 Lesson 1. Car Accidents Have you ever been in a car accident? In today's lesson, you're going to learn expressions for describing different types of accidents, their causes, and results. Let's begin with the difference between a car accident and a car crash. Car accident is the most general term. It can describe any type of accident, major or minor, and it can involve only one car or two or more cars. A car crash involves a collision. When a car hits an object with a violent impact, we can also use crash as a verb. For example, the car crashed into a tree, or the car crashed into a telephone pole. Here are four specific types of accidents. When two vehicles crash into each other while traveling in opposite directions, we call this a head-on collision. This is one of the deadliest types of accidents. On the other end of the spectrum is a fender bender. This describes a small accident with very minor damage to the cars involved. When multiple cars hit each other, this is called a pile-up. Pile-ups often occur when the weather and road conditions are bad. Sometimes a car hits a person, but instead of stopping, the driver of the car drives away. This type of accident is called a hit and run. Now we'll look at four descriptions of accidents and learn the verbs used for talking about them. Number one, I slammed on the brakes to avoid running over a dog. To slam on the brakes means to try to stop the car very suddenly, often in an emergency. In this case, the driver wanted to avoid running over a dog. The phrasal verb run over is used when a car passes over an object, animal, or person. Number two, the taxi side-swiped a parked car and then rear-ended a van. Side-swiped means the taxi hit the side of the parked car while passing it. Rear-ended means the taxi hit the back of the van. Number three, the driver lost control of the car and plowed into the guardrail. Inexperienced drivers can lose control of the car, especially when driving at high speeds at night or in bad weather. The phrasal verb plowed into is an alternative way to say crashed into. Number four, lots of cars were skidding on the icy road and I saw one that had rolled over. The verb skid means to slide without control on a slippery surface like ice. If a car rolls over, that means it turns upside down. Car accidents can be caused by a number of factors. Here are some of the most common. Speeding, driving faster than the speed limit. Tailgating, this is when one car drives extremely close behind another car. It's dangerous because if the first car stops suddenly, the second car will not have time to stop. Drunk driving, driving under the influence of alcohol. To test for the level of alcohol in a driver's blood, police use a breathalyzer test. Weather conditions, rain, snow and ice can make the road slick or slippery. There can also be poor visibility, difficulty to see due to fog or darkness. Reckless driving, the word reckless means not careful. So reckless driving means driving dangerously, not carefully. For example, people who change lanes without using the turn signal or who drive impatiently and without careful observation or consideration. Road rage, when a driver gets angry at another driver and begins driving aggressively. Distractions, when a driver is paying attention to other things, for example, their cell phone and not watching the road. Finally, let's look at the results of an accident. We can say the car is damaged and the people in the cars are injured or killed. A more formal word for someone killed in an accident is a fatality. For example, there were three fatalities or luckily there were no fatalities. One common injury in car accidents is whiplash, an injury to the neck due to the sudden impact when your head goes forwards or backwards very suddenly. If someone in the car wasn't wearing a seatbelt, they could be thrown from the vehicle. This means they flew out of the vehicle and landed some distance away. When a car is badly damaged so that it can't be driven, then it needs to be towed, transported by another vehicle which is called a tow truck. Your car can also be towed if you park in a prohibited area. There's a special word for when the car is damaged so badly it can't be repaired. We say the car is totaled. Finally, if the occupants of the car were shaken but unhurt, it means that they were emotionally agitated, shaken, but they had no injuries, unhurt. You've finished lesson one. Now do the exercises accompanying this lesson to practice the vocabulary you've learned. If you're already registered for the vocabulary builder course, you can continue with lesson two tomorrow. If you're not yet registered, sign up today to get 29 more vocabulary builder lessons.