To make void or of no effect;. If you avoid a person or thing, you keep away from them. To stay away from someone or something:
Nearly 400 collisions on Calgary roads during first day of winter weather
Escape, avoid, evade, elude, shun, eschew mean to get away or keep away from something. To prevent something from happening or to not allow. When talking to someone, if you avoid the subject, you keep the conversation away from a.
Escape stresses the fact of getting away or being passed.