Basic HTML Version
''BUT ITWASAN ACCIDENT!''
by
William F. Dankenbring
M
onths go by and nothing
out of the ordinary seems
to happen . Lite is a
breeze , happy, fun-filled , frolic–
some, and tranquil.
Then , bang , it happens. In a
split second your whole lite is al–
tered completely. You 've had an
accident. lf you're an American ,
you are only one of the fifty mil–
lion other accident statistics that
occurred in the nation this year.
Very likely somebody in your fam–
ily or someone you know was
hurt in an accident sometime dur–
ing the past year, perhaps even
killed.
Each year accidents are the
fourth leading cause of death,
following heart diseases, cancer,
and stroke. Between the ages of
1 and 24 , accidents far and away
are the leading cause of deaths.
Between the ages of 15 and 24,
accidents account for over half of
all deaths. The aggregate cost of
all accidents in 1974 was a whop–
ping $43 billion. That $43 billion is
on ly the monetary cost we must
pay each year because of our
own or someone else's foolish–
ness, "mistakes, " or errors in
judgment. The amount of pain
and suflering is incalculable.
Accidents Do Not Just "Happen"
Accidents are not due to " tate"
or just a run of bad luck. They are
not due to sorne " evil amen " or
mysterious curse. The simple fact
is that most accidents are due to
a number of interrelated causes
involving broken laws of nature,
carelessness, uncontrolled emo–
tions, and many other factors.
And a penalty must be paid .
We live in an accident-prone
world . The fast pace of lite, the
incredible power in automobiles,
the conveniences we take for
granted - electricity, gas, me–
chanical marvels of all kinds- all
pack an inner quality of danger if
we are careless.
Most industrial accidents, gen–
erally about 85%, are the result of
unsafe acts. Safety devices, how–
ever ingenious and effective they
may be, are futile unless they are
used by workers.
Many common household con–
veniences are also a potential
source of accidents. Every time
mother goes shopping she may
bring home a poison - a deter–
gent, a furniture cleaner, a spot
remover, a drain-pipe cleansing
agent , or a pesticida. Around two
million accidental poisonings
take place in the United States
each year with many victims chil–
dren under the age of five. Our
marketplaces carry a thousand or
so p rod ucts con tain i ng poi–
sonous chemicals.
As society becomes more
mechanized, the threat of grave
or fatal accidents becomes
greater from one small mistake.
All too often, we continua driv–
ing our car when we know we are
sleepy, maybe even nodding at
the wheel. We gamble just a little
too much while passing that slow
truck on the highway. Ninety-nine
times out of one hundred we
might get away with it. But there
is always that one time.
Sorne people are accident–
prone. Their style of living and
their attitude toward lite seem to
draw accident after accident to
their doorstep. The accident–
prone seem to have more diffi–
culty handling problems of bore–
dom , loneliness , anxiety ,
frustration , fear, excitement, and
sexual or mental conflict, reports
Dr. Manuel Rodstein, a New York
medical professor. •
False pride gets a lot of us into
trouble. An elderly man may per-
33