Living in a densely populated（高人口密度的）and busy city like Hong Kong, I'm sure we're all no strangers to accidents（對我們來說意外並不是陌生的事）. I guess it's just a matter of whether you saw them happen or if you were involved in one. If the latter is the case（若是後者的話）, I hope it wasn't anything too serious!

Despite the fact that accidents are unexpected events（突如其來的事件）that happen out of the blue（意外地）, I believe that they don't necessarily have to end in tears（不一定以悲劇收場）. Here are a few things that we can do to make ourselves less accident-prone:

First and foremost, SLOW DOWN!!! A lot of accidents occur simply because we're in too much of a rush（匆忙）. When we're in a hurry, our awareness（警覺性）can be greatly impaired（減弱的）. This often causes tunnel vision（導致視野變得狹窄）, making us oblivious to the dangers around us（使我們不注意身邊潛在的危險）. If you're lucky, this may just mean running into someone（碰到人）, but in severe cases, this could mean getting run over（被車撞到）or breaking a few bones...

Next, prevent yourself from getting distracted（別讓自己分心）. This means actually looking at where you're going instead of being engrossed in your smart phone games or books（全神貫注於你的智能手機遊戲或書本）. Also, turn down your mp3 player a couple of notches（把音樂播放器的音量調低一點）. By doing so, people will no longer walk out onto the street when there's a car hurtling（飛馳）towards them at extreme high speed because they didn’t see or hear it coming (a scenario with which I'm all too familiar as a witness).

The English proverb "look before you leap" takes on a literal meaning here as many tragedies could have been averted if the victims had simply been watching where they were going. Keeping our eyes peeled（一眼關七）can also help us escape from any imminent（逼近的）dangers that may come our way.

Lastly, exercise some self-discipline（自我紀律）. It's quite surprising how many lives are lost just because people fail to observe simple rules like not crossing the street when the pedestrian crossing signal is red. Self-restraint can save us from becoming roadkill, which often results from jaywalking（非法過馬路）. It will also prevent us from sustaining injuries caused by closing platform screen doors when rushing onto trains.

Yes, accidents are bound to happen, but some of them are avoidable（有一些是能避免的）. As long as we keep our wits about us（打醒十二分精神）, we have a pretty high chance of walking away unscathed（無受損傷的）, or at least minimising the damage that will be caused.