Have you ever experienced something sudden or shocking and thought to yourself, "Whoa, that could've ended way worse than it did!"?
After all, the world we live in is full of dangers we sometimes can't even predict. That's what today's list is all about - people online listing things that are not only dangerous but also very common, so more folks should be informed about them. So, without further ado, let's be informed, shall we?
More info: Reddit
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**Mixing cleaning products.** Specifically bleach and ammonia (creates chloramine gas) or bleach and vinegar (creates chlorine gas). People accidentally recreate WWI trench warfare conditions in their unventilated bathrooms trying to get grout clean.
Ebikes. Fatal accidents involving bicycles are up 1800% from 2023. It's the ebikes.
Driving.
noshoes77 replied:
92% of all drivers buckle up.
The 8% who don’t account for about 50% of all traffic fatal accidents.
Two quick stories:
A few years back my nephew was in an accident where he hit a car that was parked on the narrow entrance ramp of the interstate in St. Louis; its hazard lights were off and there were no street lights. He was going 60 and totaled his car. His mother’s was stunned he walked away with no serious injuries- he was wearing his seat belt.
Last month 5 students at a school in my district ran into a tree- driver was brain ceased to function and was gone four days later, one boy has significant spinal swelling and is paralyzed, the others all have broken bones and neck injuries- none of them were wearing their seatbelt.
We all know what danger is since our young days. After all, since our childhood, parents, guardians, and other adult figures have taught us about what is dangerous—what should not be done because it can hurt us.
This includes stuff like hot ovens, online safety, stranger danger, and many other things like that, more or less, depending on their lifestyle. Basically, we’re teaching kids the same thing Ace of Base once sang about: “ You'll be living in danger.”
Gambling is way too widely accepted as entertainment.
C’mon, actually get something for your money. Like a ton of useless consumer goods that sit forgotten in the garage
I retired from public safety/law enforcement 4 years ago. But one thing I’ve been screaming from the rooftops: Stop wearing ear buds/headphones in public spaces. The amount of walkers, commuters, joggers, etc. that are routinely victimized while wearing headphones would shock you. And it’s not just folks that’s fall prey to random attacks and robberies.. it’s also folks that are struck by cars and bikes. Meh, I know I sound like an alarmist. But you are presenting yourself as a victim. Please consider stopping these practices.
Not having situational awareness. Stop moving around parking lots and sketchy areas while staring at your phone.
What we mean is that, from our young days, we have to come to terms with the fact that every day, we face certain danger. And most of the time, we do come around it. In fact, we usually get used to this fact so much that we even kind of forget about it.
And so, we go around each day oblivious to how dangerous everything is for us. For example, take any point from today’s list. After all, that’s the topic of it – things a common person doesn’t even realize are that dangerous.
I knew a guy who was frantically running around his apartment while getting ready for his first day of work out of college. He was brushing his teeth and he tripped. He landed on his face. The toothbrush went back through his skull and caused major brain damage. Unfortunately, he won't be able to function normally ever again due to brain injury. He's only 22. So, brushing teeth I guess?
Not washing your hands. I swear to god the amount of people I’ve seen exiting public bathroom stalls without washing their hands is actually alarming, even post-Covid I still see people doing it. I side eye them from the sink and they still don’t have enough self awareness to just wash their hands. You can actually get extremely sick and possibly be gone (and SPREAR IT TO OTHERS) by contracting diseases from fecal matter, urine, and whatever other bacteria and viruses are floating around. This isn’t me being a “clean freak”, this is common sense, and I’m so done with people acting like washing your hands is an optional choice.
Yup. Just a few years after Covid too. Proof that far too many people are too dumb to live.
Let’s take driving, for instance. It’s no secret that it’s a very dangerous activity, to the driver themselves, to the passengers, or just passersby. And it’s not like it poses one kind of danger – it poses a lot of them, depending on varying circumstances, which makes it even scarier.
Distracted drivers, poor health conditions, bad weather conditions, and pollution that strains visibility are just a few of the things that make driving dangerous. While car accidents are among the most common injuries in day-to-day life, they’re far from the only ones.
Lots of responses for driving. I'll go further.
Tailgating. Riding the bumper.
My god, just back off before we are both gone. Where the hell do you need to be anyway?
Well, see, I'm late for X because it was more important to me to have that final cigarette even though I knew I was late...
Pretending Emotional Stress Isn't Dangerous.
Long-term stress literally reshapes the brain, raises blood pressure, destabilizes hormones, and weakens the immune system.
People walk around like it’s “normal” to be that tense. It’s not.
Driving while emotionally overwhelmed. Being angry, sad, or stressed behind the wheel is extremely dangerous and people underestimate it.
There are plenty of other ways life can hurt you. Here, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information from 2016 and 2017, accidental falls make up a whopping 32% of all injuries that reach emergency room visits or even hospitalizations.
Granted, this data isn’t the most recent, but the world in the last decade didn’t change that drastically for it not to be at least somewhat similar to today. Basically, you can fall in your own home or outside due to weather conditions and end up contributing to this statistic.
Not looking both ways when crossing the road
One unlucky time and it could be game over.
I drive a Prius, and the number of times people just wander out in front of me is mind-boggling. I'm presuming it's a matter of not hearing the car, but come on! My favorite time was when a woman was getting a casserole out of the back of the car, with a kid maybe 4 years old standing next to her. Kid was not just watching, but actually maintaining eye contact with me; mom turned & started to cross the street. Kid stayed put, watching me. Mom *pushed the kid in front of my moving vehicle* without even looking. Good thing I had slowed down, because otherwise I might not have been able to stop in time, I'd had the car for six years at that point, and that was the 12th time I had someone step out in front of me without looking.
I recently nearly choked on a small chicken bone. And for the first time in 35 years, I realized that eating is much more dangerous than I thought.
Complaining to or arguing with strangers. You never know when somebody is already on their last nerve and ready to pop right outside of their mind and hurt someone.
This is why the internet. You can argue endlessly about the Oxford Comma or the 'u' in colour with a complete stranger from the relative safety of your own keyboard.
So, it’s always useful to think about things like a non-slip mat in the shower and non-slip shoes, if you’re living where it tends to get icy. And still, we hate to break it to you—even these things don’t guarantee 100% success in avoiding such dangers.
Overall, no matter what you do, danger is still always looming. Yet, that doesn’t mean you can throw caution to the wind and be reckless – that will only put you in more needless danger.
Do you know of any other examples of things that are daily dangers? Please share with your fellow Bored Panda readers in the comments!
I’m 39 and active. I was walking down the sidewalk three weeks ago and, mildly distracted, put my foot down on the edge of the sidewalk. Went down hard. Broke my elbow.
…so…walking on the sidewalk.
Practice actually being in your environment. The universe doesn't care about you.
I think TikTok and everything like that
All those idiotic "challenges". Especially doing the ones that involve doing things like choking or eating large amounts of stuff that is strong in tiny doses "for the likes". Do the hapless even understand that people are "liking" watching them suffer?
I don’t think anyone’s said this yet but doing exercises wrong/regularly overexerting yourself. It’s all but guaranteed to give you more chronic pain when you become middle aged or older
Showering! ...And all the slippery potions we use just to make a wet, tiled room even more slippery. I almost went A over T after conditioning my hair the other day.. stepped back on my heel too hard on the slick floor and almost went right through the screen.
Poor sleep hygiene. It’s insidious with some real dangerous repercussions down the road.
Choosing the stairs over the elevator. Every year, thousands of people are gone falling down stairs. Only a handful have accidents in elevators, usually elevator technicians.
LOL choosing stairs over elevator is for exercise/health. It's called being CAREFUL while using stairs!
Humans. Other humans are dangerous. Wild animals make sense - either they think you're dinner (or at least, a snack) or they think you might think they are dinner. They react accordingly. Except cats, who just want to be given dinner. Humans, on the other hand, are irrational nutters who would happily accept dinner and then end you because "my god told me to". Can you tell I'm hungry? ;) Anyway: Danger = Humans.
Humans. Other humans are dangerous. Wild animals make sense - either they think you're dinner (or at least, a snack) or they think you might think they are dinner. They react accordingly. Except cats, who just want to be given dinner. Humans, on the other hand, are irrational nutters who would happily accept dinner and then end you because "my god told me to". Can you tell I'm hungry? ;) Anyway: Danger = Humans.
