Accidents are playing a dominant role in the world today. They are a global tragedy with ever raising trend. They are common fare in our daily news that these happen almost every day. Accidents are of many types that takes place almost every minute somewhere in the world.
The first chapter deals with the etymology and the rapidity of accidents. It gives the meaning, the first attested event and the types of accident. It also gives the velocity and the speediness of accidents throughout the world.
The second chapter deals with the causes of accidents. It gives the reasons for accidents that are taking place almost every day in the world. The third chapter deals with the consequences of accidents. It gives the effects for the particular cause that leads to accidents and the problems that arises from it. The fourth chapter deals with the preventions of accidents. It gives the preventive methods that are needed in order to avoid and eradicate the accidents in the world.
The purpose of this writing is to show forth the need and urgency of taking preventions in order to stop the accidents especially the road accidents in the present world. For this accidents are resulting in the loss of lives, agony in the families and crisis in the society. This small paper encourages and exhorts people to take certain preventives in order to live a healthy life without any dangers and crisis especially from these accidents in this world.
The Etymology and Rapidity of Accidents:
Accident defines as “an unexpected event with negative consequences occurring without the intention of the one suffering the consequences”. It came “from Middle English, from Old French accident; from Latin accidēns, present active participle of accidō (happen); from ad (to) + cadō (fall)”. It was first attested in the late 14th century and first attested in reference to an unintended pregnancy in 1932. Accidents may occur in different types such as crashing of automobiles like road accidents and events causing fire like industrial accidents, accidents in homes and workshops. Furthermore the most often accidents that occur almost every three minutes are road accidents especially in India.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every hour 40 people under the age of 25 die in road accidents around the globe. India has witnessed one road accident every minute which has claimed one life every 3.7 minutes, one of the highest in the world. Among the states, Maharashtra has topped the list with the highest number of road accidents at 68,438 followed by Tamil Nadu at 65,873, Madhya Pradesh at 49,406, Karnataka at 44,731 and Andhra Pradesh at 44,165. In another disturbing trend, the total number of road accidents, 53.5% are reported from rural areas, reflecting a rising tide of motorization in rural India. Compared to this urban areas reported 46.5% of the total number of road accidents. Officials have also expressed concern over the growing number of young road accident victims. “A majority of road accident victims – 51.9 % -- are in the 25-65 age group followed by 30.3% in the 15-24 age groups,” the official said.
The Causes of Accidents:
The majority of road accidents are caused by human error. Research has shown that driver error accounts for over 80 percent of all fatal and injury accidents on the roads. Speed is the single biggest factor contributing to road deaths. Excess and inappropriate speeds are responsible for a high proportion of the mortality and morbidity that result from road crashes. In a 60 km/h zone, travelling 65 km/h is twice as likely to have a serious crash, travelling 70 km/h is four times as likely to have a serious crash, travelling 75 km/h is 10 times as likely to have a serious crash, travelling at 80 km/h is 32 times more likely to have a serious crash than if you drive at 60 km/h. In rural out of town areas, travelling just 10 km/h faster than the average speed of other traffic is twice as likely to have a serious crash. Drunkenness is another cause. Most people drive the vehicle under the influence of alcohol, intoxicated substances and under stress caused by economic or family problems which because of the state of mind affect them causing road accidents.
Low use of helmets and seat belts are the another cause of road crashes. Most of the young men drive the vehicles without the helmets due to the style, trend and fashion. They even get irritated to wear them. Some people avoid wearing seat belts caused by the urgency, enjoyment and so on which causes road accidents.
The Consequences of Accidents: The consequences of road accidents over the years have proved devastating to victims and those affected. It has left a lasting scar on many with bad consequences such as loss of lives, amputation, regrets, financial deadlock and everlasting pain. They are resulting in the loss of lives, agony in the families and crisis in the society.
The Preventions of Accidents:
The most important preventive method to bring down accidents is strict enforcement of speed limits. 90 % of accidents can be avoided by strict enforcement of speed limits. Heavy Penalty should be imposed on all those who cross speed limits. All those who do not maintain the safe distance for the speed should be punished. Existing speed limits should be brought down further. Tamper proof speed controllers should be made mandatory for all heavy vehicles. Two wheeler manufacturers should be asked to design two wheelers with a designed maximum possible speed of 50/60 kmph. This limit may be decided based on the conditions of each country. Never use mobile phones while driving or riding. Avoid long trips during night, as far as possible.
Driving tests for issue of driving license is to be made more stringent. Lower age limit for two wheeler and heavy vehicle license should be raised to 21. Helmet should be made compulsory by law in all countries. Issue of Helmet should be made mandatory with the sale of each two wheeler. Helmet should be made compulsory for back seat riders also. Don’t forget to fix the Chinstrap of your helmet; otherwise it will not help during an accident.
Safety awareness should begin from childhood, as it is difficult to impart awareness to a grown up human. If safety awareness is imparted at childhood, safety will be a habit. Video and Computer games that simulate motor racing should be banned by government or discouraged by parents as it will develop racing habit in children. Racing, over speed and highly risky riding, driving by heroes should not be filmed in cinemas and TV serials. Children are likely to imitate the same. Statutory warnings does not help, government should censor such scenes. Newspaper, Television and other media should be effectively used for Public Safety Awareness. Major accidents and accident prone areas should be analyzed scientifically. All the roads should be maintained properly. Permanent contracts or arrangements should be in place for maintaining all roads in good condition 24 hours a day, 365 days an year.
Conclusion
There is very need and urgency to stop these accidents which are leading to loss of many lives. Therefore, controlling vehicle speed can prevent crashes happening and can reduce the impact when they do occur, lessening the severity of the injuries sustained by the victims. All people must try to follow all the traffic rules without failure. Otherwise the rate road crashes goes higher and many people will be in crisis.
In order to see the developed country, prosperous, better society and healthy life, the preventive methods are needed to be implemented in the society that eradicates these accidents in the world.
