If you have come to this website, you are probably interested in developing strategies that can help you lead a safer life. This is an important first step because many people believe that knowing how to be careful is just plain common sense and does not require instructions. It is true that the prevention of accidents does involve good common sense, but without a clear plan as to how to put that commonsense knowledge into practice, it may not be enough to prevent tragedy. Many serious accidents have occurred even when those involved thought they had enough common sense and had every intention of being careful. Why is this so? The majority of us are not purposely trying to be an Evel Knievel, yet many of us are acting like one. We may end up in a serious accident when we weren’t choosing to take the risk. Could it be that we didn’t really believe an accident could happen to us? . . . for surely if we knew we would never have taken the chance. Many of us have unwittingly been playing a game of Russian Roulette with our lives, and the lives of others, because we have been allowing a great number of risks to be present — just waiting for us to make that one deadly mistake.
It is obvious that we can’t eliminate every risk in life. There may even be times that certain risks are worth taking such as in a game of sports, or when reaching for a dream. The risks being referred to are those that are not worth taking because of the severe nature of the consequences to ourselves or others, which we want to avoid at all costs. These are the risks we often have the ability to control because it will be our very own behavior, our decision whether to take a chance or not, that will determine whether an accident will, or will not, take place. This is not to say we have total control over the risks imposed by others, due to their negligence or carelessness. The risks caused by others have created a pervasive fear in society, along with a feeling of helplessness, resignation, and the long held belief that accidents cannot be prevented and are here to stay. This belief has so permeated our way of thinking that many of us have become convinced that we have no control even in situations where we do, and this may prevent us from taking concrete action where it is possible to do so. Some expressions we use in our every day language point to this fact and may be keeping us from doing everything we can to prevent what we don’t want. Here are just a few: “What will be will be.” “It was not intentional.” “It was fate ordained.” Because there appears to be no rhyme or reason as to who may get hurt after one exposure to a risk, while others may be exposed to the same risk year after year and never get hurt, gives credence to the belief that we cannot escape our fate. However true this may be, it may also prevent us from taking important steps to change our fate for the better. Although it is impossible to turn back the hands of time, we can make every effort to prevent a potential tragedy before it has a chance of becoming reality.
It is often after a serious accident occurs that those involved can’t understand how it happened. The belief that accidents only happen to others, not ourselves, may allow us to become complacent. Unfortunately, an accident can happen to you just as easily as someone else, if the risk is present. You may be lucky for a long while, which may convince you that you’re as careful as you need to be. After all, you’ve never had a car accident in 30 years. Isn’t that proof that you’re an expert driver? Not necessarily. You may have been taking dangerous risks all along, but have been very lucky up until now. There is still a possibility that in spite of your luck up to this point, an accident may occur sooner or later and your luck will run out.
If an accident occurs, you may then try to place the blame on someone or something else as the cause. If this is not possible, all of your efforts will be directed toward offering some kind of reasonable excuse as to why the accident was unavoidable. If an accident was minor, you could justify what happened by saying, “After all, accidents will happen” or “What do you expect, I’m only human.” These expressions may help you to feel better about what took place. This is not to imply that minor mishaps won’t occur from time to time, or that we should make an issue over every mistake. Quite the contrary, mistakes teach us how to improve with each and every try, but when it comes to serious or life threatening accidents there is no room for even one mistake. If someone was seriously injured or killed as a result of something you did, you would feel extremely remorseful and filled with regret. All of the apologies in the world would not change the outcome of a tragedy that could have been prevented with enough forethought — which may further agonize you.
Another issue that often clouds our thinking is the fact that accidents are elusive because they haven’t happened yet. There are people who would rather avoid thinking about something that has not yet occurred, and may never. They may be superstitious and think it’s a jinx to imagine the possibility, or even have it enter their minds. They may feel it is a waste of precious time that could be used in more constructive ways. Some people don’t want to think of themselves as “worriers” and will try to stay away from this negative persona. But all of these reasons — which may keep them from exercising their due diligence — will be of no use after the fact. This is why it is imperative to find out if you are taking any unnecessary risks, and if you are, learn what you can do to eliminate them. If you should desire to take chances with your own safety, this is your business. But is it fair to involve others in those same risks which they don’t want to be a part of? If you sincerely believe that it isn’t, then what choice do you have but to do everything you can to prevent yourself from ever having to say, “I’m so very sorry. I don’t know how it happened,” because then it will be too late. It will be up to you to determine what risks are too serious to chance. No one can make that decision for you, but remember that it will also be you who will have to live with the burden of responsibility, if you were not careful enough.
Some people feel that in order to be that careful they would have to sacrifice their carefree lifestyle and lose all of their spontaneity. They would rather take their chances freely than be bound by rigorous restraints. Again, the decision as to how careful they want to be will be up to them. They will need to assess whether their particular way of life could be posing a dangerous risk to others. After an honest evaluation of their risk profile, they may find areas in their daily life that need improvement. In the final analysis, this precaution will only add to, not take away from, their freedom.
The purpose of these guidelines is to help you form a framework upon which to remember important safety strategies and develop sound safety habits. The greatest satisfaction of all will come from knowing that you are taking steps to prevent a potential tragedy by taking that extra time and care. To rephrase what Mark Twain said many years ago and still holds true today, “It is better to be careful a hundred times than to kill or be killed only once. Let us never forget that a safe environment IS NO ACCIDENT.
To give you an understanding of my background, I have been doing research for many years using my own life as a research tool, for I felt that I couldn’t live with the pain of knowing I hurt another human being due to my carelessness, and I imagined other people felt the same way. I began to realize that even though most conscientious people would never want to be responsible for an accident, it is often the case. After many years of experiencing my own close calls, and being very fortunate, I began to backtrack to figure out how to prevent the same situations from ever happening again. This is how my program was developed. Wherever you may be on the awareness scale, these guidelines will assist you in making your personal safety program as strong and accident resistant as possible. There may be a lot of information you already know, in which case it will be a good review. Or there may be new information which you will be able to add to your present knowledge base. In either case, you have everything to gain by reading this manual. It is my sincerest and most heartfelt wish that you and your loved ones remain accident free.