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In this way, surviving a mistake in America is a marker of privilege. On his bicycle, Eric lacked protection and could only travel as quickly as his legs could carry him. Up against a fast car, he would lose every time. His death was a contest of power in its most tangible form. But accidents are the predictable result of unequal power in every form—physical and systemic. Across the United States, *all the places where a person is most likely to die by accident are poor. America’s safest corners are all wealthy. *White people and Black people die by accident at unequal rates, especially in those accidents where access to power can decide the outcome—the power to demand that your workplace is safe, the power to reproof your home, the power to drive instead of walk. Accidents are not flukes or freak mishaps—*whether or not you die by accident is just a measure of your power, or lack of it*.