes into lamp post | Person injured after driver crashes into lamp post | Replace ‘car’ with driver |
| After hitting one person, the BMW then crossed the road before mounting the kerb, and forced members of the public to take evasive action after it drove along the pavement | After hitting one person, the BMW driver then crossed the road before mounting the kerb, and forced members of the public to take evasive action after they/he/ she drove along the pavement | Replace ‘car’ with driver, and inanimate ‘it’ with ‘they/he/she’ |
| Tributes left at scene after infant killed in pram crash | Tributes left at scene where infant in pushchair killed after being hit by driver | Includes mention of driver, instead of implying a ‘pram’ crashed on its own |
| A teenager was taken to hospital following a crash between a car and a cyclist | A teenager was taken to hospital following a crash between a driver and a cyclist | Altered to include both human actors equally, instead of one person and one vehicle |
| Oaktree Road was shut for two hours after a two-car crash left three people injured | Three people were injured in a two-car crash that closed Oaktree Road for two hours today | Initial focus on injury and collision, instead of delays |
| A woman was badly injured when a car crashed into her home. Police said a man, 21, was arrested on suspicion of drink driving | A woman was badly injured when a driver crashed into her home. Police said a man, 21, was arrested on suspicion of drink driving | Replacing ‘car’ with driver |
| A woman was ‘ploughed’ into while crossing the road | A driver hit a woman who was crossing the road | Introduces a driver, and with it the presence of a vehicle, into the sentence |
| [No context outside the collision in question] | This is the fifth collision at this junction in the last two years | Adding context has a powerful impact on readers |