Accident
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A car accident is a road traffic incident that usually involves one road vehicle colliding with another vehicle or other road user, animal, or a stationary roadside object, and can result in injury, property damage, and death.
The causes of traffic accidents There are a number of recognised factors in traffic accidents. By knowing what they are we can drive in a way that minimises the risks. * Many accidents happen simply because the driver is going too fast. The slower you're going, the less distance it will take to stop. By going slowly, you will also be able to observe your surroundings more easily and notice emerging dangers such as cyclists, pedestrians, children playing and other vehicles. Sticking to the speed limit is one sure way to reduce your chance of an accident. In poor conditions you should be doubly careful about your speed. * Another main cause of accidents in traffic is a simple matter of not paying enough attention. Many people pay far less attention than they should to be safe, being distracted by music, conversation or thinking about anything other than driving
* Tiredness is also a contributor to traffic accidents. Recent studies show that while many drivers would never consider drinking under the influence of alcohol, they are prepared to drive while tired. What they dont realise is that their facalties can be impaired by tiredness to an equal or even greater extent than by alcohol. * Drink and Drugs. Being less that fully alert is precisely why people take drink and drugs, so it stands to reason that they will be less alert than when fully sober. Even stimulants which make people think they are more alert have a negative effect on reation time and ability to judge traffic conditions.
Death and injury statistics Motor vehicle collisions are one of the leading preventable causes of death in the United States. The ability to deliver prompt medical attention has also improved through improvements in ambulance and rescue equipment, availability of air ambulances, rapid response units, and paramedic training, while design changes have made collisions more survivable. Thus injuries from a collision that once would have been fatal may now be averted, while remote locations may report few accidents but with more fatalities. For this reason modern accident statistics often focus on reportable injury accidents (which include deaths) rather than
reporting on deaths alone. It is also believed that serious accidents are often significantly under-reported, under-recorded and misclassified and that the completeness of reporting may vary over time and between sources.
Legal consequences Car collisions usually carry legal consequences in proportion to the severity of the crash. Nearly all common law jurisdictions impose some kind of requirement that parties involved in a collision (even with only stationary property) must stop at the scene, and exchange insurance or identification information or summon the police. In the UK it is a criminal offence to leave the scene of an accident without swapping details with the owner of the car or property or even to anyone else who asks for it.[45] Failing to obey this requirement is referred to as hit and run and is generally a criminal offence. However, most claims are settled without recourse to law. In this case, assuming that both parties carry adequate insurance, the claim is often handled between the two insurers. There may be financial penalties involved, such as an excess or deductible payment and a loss of a no-claims bonus or higher future premiums. Depending upon the circumstances, parties involved in an incident may face criminal liability, civil liability, or both. Usually, the state starts a criminal prosecution only if someone is severely injured or killed, or if one of the drivers involved was acting illegally or clearly grossly negligent or intoxicated or otherwise impaired at the time the accident occurred. Criminal charges might include driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, driving without due care (UK), assault with a deadly weapon (USA), manslaughter, or murder; penalties range from fines to jail time (USA) to prison time to death (where applicable). It is notable that
the penalties for killing and injuring with motor vehicles are often very much less than for other actions with similar outcomes. As for civil liability, in places where healthcare is mainly provided through private insurance, such as the USA, automobile accident personal injury lawsuits have become the most common type of tort. Because of pre-existing case law, the courts usually need to decide only the factual questions of who is at fault, and their percentage of fault, as well as how much must be paid out in damages to the injured plaintiff by the defendant's insurer. For lesser offences civil action may result in fines or collecting points that invalidate the driver's licence, through a central government agency. Such complaints may be filed by a police officer, by other witnesses of an incident, or through remote enforcement such as CCTV or speed cameras. Some jurisdictions (notably US states) directly administer fines or suspend licenses imposed by civil or criminal authorities when a driver has violated the rules of the road and thus the terms of a driver's license. In some jurisdictions such administrative penalties may be imposed through quasi-criminal infractions; other jurisdictions do not recognize infractions and charge all violations, at a minimum, as misdemeanours or felonies. Some argue that the effect of a loss or injury due to a crash can be equivalent to that of a victim of crime under criminal law. Several campaigning organisations that provide support mechanisms also seek out an equivalent status within their jurisdictions or draw attention to particular road safety issues and attitudes with the intention of introducing law reform
The causes of traffic accidents There are a number of recognised factors in traffic accidents. By knowing what they are we can drive in a way that minimises the risks. * Many accidents happen simply because the driver is going too fast. The slower you're going, the less distance it will take to stop. By going slowly, you will also be able to observe your surroundings more easily and notice emerging dangers such as cyclists, pedestrians, children playing and other vehicles. Sticking to the speed limit is one sure way to reduce your chance of an accident. In poor conditions you should be doubly careful about your speed. * Another main cause of accidents in traffic is a simple matter of not paying enough attention. Many people pay far less attention than they should to be safe, being distracted by music, conversation or thinking about anything other than driving
* Tiredness is also a contributor to traffic accidents. Recent studies show that while many drivers would never consider drinking under the influence of alcohol, they are prepared to drive while tired. What they dont realise is that their facalties can be impaired by tiredness to an equal or even greater extent than by alcohol. * Drink and Drugs. Being less that fully alert is precisely why people take drink and drugs, so it stands to reason that they will be less alert than when fully sober. Even stimulants which make people think they are more alert have a negative effect on reation time and ability to judge traffic conditions.
Death and injury statistics Motor vehicle collisions are one of the leading preventable causes of death in the United States. The ability to deliver prompt medical attention has also improved through improvements in ambulance and rescue equipment, availability of air ambulances, rapid response units, and paramedic training, while design changes have made collisions more survivable. Thus injuries from a collision that once would have been fatal may now be averted, while remote locations may report few accidents but with more fatalities. For this reason modern accident statistics often focus on reportable injury accidents (which include deaths) rather than
reporting on deaths alone. It is also believed that serious accidents are often significantly under-reported, under-recorded and misclassified and that the completeness of reporting may vary over time and between sources.
Legal consequences Car collisions usually carry legal consequences in proportion to the severity of the crash. Nearly all common law jurisdictions impose some kind of requirement that parties involved in a collision (even with only stationary property) must stop at the scene, and exchange insurance or identification information or summon the police. In the UK it is a criminal offence to leave the scene of an accident without swapping details with the owner of the car or property or even to anyone else who asks for it.[45] Failing to obey this requirement is referred to as hit and run and is generally a criminal offence. However, most claims are settled without recourse to law. In this case, assuming that both parties carry adequate insurance, the claim is often handled between the two insurers. There may be financial penalties involved, such as an excess or deductible payment and a loss of a no-claims bonus or higher future premiums. Depending upon the circumstances, parties involved in an incident may face criminal liability, civil liability, or both. Usually, the state starts a criminal prosecution only if someone is severely injured or killed, or if one of the drivers involved was acting illegally or clearly grossly negligent or intoxicated or otherwise impaired at the time the accident occurred. Criminal charges might include driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, driving without due care (UK), assault with a deadly weapon (USA), manslaughter, or murder; penalties range from fines to jail time (USA) to prison time to death (where applicable). It is notable that
the penalties for killing and injuring with motor vehicles are often very much less than for other actions with similar outcomes. As for civil liability, in places where healthcare is mainly provided through private insurance, such as the USA, automobile accident personal injury lawsuits have become the most common type of tort. Because of pre-existing case law, the courts usually need to decide only the factual questions of who is at fault, and their percentage of fault, as well as how much must be paid out in damages to the injured plaintiff by the defendant's insurer. For lesser offences civil action may result in fines or collecting points that invalidate the driver's licence, through a central government agency. Such complaints may be filed by a police officer, by other witnesses of an incident, or through remote enforcement such as CCTV or speed cameras. Some jurisdictions (notably US states) directly administer fines or suspend licenses imposed by civil or criminal authorities when a driver has violated the rules of the road and thus the terms of a driver's license. In some jurisdictions such administrative penalties may be imposed through quasi-criminal infractions; other jurisdictions do not recognize infractions and charge all violations, at a minimum, as misdemeanours or felonies. Some argue that the effect of a loss or injury due to a crash can be equivalent to that of a victim of crime under criminal law. Several campaigning organisations that provide support mechanisms also seek out an equivalent status within their jurisdictions or draw attention to particular road safety issues and attitudes with the intention of introducing law reform
