Personal Safety: How To Avoid Accidents And Live A Safe, Longer & Happy Life

Have you ever had an accident?

Do you value your personal safety and that of your family?

Most accidents may not be just accidents.

Some accidents may be caused by our personal lifestyle, carelessness, wrong reasoning, faulty decisions, bad habits, wrong actions of conscious and as well as unconscious origin.

Here are some personal safety insights to help you prevent accidents and live a longer, safe and happy life.

Even though the world we live in today is safer than the one known by our parents and grandparents, yet people are more prone to accidents now than ever.

In most large cities, it is easy to observe people doing more than one activity at a time.

It is a common sight to see some people who while driving are at the same time eating, talking on the Cell Phone and putting a make up on their faces too!

You'll observe bicyclists riding on the sidewalk in the opposite direction.

Do you buckle your seat belt every time you get in the car? Do you cross the street at crosswalks instead of jaywalking?

Do you walk or jog on the left side of the road so that you are facing oncoming traffic?

We all must acknowledge the fact that we bear some of the responsibility for making our environment safe and safety is thinking about other people, too.

Because in this safety awareness, we can take steps to help others.

For instance, a jagged piece of metal and certain types of broken bottles on the street can cause tire problems to cars.

Broken glass on the beach might also send someone to the hospital for stitches. When you take time to clean up things such as broken bottles, etc., you're taking a big step toward protecting others.

An accident is something that happens to you and to others. It's easy to think that these accidents just happen.

They're not just bad luck or bad breaks that come to you out of nowhere. An accident is never supposed to happen. It isn't planned and it isn't deliberate.

Accidents are caused!

An accident can be caused by an unsafe condition. Look at your automobile. It can be a typical example of an unsafe condition.

Bad brakes and unsafe tires, faulty headlights, loose steering, and, yes, even dirty windshields and side windows can cause accidents, and they are all unsafe conditions.

And along this same line, we need to consider unsafe acts as also contributing to the cause of accidents.

These are not "conditions." They are what you, or someone else, does or doesn't do.

A good example is jaywalking. You know it's dangerous to walk out between parked cars to cross the street, but it's easier than walking down to the next corner.

Both unsafe conditions and unsafe actions exist, and either one can cause accidents.

But you can put the two together, as well. That car with the poor brakes, and all the other unsafe conditions, isn't unsafe at all until someone starts to use it.

It's the act of using that causes the accident. Oh sure, the car was at fault, but the driver of that car was the ultimate cause of the accident.

You will find many unsafe conditions in your daily life, but most of them become truly unsafe based on your own actions related to them.

What causes you to act in an unsafe way? Is it carelessness?

Poor judgment, were you at the wrong place at the wrong time?

There's never a total absence of risks in our lives. Risks are voluntary actions and can be managed.

Emergencies can be met and handled, but it takes know-how and constant awareness.

What you can't prevent, you can usually compensate for or protect against.

Safety experts classify accidents in four broad categories: Motor vehicle, work and job related, Home, and public.

The public category excludes motor vehicle and work accidents in public places. It covers sports and recreation (swimming, hunting, etc.), air, water, or land transportation excluding motor vehicle and public building accidents.

On the average, there are 10 accidental deaths and about 1,000 disabling injuries every hour during the year.

About one-half of the deaths occur in motor vehicle accidents while about one-third of the injuries occur in and around the Home.