Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1949-07-08

- Four killed In car at grad
northern lake Man fatally
injured cleaning gun :. Two
children burn to death in
H1ome.
W Perhaps, like me, you're a
fraid that some day wou'll find
the names of some of your own
friends in that grim list of TRACE
dies. Perhaps you say to your
self, "It's terrible how so many
accidents are always happen
ing" Yes, I know you say that.
But has it ever occurred to you
that most of these accidents we
read about didn't just happen?
A tornado happens. They are
things that we can't control or
prevent. But fires don't happen.
Automobile accidents don't hap
pen. Drownings don't happen
They are the results of our col
lective and individual indiffer-
ences, stupidity and careless
ness.
y Perhaps you wonder why a
public health man should be
talking about accidents. I'll tell
you why. Public health people
are concerned about everything
that causes unnecessary deaths
or suffering. And accidents are
the chief causes of unnecessary
deaths in all age groups of our
population, expect the very
young and the very old.
DR.. John Gordon of the Har-
ward Schol of Public Health has
just published very interest
ing article called ''The Epidemi-
ology of Accidents" He has
taken our national accidents
facts and studied them as if they
were facts about smallpox or
typhoid fever. And he has found
that in many ways the accident
picture and the epidemic picture
are very much alike.
"a We said that accidents were
Y Hot the number one killers OF
the very young and the very old.
That is true. But these two age
groups are the ones hit hardest
by accidents. Most of you know,
! think, that accidents in homes
outrank all others. More people
are killed in and around their
homes than on the highway, in
the factory, or in all types of
travel. More deaths and more
injuries are caused by accidents
in homes than by accidents oc-
curing anywhere else. And it is
those home accidents that take
the greatest number of lives a
mong the babies and the old
people.
We never say that case of
pneumonia happened to some
one. Why, then, do we say that
ean accident happened? Both
pneumonia and accidents have
causes. And what are the causes
of accidents? This is what DR..
Gordon says: Probably more
causes or accidents lie within
people themselves? than any
where else. He points out that
there are certain people who
seem to have a peculiar tenden-
cy toward accidents. Here again
we see similarity between ac-
cidents and epidemics. In every
epidemic, we find two distinct
groups of people-those who be-
come ill, with definite clinical
symptoms, and those who don't.
In the same way, there seem
to be two groups of people in
respect to accidents. There are
people who are apt to be in
in accidents, just as there
Y lre people who are likely to get
small pox. The public health Of
ficer can 60 into a community
and pick out the people who are
likely to get smallpox-the ones
with no vaccination scars, He
couldn't so easily pick out the
people apt to be involved in
accidents, but if he knew the
past history of the community,
he could make a pretty good
estimate. A person who has
caused one accident is likely to
cause another.
And what sort of person is
: this accident-prone citiZ e n?
Well, one of the big life in-
surance companies has just COM
pleted study of that subject.
The results were published only
a few days ago. The person who
is most likely to be involved in
- an accident is the one who is
popularly referred to as dim
wit"-the young man who shows
off to his girl friend by burning
UP the highway at 80 miles an
hour; the fellow who blithely
disregards road signs; the man
who is in such a hurry that he
Just has to pass another vehl-
Gle on a hill or curve. The
insurance people found that one
or more of these "dimwit" prac-
tices was involved in forty per
cent of all fatal automobile ac-
cidents. Of course you never
drive too fast. You are careful
to observe all road signs, and.
you wouldn't dream of passing
on a hill or around a curve.
YOU wouldn't. But last year
twenty -four thousand people did