I’ve always heard that you’re more likely to die from getting struck by lightning, than you are from a plane crash. Well, that’s not what the National Safety Council says! According to the NSC, the lifetime odds look more like this:- Lightning — 1 in 79,746
- Air/space transport accidents — 1 in 5,051
And, who knew that you’re just as likely to die as a passenger in a car crash, as you are from falling down, or shooting yourself on purpose:
- Car occupant — 1 in 237
- Falling — 1 in 218
- Shooting yourself on purpose — 1 in 222
Oh, these are my favorites:
- Accidental suffocation/strangulation in bed — 1 in 7,541
- Contact with hot tap water — 1 in 144,156
- Bitten/stung by non-venomous insect/arthropods — 1 in 312,339
- Drowning/submersion while in or falling into bathtub — 1 in 11,289
- Bitten or crushed by reptile — N/A
The odds by accidental suffocation/strangulation in bed are pretty high! Which makes me very suspicious, and paranoid. I guess there’s more wisdom in the old saying “don’t go to bed angry,” than I previously thought. And I’m still trying to figure out how you die from contact with hot tap water.
On the bright side, at least we don’t have to worry about getting crushed by reptiles.
8 comments:
I knew it! I knew it was as dangerous as it feels.
The Air/space transport statistic is terrifying.
I know!
Although it's not included in the NSC statistics, the worst is when they say you're more likely to get hit by lightning than you are to get bit by a shark. That's bull. It's only true if you count all the people in the world who aren't at the beach!
Some of those might be babies suffocating in bed.
I think I read that 50% of people in plane crashes live, probably because some crashes everyone dies and some no-one does. Still, it pays to wear sensible shoes and no nylon.
Chin chin.
Oooh, that's a horrible thought (the babies suffocating), but you're probably right.
I guess it is all or nothing in a plane crash. And we're on the same page cause I always wear sensible shoes just in case. ;)
Heather makes a good point.
Babies, sadly must account for many of the suffocations and probably quite a few of the bathtub drowning and tap water scalding as well.
But I think you are leaving out another important demographic…rock stars.
Yes, rock stars have been historically know for their unusual deaths and I believe they ultimately skew the NSC statistics. For example we have:
John Bonham – choking on his own vomit
Karen Carpenter - starvation
Mama Cass - choking to death on a ham sandwich
Kurt Cobain – suicide? murder?
Marvin Gaye – killed by his own father
Jimi Hendrix - sleeping pill overdose? unknown?
Buddy Holly – plane crash
Michael Hutchence (INXS) - autoerotic asphyxiation
Janis Joplin - heroin overdose
John Lennon – murdered by psychopathic stalker
Jim Morrison - massive hemorrhage caused by tuberculosis? Drug overdose? Unknown?
Elvis Presley - cardiac arrhythmia from an intake of a large amount of drugs?
Not to mention the the drummers from “This is Spinal Tap” , a bizarre gardening accident, spontaneous combustion and choking on someone else’s vomit.
I’m just saying…It might be a good idea to wearing my sensible shoes, but that I’m listening to Lawrence Welk too.
That was meant to be Spinal tap . I haven’t done web updates since 1999. Please forgive my incompetence.
oh my gosh...you are a wealth of knowledge barb.
Choking to death on a ham sandwich? Those damn rockstars are always skewing some stat. If it's not income, it's tragic deaths.
But how could you mention Buddy Holly, without mentioning Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper? Okay, I just watched La Bamba.
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