Rip Currents Kill More Americans Than Sharks or Lightning
In 2025 the NWS counted 55 US rip current deaths and 20 from lightning; the ISAF counted 1 from an unprovoked shark bite.
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In Most US Airline Accidents, Everyone Survives
NTSB: about 94% of Part 121 aircraft in accidents, 1983 to 2017, had all occupants survive; in 35 serious US accidents: all 10, some 16, none 9.
Most US Fire Truck Runs Are Medical Calls
In USFA data for 2024, fires are 3.7 of every 100 fire department responses; EMS and Rescue is 65.1 and false alarms 8.0.
Atomic Odds: Surviving Two Nuclear Blasts
In 1945, Tsutomu Yamaguchi of Nagasaki, Japan was a technical draftsman designing oil tankers for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Early that year his wife gave…
Pen and Pencil Injuries: US ER Visits
About 21,900 people were treated in US emergency departments in 2025 for injuries involving pens or pencils, by our estimate from CPSC case data.
How Many US ER Visits Involve Beds?
CPSC estimates about 1.1 million people were treated in US emergency departments in 2024 for injuries involving beds, mattresses or pillows.
Flood Season: Water, Water Everywhere
flood waters overtake a town in Indiana As New England mops up and tallies damages from a record-breaking mid-March storm, New Jersey is bracing…
How Likely Are Americans to Die in Car Crashes?
In 2024, 39,254 people died in US motor vehicle traffic crashes, NHTSA says: about 11.5 per 100,000 people, or about 1 in 8,700 for the year.
How Many Americans Die From Tripping?
CDC records 830 US deaths in 2024 under the code for level ground falls that covers trips and stumbles, about 1 in 410,000, of 48,308 accidental fall deaths.
The odds a person will die from an accidental fall
1 in 14,380 The odds a person will die from an accidental fall in a year are 1 in 14,380 (US, 2006).
January Usually Has the Most Deaths
January: CDC final counts for 2010 to 2019 average 250,463 deaths in January, against 240,029 in December and 213,170 in July.
The Recession’s Domestic Toll
The situation looks bad from the outside: Record foreclosure rates, a national unemployment rate hovering around 10%, and the average length of joblessness at…