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Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:Before we can develop a really effective programme to prevent auto accidents, we will have to learn far more than we now know about why such accidents happen. The National Safety Council, while pointing out that most accidents result from a combination of causes, and that “few accidents are investigated carefully enough to determine exactly what their underlying causes were,” estimates that in about 80% of accidents, the most important single factor is the driver himself.Bad weather, poor road conditions, and defects in cars do cause some accidents. But such circumstances appear to be of minor significance compared with the mental and physical condition of the driver. And recent research indicates that the driver’s physical condition is of less importance than his personality and his emotional state. Many, if not most, accidents are the result of wayward impulses and motivations of faulty judgements and attitudes, of poorly controlled aggressiveness and competitiveness.Nearly two-thirds of the drivers involved in fatal accidents were speeding, driving while under the influence of alcohol, disregarding stop lights or signs, or otherwise violating the law, according to the Safety Council. The pertinent question is why people drive so fast, drive after drinking, take risks in passing or in general, commit dangerous, careless, illegal, impulsive, or unfriendly acts when they get behind the wheel?A small beginning has been made towards finding answers to this question. Several studies comprehensively described by Dr Ross McFarland and his associates have probed the personality and emotional characteristics of so-called accident-prone drivers and discovered such traits as emotional instability, impulsiveness, suggestibility, excitability, lack of proper sense of social responsibility, aggressiveness, and intolerance of authority.Although the fault may be found with the quality of this research in terms of controls and other safeguards, it may prove provocative enough to lead to sounder efforts. “A man drives as he lives,” says Dr Tillman and Hobbs in an article in the American Journal of Psychiatry. “If his personal life is marked by caution, tolerance, foresight, consideration for others, he will drive in the same way. If his personal life is devoid of these desirable characteristics, his driving will be characterized by aggressiveness and over a long period of time, he will have a higher accident rate than his more stable companions.”(i) On the basis of your reading of the above passage make notes on it using headings and sub-headings.(ii) Write a summary of the passage and suggest a suitable title. |
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Answer» (i) Notes: 2 Condition of drivers 3. Characteristics of accident-prone drivers 4. Causes of fatal accidents 5. Personal factors which affect driving 6. lack of desirable qualities: more accidents (ii) Summary |
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