The incorporation of new motorized vehicles into urban life during the early decades of the 20th century was a conflictive process that involved both, material and symbolic transformation of the experience of traveling in the city. Focusing on the case of Santiago, this article analyzes the role of traffic accidents in this process. Specifically, it seeks to understand different ways in which the accident impacted urban culture and the notions of traffic, differentiating between the scope of the particular event and those produced by the increasingly entrenched image of the eventuality of the accident. The analysis suggests that it was the assimilation of accidents into everyday life, as an event and eventuality, which made possible the implementation and legitimation of the new circulation system that allowed the incorporation of motorized vehicles as central elements of traffic.