Bad word choice?

[djj55]

Four members of a Colorado family died after their vehicle drove into a washed-out section of a mountain highway in Wyoming and was swept downstream by a raging creek."

From weather.com

Now, I am no expert, however, last I checked vehicles do not drive themselves. Should this not say "was driven" or "they drove"? Or am I incorrect in my understanding of English (probably).

djj
The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23) - I need someone to lead me!

 

[CajunCenturion]

==> Should this not say "was driven" or "they drove"?
You shouldn't say 'they drove' because only one person was driving. If you were to say 'was driven', you'd bring down the wrath of SantaMufasa for using passive voice. And with respect to vehicles driving themselves, that's not necessarily a given with current technology.

All kidding aside, your understanding of English is fine; that sentence is atrocious for several reasons.

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[rjoubert]

It looks to me like the author was trying to keep the vehicle as the subject of the last 2/3 of the sentence.

"...their vehicle drove into a washed-out section of a mountain highway in Wyoming and (their vehicle) was swept downstream by a raging creek."

I would agree, though, that "was driven" would make more sense, even if it drew the wrath of SantaMufasa.

 

[CajunCenturion]

I'm okay with passive voice in situations where the actor is less important than the action. In other words, it's not important, in this context, who was driving the vehicle. What's important is that it was driven into the washed out section.

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