If you think your humble abode is a safer place than the cockpit of a two-tonne metal contraption with four wheels and a combustion engine, you would be wrong. According to a report from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, you are more than twice as likely to die in your home than you are in your car.
The number of accidental deaths in the home has risen by 50 per cent to 5,000 a year, the charity revealed, compared with the 1,901 road deaths that occurred between 2010 and 2011.
Accidental falls, poisoning, fire, drowning in the bath, and strangulation and obstruction of the airways are the six most common death-dealers in the home.
The charity believes we should put the same amount of effort into making our homes safer as we do preventing accidents on the road.
“Deaths on Britain’s roads have thankfully come down markedly in recent decades but that hasn’t happened by chance,” Tom Mullarkey, CEO of the charity, told the Daily Mail. “It has been due to a systematic road safety strategy led by the Department for Transport , with the support of many partners such as RoSPA.”
“The DFT has done a great job,” he added. “Sadly, there has been no equivalent approach to safety in the home for over 20 years.”
Mullarkey blames the NHS for side-lining accident prevention and for adopting a system of dealing with accidents, not teaching people how to avoid them in the first place. The charity believes safety advice should be given to new parents and the elderly on how to make their homes less hazardous.
While it may seem crazy to think lazing at home is far more likely to end your life than driving to work, your stairs don’t come with a dozen airbags, automatic braking systems and crumple zones to reduce the impact of a crash.
Best to move the vacuum away from the stairs and put away the red wine then.
Via: Daily Mail
Image: Flickr
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