Colloquial: to have an accident or to cause an accident, especially used for traffic accidents.
昨夜、友達が車で事故ったと聞いて驚いた。
I was surprised to hear that my friend had an accident in his car last night.
高速でスリップして事故ることがあるので、注意して運転して。
You can slip and have an accident on the highway, so drive carefully.
彼は酔ってバイクで事故ったらしいが、大事には至らなかった。
Apparently he had a motorcycle accident while drunk, but it wasn't serious.