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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

Beetlejuice1800 Report

#2

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives 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

Danither , Artem Verbo Report

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#3

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives Not using a f*****g turn signal.

UncleBathTime , Krzysztof Hepner Report

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

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives Go to hospital after almost drowning!!!! Water can still be in your lungs and kill u later!!

EdgyBrokeArtist , Blake Cheek Report

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#5

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives 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.

lighthousek , Erik Mclean Report

#6

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives 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.

ir_blues , P A Report

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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

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives 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.

WoodsAreHome , Simone Mascellari 🇮🇹 Report

#8

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives Not wearing a seatbelt

Ok_Distance9511 , RDNE Stock project Report

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#9

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives Not looking both ways when crossing a street

Irovior , Gigi Report

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.  

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#10

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives 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.

Regina_Runner , Oleksandr Pidvalnyi Report

#11

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.

numbersev Report

#12

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives 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.

BobT21 , Darren Halstead Report

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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

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives 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

FrenchMicrowave , Jimmy Nilsson Masth Report

#14

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives People outdoors getting amazed when their hair stands up during a thunderstorm.

PS: it means you're about to die.

wrath28 , Michaela Pereckas Report

#15

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives Not cleaning the lint catcher on the dryer

Baylisstico , shiwork Report

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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

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives Pulling the knife out of someone

rcadephantom , Markus Spiske Report

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Pride Bean️‍
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If someone has been stabbed with a knife or has another stabbing wound that has the item in PLEASE DONT PULL IT OUT!!!

[>.<]/
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah and you don't want to get your fingerprints all over the weapon.

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Darran
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And I suppose that twisting the knife is completely out of the question?

Michael Largey
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, and pulling it out and then putting it back in someplace else is a no too.

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scag$y
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How on earth are you supposed to stab them again if you don't pull it out?

Xenon
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's plugging the hole. Just stabilize it until medical help arrives.

Hugh Cookson
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Never, ever do this. In the 80's I ran a nice hotel in Somerset UK, and we used to do a decent menu with a lot of fresh game (Venison / Pheasant / Partridge / Hare / Wild Boar etc) as we were at the foot of Exmoor on the coast. We had a Zinc lined pantry where we used to do the butchery in a North facing room. So, this particular day, we'd had 6 freshly culled Deer in and the Chef had hung them and was butchering them with a very, very sharp Filleting knife, unfortunately and for whatever reason, the knife got stuck, he tugged and it ended up coming free only for it to pierce his forearm, right the way through. He had the foresight not to pull it out but came through to reception where I was (that's another story entirely) and I called an ambulance which took 45 minutes to arrive. Had he pulled it out he would have been dead in 5 minutes as it had gone right through his Brachial Artery .. lucky boy ; he was 25 at the time with 3 kids ; now has 5 kids and 8 grandchildren.

the_harbinger_of_dooms/t/h
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

please dont pull the knife out, they will bleed out if you do and you could cause more damage

Moezzzz
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As an ER/Trauma RN, never EVER take anything OUT of a body; get them to the ER asap and we'll handle it. They can bleed out in a matter of seconds. In a controlled environment, we can get the knife out and keep them alive.

Seadog
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not just a knife, never remove any object from a puncture wound. One it's acting as a cork and 2) you're likely to do more damage than has already been done. Also, never remove the helmet from a bike crash victim. You could turn a simple neck fracture into a broken neck amongst other risks.

Celtic Pirate Queen
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Or an arrow. Had to stop the neighbor lady from doing that when one son accidentally shot the other. She tried to argue with me & I had to physically restrain her. The EMTs told her straight up that if she had pulled the arrow out, the kid (9 or so?) would have bled out before they arrived. B*tch never even thanked me.

Wintermute
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's true. You should actually push it in deeper so that it creates a good seal and stops the bleeding. Helps if you wiggle it a little. /s

April Pickett
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Leave all objects impaling you ALONE, do not try to remove them. They are sealing the puncture and that could save your life.

Bumblebee
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Most stab wounds should be left in. This includes but is not limited too: knives, glass, metal, and wood. Even if it looks small, there can be a lot deeper into the body, and it is actually making a plug and slowing the bleeding. Apply pressure around the object and get to a hospital

Ken Beattie
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm sure I've seen a comedy where the person has been stabbed, someone pulls the knife out and a bystander says you can't pull the knife out! So they re-stab the person. Can't for the life of me think of the name of the movie.

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#17

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives Mixing cleaning ingredients.

Jonnysource , Kelly Sikkema Report

#18

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives 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.

velazquezisabella , Seb Creativo Report

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#19

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives 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.

EntertainmentOne8416 , Puwadon Sang-ngern Report

#20

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives 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.

bailey1149 , Craig Morey Report

#21

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives Not leaving where you are during a hurricane.

Journeyj012 , NASA Report

#22

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

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

titankyle08 Report

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#23

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives Drinking while taking medications

algaebomb , Joey Nicotra Report

#24

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives Not checking and planning for the weather

PM_ME_UR_DATAVIZ , Ross Sneddon Report

#25

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives 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

Cross_Contamination , Klaus Nielsen Report

#26

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives Getting fired up from road rage.

Claudius96 , gpointstudio Report

#27

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives Not having a carbon monoxide detector

I-like-oranges75 , Abi Begum Report

#28

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives 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.

The_upsetti_spagetti , Tim Reckmann Report

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#29

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives As a healthcare worker, giving the wrong amount of insulin.

UzumakiHorror , Mykenzie Johnson Report

#30

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.

fin_ss Report

#31

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.

onesmilematters Report

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#32

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives 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.

LZRDLZRD , Katya Wolf Report

#33

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives Shaking a vending machine

oneofyrfencegrls , Kenny Eliason Report

#34

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives 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.

Cokej01 , MontyLov Report

#35

35 Silly And Careless Mistakes That Have Cost People Their Lives 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.

JM_Flynn , Andrew Palmer Report

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