OCR Text |
Show ll'BI U 1 i. . - j1 t Things I Never Knew 'Til Now: That Uncle Sam lost 10,500 soldiers, sol-diers, sailors and marines in 1944 not by Jap or Nazi bullets, but by accidents In the U. S. . . . That when soldiers and sailors actually take heed of their superiors' accident acci-dent warnings, the accident rate In camps drops 60. . . . This column is dedicated to saving the life of some soldier, sailor, marine or worker in the war effort and the statistics prove that it probably will. ... Every life lost to this country is one less fighter against Hitler. Tour country needs your life; to protect Its own. . . . This is the breakdown of your chances of living liv-ing this year: That 30,000,000 Americans have been injured in home-front accidents acci-dents since the war started. . . . Work accidents last year caused the loss of 900,000 man-years of labor, and more workers were killed OFF the job than on the job 25,000 to 18,000. That drinking on the part of either the driver or the pedestrian is involved in-volved in one out of every five fatal traffic accidents, and that, even in wartime, one or both drivers in fatal accidents violate a law in two out of every three cases. That about 7,000 persons were drowned in the United States last year. . . . Smokers cause nearly a fifth of all fires in the U. S. A. . . . Accidents kill one out of three school-age children who die. . . . Three out of five fatal traffic accidents acci-dents occur at night. , . . Nearly 2,000 persons were killed in grade crossing accidents last year. (So, Look, Listen and Live!) That thousands of hunters will be maimed this year and nearly 1,000 will be killed in hunting accidents unless the hunter is extra careful. . . . 17,000 people in farm families were killed by accidents last year and only mining, construction, transportation trans-portation and public utilities are more dangerous industries than agriculture. ag-riculture. . . . About 80,000 hospital beds are occupied today by persons who have suffered accidents. (This is roughly 10 of all beds, and the pity of it is that accident cases usually usu-ally require the immediate attention of several doctors and nurses, as well as the use of anesthesia apparatus, appara-tus, operating rooms and hospital beds. And this at a time when they're talking about drafting nurses!) That Benjamin Franklin was one of the first safety advocates in America. Remember? He said: "Haste makes waste" and "Carelessness "Care-lessness does more harm than want of knowledge." That the Chicago fire of 1871, the Johnstown flood of 1889, the Galveston tidal wave of 1900, the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, the Boston night club fire in 1942, and all the other major disasters since 1865 have killed less than 25,000 Americans. (And yet day-by-day accidents killed 94,000 in 1944 alone!) That accident figures prove the safest people in the U. S. are little girls between the ages of 5 and 14. . . . There is an accidental death in the U. S. every 5V4 minutes and an injury every 3 seconds! . . . Accidents Acci-dents are the fifth cause of deaths in the U. S. . . . And cost $141 per year per family in America. That the Seaford Nylon plant of E. I. duPont de Nemours & Company Com-pany has the best no-injury record in American industry, having gone nearly 17,000,000 man-hours without a single lost time injury to one of its employees. (And at the last report, re-port, the record was still running.) That even if more than 700,000 women drivers were involved in traffic accidents in 1941, there is no conclusive evidence that women are more reckless than men when it comes to driving automobiles. . . . A speed violation is a factor in abouf of all fatal traffic accidents. . . . Approximately 4 of drivers involved in fatal accidents are hit and run drivers! (The rats!) That communications is the safest industry and mining the most dangerous. . . . One person per-son in 14 will have an accident in the United States in 1945, If the 1944 pattern prevails. . . . Nearly 10,000 pedestrians are killed in traffic accidents yearly. (And walking Is so easy.) That peanuts, coins, medals, marbles mar-bles and such simple things can be and are killers. More than 600 children under five years of age are killed every year because small objects like these are so easily sucked into the lungs. . . . Falls were the greatest single cause' of accidental acci-dental deaths in 1943. the last year for which figures are available. The number killed by falls in 1943 was 27,400. And 927 of all persons killed by falls are 25 years of age or over; two out of three persons killed by faDs are 65 years or older. |