Safety Behaviors and Accident Prevention

Unsafe conditions threaten people’s health in virtually all environments, such as in traffic, at home, on the
job, and at the beach. These conditions produce huge numbers of illnesses, injuries, and deaths each year. In
most cases, these health problems could have been avoided if the victim or other people had used
reasonable safety precautions. Sometimes people don’t know how to prevent injury—as is often the case for
elderly individuals who become injured when they fall— but safety training can reduce these injuries.

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How Can Accidental Injuries Be Prevented?

The death rates for motor vehicle accidents in the United States increase dramatically during adolescence,
and the rate of deaths from traffic mishaps among 15-to 24-year-olds is over twice as high for males as for
females. Because of the high rates of traffic fatalities in adolescence, special safe-driving programs have
been directed toward teenagers. One approach has involved providing driver training in high schools, and
early quasi-experimental research showed that students who take driver education courses subsequently
have fewer accidents than those who do not. In discussing this question, we will focus on injuries in traffic mishaps for two reasons: (1) they account for about half of all accidental deaths and (2) researchers have done many studies on methods to prevent traffic injuries.
Injuries and deaths can also be prevented if drivers and passengers will use protective equipment, such as
seat-belts in cars and helmets when riding motorcycles or bicycles. After seat belts were installed as standard
equipment in cars, few people opted to use them.
Research shows that the use of drugs or alcohol before driving is also one of the major contributing factors
to traffic accidents. Also, sleep deprivation can be a very easily-neglected safety issue. If some one has not
had proper sleep before driving, there are chances that they might feel tired and drowsy, which can take on
very dangerous form.
Health psychologists and medical health practitioners advocate the use of seat belts and other protective
measures while driving. They also urge that drivers stay away from drugs and alcohol to not only keep their
lives safe, but also of others who may be involved in accidents. Similarly, proper sleep is also emphasized in
order to reduce the risk of accidents.

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