Ritual meant cars crashed (9)
I believe the answer is:
sacrament
'ritual' is the definition.
(I have seen 'Holy ritual ' mean 'sacrament' so perhaps 'ritual' could also mean 'sacrament')
'meant cars crashed' is the wordplay.
'crashed' indicates anagramming the letters.
'meant'+'cars'='meantcars'
'meantcars' anagrammed gives 'SACRAMENT'.
(Other definitions for sacrament that I've seen before include "Religious ceremony" , "Religious rite" , "Symbol of something spiritual" , "Orders" , "A mystery of the church" .)