I can't say I agree with your view that almost nothing is an accident just because it could have been avoided. What's your definition of an accident? If it's something that can't be foreseen or prevented by any means, then sure, most events aren't accidents, but I don't see what that changes.
- Hit by lightning? - You shouldn't be outside without a Faraday suit.
- Bitten by a shark? - You should never swim in the sea.
- Killed by a tsunami? - Why were you near the coast?
- Hit by a car? - Why were you near a road?
- Got food poisoning? - Why don't you have a personal food taster and did you inspect the restaurant's kitchen before ordering?
Virtually all eventualities can be foreseen as a possibility but that doesn't mean we should take precautions against all eventualities. We have to weigh up the risk, often with limited information. But we can't live risk free. The problem is when it comes to driving our risk analysis doesn't work very well.
There are three problems with driving cars that make them an especially risky proposition:
- It takes very little to cause a collision and the consequences are often huge.
- In most developed countries, the majority of adults can drive
- We drive very regularly
This results in a relatively high risk activity that has become normalised and because most of society can imagine themselves as a driver, they are inclined (subconsciously) to favour a view that removed their responsibility.
Remember when you learned to drive? I'm guessing you were aware of everything that could go wrong? I remember being paranoid that a child could pop out in front of me from behind every parked car..... However, after driving all my adult life and never having this happen, the fear has gone. I still know it could happen but I'm not nervous the whole time. I go faster, I look less, I assume everything will be alright like it's always been before.
So, we all know things can go wrong, but are familiarised to the risk until it fades from our conciousness. We're academically aware of it but not viscerally aware of it. We insulate ourselves from anxiety by pretending the dangers are not real. And incidents generally happen rarely enough that most of us get away with that. Some of us don't.
People should not drive cars as a matter of routine transport and expect not to have large numbers of deaths. I think we've done suprisingly well at limiting the fatalities to other drivers, pedestrians, etc. That doesn't make it something we should accept.