Introduction: Car accidents research paper:
When engineers were busy in the late nineteenth century working on inventing the car, they thought that they were going to make man’s life much easier. Well, they did, but they also invented a machine that is considered as the leading cause of death in most world countries, especially for individuals between the ages of five and thirty. In this speech, I am going to reveal some of the unknown but horrifying factors related to car accidents.
Car accidents classifications:
Car accidents can be classified in several ways. Basically, however, they are divided into occupant related accidents and non-occupant related accidents. Occupant related accidents are those in which the occupants of the car are responsible for the accidents. Under this category, we have intoxicated drivers who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, speedy or reckless drivers and unauthorized drivers who are underage or who are not allowed to drive. Non-occupant related accidents involve individuals who are outside the vehicle at the time of the accident but who are related to it. Such accidents involve pedestrians who are crossing the road, individuals riding bicycles and so on.
From another angle, car accidents can be classified into fatal accidents where individuals get killed, injury-causing accidents where individuals get hurt, and property damaging accidents where damage is only limited to the car, an electricity pole or to a wall.
Causes of car accidents are numerous. One reason is the driver losing control when he is drunk or stoned or because of a mechanical error in the breaks or the engine. Loss of control can also be caused by sleet or oil on the road or because of a solid body on the street. There could be a million reason and as my father says, “When an accident has to happen, it simply has to happen.”
Many accidents can cause a surprising amount of damage or injury even though an accident might seem to be simple. In addition to the reasons I mentioned earlier, driving an unsafe car can lead to such unhappy endings. In 1996, the Highway Loss Data Institute listed a number of the most unsafe cars in the US. These included the Hyundai Accent, Toyota Tercel, Hyundai Sonata, Nissan 200 SX, GMC Jimmy 4WD, Toyota 4Runner 4WD, Nissan Pathfinder 4WD and Chevy Blazer 4WD. These are of course popular cars in Lebanon as well as in the US and other countries.
According to its 1997 annual report, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that 41,967 people lost their lives in the US due to car accidents. The NHTSA was very happy with this figure because it came 0.2% less than the 1996 rate. But looking at the facts closely, this means that in a decade, about half a million people are actually dying in the US only because of car accidents. This figure does not of course include those who are injured or who are crippled for life because of car accidents.
Comparably, according to the Ministry of Transportation, in Lebanon, 165 people lost their lives in 1995, 181 in 1996 and 183 in 1997. These figures may not be alarming, but given the small population of Lebanon, they should be. And now that we have speedy highways, the figures are expected to rocket in 1998.
The annual number of car accidents in Lebanon is not known because most accidents never reach the police, but rather, they are dealt with personally, except when injury or death are involved. The American Bureau of Statistics reported $150 billion in losses due to car accidents in 1994. In Lebanon, the slightest idea does not exist on the national level, but on the personal level, everyone of us must have paid a fortune once or more repairing his or her car due to a car accident.
Car accidents happen all the time:
Car accidents happen all the time. Whether one is inside the car or outside it, driving safely or unsafely, accidents will always happen. And they will always be among the most interesting events for spectators on any road. The worse the damage, the more there are people to watch. Some think that car accidents are good ways of keeping population under control, although this is a costly way of doing it. No matter what, it is always better not to be part of the accident.