Accidents

Accidents occur everywhere and have always been a common feature of the human experience. Every year, large numbers of people across the world are injured and permanently disabled in accidents. Others are temporarily disabled and have to spend months, sometimes years, in therapy to regain their previous function. Despite the best intentions, accidents can occur anywhere: in the home, during transportation, in the hospital, on the sports field, and at work.

Road accidents are one of the largest contributors, in both the first and developing worlds, to the numbers of disabled people. The number of cars on the road [Page 20]increased steadily over the twentieth century and continues to rise in the twenty-first century. Despite ever improving safety features, large numbers of people are disabled in road accidents each year. Speeding is often the cause of accidents. This is not a recent phenomenon; before the Road Traffic Act of 1930, which abolished the speed limit, the courts and the police in Britain tried to cope with the hundreds of thousands of speeding cases each year as drivers exceeded the limit of 20 miles per hour. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents was formed in 1916 as a response to the number of road accidents from the increasing numbers of cars on the road. A speed limit was reintroduced in Britain in 1934.

Besides vehicular speed, the nature of the vehicle can alter accidents. Motorcycles are particularly dangerous, and in the United Kingdom alone 28,000 motorcyclists per year are currently injured as a result of accidents. During World War II, 23,000 British servicemen were injured in motorcycle accidents. Other users of the road—bicyclists, horse riders, and pedestrians—are all regularly involved in accidents. In New York City in 1992, there were 3,250 bicyclemotor vehicle collisions, of which 17 were fatal. In the same year, there were 13,599 pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions, of which 294 were fatal, and 298 pedestrian-bicycle collisions, leading to 2 fatalities.

As well as the incidence of death, such accidents result in a wide range of injuries and often permanent disability. In an attempt to limit some of this damage, in some countries such as Australia, it is mandatory for children riding bicycles to wear protective helmets. Accidents involving buses are also responsible for large numbers of people becoming injured, although many countries are making seat belt use in buses mandatory to reduce the injury rate. Equally, safety features on cars including seat belts, side-impact reinforcement, and airbags have contributed to fewer injuries that result in permanent disability. Externally, cars have been fitted with bumpers that cause less damage to pedestrians who may be hit. Preventive measures such as campaigns on the dangers of drunk driving, enforcing speed limits and using cameras to catch traffic law violators, and educating children about road safety have raised awareness but seem to have little effect on the numbers of people disabled in car accidents. The World Health Organization has estimated that by 2020 road accidents will be one of the top three causes of death and disability.

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