When someone is killed by impaired driving, drug poisoning, or reckless behavior, it is not an accident, it is a preventable act that deserves truth, accuracy, recognition, and clarity.
The Not an Accident Campaign (NAC) is a national alliance dedicated to reforming how coroners, medical examiners, and public agencies classify preventable deaths. We work to ensure that official records, public policies, and media reporting reflect the real cause, not a misleading or arbitrary label.
Our Mission
To secure truth, transparency, precision, and justice in the classification of preventable deaths.
Our Vision
A world where no life taken due to reckless or criminal actions of another is mislabeled as accident.
A justice system that tells the truth and acts on it.
A society that honors every victim with honesty and dignity.
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The Not an Accident Campaign
We challenge the language that hides responsibility.
We educate the public, the media, and policymakers that these tragedies are not accidents. They are the result of criminal and preventable choices made with full awareness of their risks and a complete disregard for human life. They are not accidents. They are homicides!
A common misconception is that homicide requires intent. Under criminal law, it does not. Reckless behavior or a callous disregard for human life can also constitute homicide. That is why the law recognizes different degrees such as first degree, second degree, and manslaughter, each reflecting a different level of intent and responsibility.
Even the Merriam-Webster definition of homicide is simple: “The killing of one human being by another.”
Why coroners and medical examiners have chosen to redefine it, ignoring the realities of criminal conduct, remains deeply troubling.
They continue to rely on classification constructs first implemented in 1910, never updated, lacking research validity, and producing outcome data that misrepresents the true nature of preventable deaths.
Labeling these deaths as “accidents” is not only inaccurate and arbitrary, but also an injustice to victims and their families, whose loved ones were taken by the criminal behavior of another person.
People killed by impaired drivers still have their deaths classified as accidents, even in cases involving repeat offenders or Watson murders, where the drivers had already acknowledged and understood the lethal risk of their actions.
This effort will not be easy, but meaningful change rarely is.
The Petition
Join us in the Not an Accident Campaign to challenge the language that hides responsibility. By signing this petition, we urge coroners, medical examiners, and public agencies to:
- Classify preventable deaths accurately as homicides not accidents.
- Advocate for changes in public policy that reflect the true nature of these tragedies.
- Educate the public about the choices that lead to these preventable deaths.
- Thoroughly examine and assess the circumstances surrounding these fatalities.
Our Coalition
- Achieve Greatness Inc
- Armour Families
- CALHaven
- Catch You Later Foundation
- Conor Lynch Foundstion
- Coop's Advice Foundation
- Crash Support Network
- Crime Survivors Resource Center
- Crime Survivors, Inc.
- Drive Safe Missoula
- Drug Awareness Foundation
- DUID Victim Voices
- Emily Shane Foundation
- FAAR NASID
- Families Against Fentanyl
- Gweedo Memorial Foundation
- Hang Up and Drive
- IBH
- If You See Something Say Something
- Institute for Behavior and Health
- Keep Kids Alive Drive 25
- KIDS TOO
- Kiefer Foundation
- Lidar
- Live Like Braun Foundation
- MAPDA
- Out of the Ashes Organization
- Parent Collective
- Project Eli
- Rayce Rudeen Foundation
- Rosenda's Gift
- SAFE Inland Empire
- Southern California Families for Safe Streets
- Spokane Alliance for Fentanyl Education
- Stop Drug Homicide
- Streets Are For Everyone
- Streets Are For Everyone Inland Empire
- Taylor’s Law Oregon
- The Keri Anne DeMott Foundation
- TMA Bucks
- We Save Lives
Justice for Victims
Every story has the power to expose the realities of these issues and inspire change.
