Q9: APSC Prelims 2025 GS-II: Previous Year Question with Answer

Read the following passage carefully and answer Question Nos. 9 and 10 : Before we can develop a really effective program to prevent auto accidents, we will have to learn far more than now 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 generally speaking, 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, this research suggest 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 accidents were speeding, driving while under the influence of alcohol, disregarding stoplights 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. The author's reference to the National Safety Council serves to