While we try not to think about it too much, our mortality is often just around the corner. Humans underestimate the dangers to themselves all the time, often putting themselves at unnecessary risk. 

So one internet user wanted to know about the simple and generally avoidable risks people have subjected themselves to, often with lethal results. Netizens gave some insightful and often frightening tales of deaths that could be avoided. So read through and make sure to take some notes, it just might save your life. Remember to upvote your favorites and comment your own stories and suggestions. 

#1

Basing test dummies on the proportions of the average man. Many women and children have died in car crashes because the seatbelt is up too high across their body or the airbag hits at the wrong angle because it was designed to expand to accommodate a taller person. Just wish SOMEONE figured out not everyone is the same size BEFORE people died

#2

There’s a super famous example which got made into a film eventually I think called open water

But the original story was a yacht was found sailing adrift with a baby aboard and no crew anywhere to be seen. No signs of panic were found. The baby was dehydrated but otherwise fine.

Eventually it was assumed that whilst at sea they went for a swim. The sides of yacht stick out of water quite high in place but on most boats the stern is lowered so you can climb into and out of the yacht from a tender (small dingy). This yacht was different and had a ladder lowered from the back.

This was either up or missing. But they couldnt get back on the boat and eventually drowned or were attacked by predators.

Now I never jump in without thinking about this. Because you can’t ever garuntee the person behind won’t do the same.

Imagine trying everything to get back to your screaming baby mere feet away and just being out of reach. It’d get dark. The wind might pick up and carry the boat away.

Those final moment would be agony from such a simple mistake

Image credits: Danither

#3

Baby in the backseat.

I’m in childcare and I’ll do some insane things to remember there’s a baby back there. Take my shoes off, put my phone back there, dirty diaper as a reminder.

People forget. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Mom, nanny, father, nurse, firefighter. It happens.

And yet there’s always someone who says “I’d never forget my baby”. And every year babies die because of it.

Image credits: lighthousek

While often we think of life-threatening situations as somewhat dramatic, involving at least a car, if not a natural disaster, the sad truth is that in most cases, it’s our body malfunctioning that gets us. In the developed world, heart disease, often manifesting as a heart attack, is one of the most common killers. In general, a healthy lifestyle is the most important, preventative measure, but this often comes too late, so it’s vital that people know and recognize the symptoms of an attack. 

The first thing most people will jump to is chest pains. These are indicators of a heart attack, so please don’t ignore any random spasms of discomfort in this area. Pain in the arms and shoulder are symptoms as well, so be vigilant. If you are relatively healthy and have no other indicators, it could be nothing, but a heart attack isn’t one of those things to leave up to chance.

#4

Go to hospital after almost drowning!!!! Water can still be in your lungs and kill u later!!

Image credits: EdgyBrokeArtist

#5

Not wearing a seatbelt

Image credits: Ok_Distance9511

#6

Not using a f*****g turn signal.

Image credits: UncleBathTime

But chances are most of you already know about heart attacks. However, did you know that the symptoms for men and women can be quite different? This is the unfortunate result of medical samples that aren’t balanced by gender. Unexplained tiredness and nausea are more common signs for women but often go overlooked until it’s too late. So understanding the symptoms and risk factors of a leading cause of death seems like a no-brainer, yet many people just don’t.

#7

Leaving the stranded vehicle on the road in winter and trying to walk to get help. It happens in rural parts of our province once or twice a year and they find the body a few days later. They get disoriented and freeze.

Image credits: Regina_Runner

#8

Mao’s idea to get rid of sparrows.

In short, Chinas great leader Mao had calculated that sparrows eat grain and if china got rid of them, they would have more food. So they did indeed decimate the sparrow population.

They did not consider that sparrows eat lots of insects aswell, which started to thrive. Including locusts. The locusts ate the grain, famine, between 16 and 30 million people died.

When he recognized his mistake, he asked the soviet union for help and they secretly shipped sparrows to china.

This is a bit a stretch though, lots of factors led to the famine, lots of mistakes were made. But of all of them, this was probably the most obviously stupid one.

Image credits: ir_blues

#9

Not looking both ways when crossing a street

Image credits: Irovior

While less likely, people often underestimate the weight and risk factors of dying from a large, falling object. While modern fridges are quite stable, vending machines often aren’t due to the number of items inside that will vary over time. Of course, vending machines, notoriously, will end up with items stuck. So people will vent their frustration, unbalancing the machine that then falls and crushes the unlucky person.  

#10

A man in Toronto wanted to show off to his colleagues about the new “shatter-proof” glass that was installed in their high-rise office, so he ran at the window full speed and threw all of his weight into it.

He fell to his death, because the entire window pane popped out.

#11

The most common cause of quadriplegia is diving into water without checking the depth of the water. Always check the water depth before you jump.

Image credits: WoodsAreHome

#12

People outdoors getting amazed when their hair stands up during a thunderstorm.

PS: it means you’re about to die.

Image credits: wrath28

While it seems straight out of a comedy or the Final Destination movies, vending machines cause less than a hundred deaths a year. Interestingly, the vast majority of these cases are caused by men, who seem to believe that violence against the machine will help them get their soda or candy bar. Still, the odds of dying to a vending machine are quite low, unless you take it upon yourself to fight one. Just remember, you will probably lose. 

#13

Shaking a vending machine

Image credits: oneofyrfencegrls

#14

There have been too many instances of rock climbers rappelling off of the ends of their ropes, which could have been easily avoided by tying stopper knots at the ends of their ropes.

Image credits: LZRDLZRD

#15

Mixing cleaning ingredients.

Image credits: Jonnysource

A much more common, and unfortunately avoidable death is when a pedestrian inattentively crosses the road and gets hit by a car. In some cases, the driver is to blame, but in most collisions between a car and a person, you can guess who comes out worse. Mobile phones create enough distractions that let a person somehow not notice a multi-ton vehicle moving towards them. As a result, some counties, such as Lithuania, have passed laws against using a phone when on the street at any time. 

#16

Pulling the knife out of someone

Image credits: rcadephantom

#17

Not cleaning the lint catcher on the dryer

Image credits: Baylisstico

#18

Not having a carbon monoxide detector

Image credits: I-like-oranges75

#19

I worked at a tire place for a summer and the first thing they told me was “See that torque wrench ? One mistake with this and you can kill a whole family in a matter of seconds”. I thought well, better take this thing seriously

Image credits: FrenchMicrowave

#20

Long, long ago I was on the crew of a submarine older than me. We went into the shipyard; one of the planned jobs was to install some new equipment that required a hull penetration. One Friday afternoon a shipyard worker drilled a 1/8 inch pilot hole through the hull, intending to come back on Monday to finish the job. The job got cancelled, he got reassigned, and the hole remained. It was covered with duct tape to keep dirt out.

The painters went ahead and sprayed over the tape.

How deep can a piece of duct tape + paint hold on a dive? About 218 feet. Before you ask, yes, we survived.

Image credits: BobT21

#21

Drinking while taking medications

Image credits: algaebomb

#22

Not checking and planning for the weather

Image credits: PM_ME_UR_DATAVIZ

#23

That all heart attacks have the exact same symptoms. They don’t.

Trust yourself and seek help ASAP if you are afraid that you’re having a heart attack.

Image credits: EntertainmentOne8416

#24

Cutting towards yourself, rather than away.

Being on statins for high cholesterol plus amiodarone for cardiac issues and having a glass of grapefruit juice before going to bed.

Smoking in bed.

former paramedic

Image credits: Cross_Contamination

#25

Oily paint/staining rags will combust.

Per the internets:

“Spontaneous combustion of oily rags occurs when rag or cloth is slowly heated to its ignition point through oxidation. A substance will begin to release heat as it oxidizes. If this heat has no way to escape, like in a pile, the temperature will rise to a level high enough to ignite the oil and ignite the rag or cloth.”

My Dad worked in construction and this had happened on job sites a time or two.

Image credits: bailey1149

#26

Not leaving where you are during a hurricane.

Image credits: Journeyj012

#27

As a healthcare worker, giving the wrong amount of insulin.

Image credits: UzumakiHorror

#28

Getting fired up from road rage.

Image credits: Claudius96

#29

A friend’s husband locked himself out of their home. He tried to get in through a window that had security bars. While squeezing through his foot slipped and he essentially hung himself on the window sill.

Image credits: Cokej01

#30

I once listened to a guy telling the story of how, when he fell down the stairs, he desperately clutched onto the glas of wine he was carrying, in order not to break it, instead of grabbing the railing to stop his fall. He survived with a broken hip, but I imagine lots of people probably have the same weird instinct and some may not be able to tell the tale.

#31

Nigerian Airlines flight 2120 (operated by Nationair) departed Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after a maintenance worker reinflated a tyre with air instead of Nitrogen. The tyre heated up, burst, and caught fire during the take off roll. The landing gear was retracted into the aircraft and burned the airfract from the inside out. The fire caused a mid air structural failure shortly before the pilots could return to Jeddah. My father’s first wife was a flight attended on that flight. Her and 260 others died. It remains the most deadly aviation accident involving a Canadian airline.

#32

Near me there was a serious traffic collision. Several cars and 2 trucks. 3 people died when one truck ploughed into stationary traffic at around 50mph. The crash and resulting fire was so horrific 2 people were only identified by their dead dog on the carriageway (it was microchipped).

It was on the BBC news and have been documentaries about it.

The truck driver was on his phone. He was charged and is now in prison.

Image credits: velazquezisabella

#33

I read an article a long time ago about a aircraft maintenance worker not removing a piece of tape that was put in place to protect a sensor during cleaning. The pilot failed to notice during the preflight inspection. 70 people died in the plane crash.

Image credits: JM_Flynn

#34

I was working alone and fell off a ladder beside an empty shaft where stairs used to be. I fell 20 ft off the ladder down the shaft. I caught myself on a railing that had been left behind and hit the floor below. I got off really lucky. I was bruised up and it took about 20 minutes till I could get up. If that railing wasn’t there I was probably dead because I would have fallen 2 more floors to the basement

Also saw a guy who also fell off a ladder. He was 3 steps up. Smashed his head and got perma brain damage

#35

Not being honest with doctors about viagra.
It has many dangerous drug interactions and can cause a lot of problems from what I’ve heard. Trust me the doctor ain’t gonna judge you guys, they have seen much more embarrassing things. And it would suck to die because you wanted to hide something just for it to be later stated in your death certificate.

Image credits: The_upsetti_spagetti

#36

The “I had the right of way” argument while driving.

Even if you did, are you willing to literally… die on that hill?

#37

THERAC-25. The world’s deadliest software error. Cost several radiation patients their lives by administering lethal amounts of radiation, and for a while, the doctors didn’t even know.

#38

The Herald of Free Enterprise – not closing the bow door. 193 drowned.
Source: boredpanda.com