The world can seem like a safe place. You wake up in a comfy bed, prepare yourself a tasty meal, take a hot shower, all in the comfort of your own home. You then head to work, where people work in a team to reach mutual goals and provide for themselves and their families. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?
Well, that's only half of the picture. You can also get food poisoning before you leave, end up in an automobile accident on your way, and fall down the stairs at the office. I'm not saying you will, but these unfortunate situations are just mathematical probabilities, and the fact that we don't like to think of them doesn't diminish their chances.
Interested in the things that we tend to overlook, Reddit user TYP-E made a post on the platform, asking everyone, "What is something that can be far more dangerous than people realize?" and folks immediately started sending in their answers. Below you will find the most popular ones.
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Texting while driving. See it all the time. Seen people get into a big collision and continued texting immediately after. People should lose their licenses for texting while driving.
In Denmark, if you are caught driving with your phone in the hand three times, you lose your license.
Pregnancy and Childbirth is extremely dangerous, and I have met a lot of people who don't seem to or refuse to understand this.
The sun.
I live in a pretty consistently sunny touristy area. The amount of people that let themselves get ruthlessly burned or try hiking without water is staggering. The sun will f**k you up.
Isn't it weird how a giant bright sphere of death sits up there and nobody thinks about it or tries to see it? So strange to me.
Driving while tired.
Your body cannot fight the need to sleep when you are tired. It's because of the high level of adenosine in your brain. You can use coffee, energy drinks or other stimulants but only for a very short while, and only if you are not too tired. And only 2 seconds of micro-sleep while driving is more than enough to crush your car at high speed.
Pressure washers. People think it’s funny to spray others with them but the reality is that water coming out of that nozzle can be powerful enough to chip bricks. It easily cuts into the skin and can even inject that water into your bloodstream. Also the blue ringed octopus has some of the most toxic venom on the planet yet people still hold them thinking they’re cute.
Getting into a relationship with a low self esteem or toxic partner.
OMG. And some people never learn, saved from one toxic partner just to pick up another.
Ho, well, I have one actually.
Sucker Punch, or any unprepared or unforeseen head impact. People doesn't understand that guys and pals fighting being prepared isn't as deadly as getting hit by surprise. If your muscles aren't ready for the impact you can easily get knocked out and fall limp on the ground, hitting it hard enough to break something vital and die. Also, if you have an unknown condition that get aggravated by the hit, it can also be over.
Never hit someone if you aren't prepared for the consequences. Never fight somebody if you can avoid it. A *bad* hit is all it take.
I feel like I've met a lot of people who don't take bites and scratches from small animals like cats or little dogs as something serious. It just baffles me that they don't understand how bacteria works.
Complacency. It's run so deep at this point that we just accept things as they are now. Assuming that it's the way things have always been so it always will be. At least here in the states. This good guy bad guy mentality has driven people to be comfortable in their belief that their side is the good one and the only way to keep everything afloat. Not knowing that their hard stick beliefs are the reason we are all getting more miserable and a lower quality of life by the day. Everyday we just sit around content with our system at hand because we've refused to do anything about it.
No I don't mean in a "oh Communism good" or whatever, I mean we don't hold our representatives accountable due to complacency and they grow further and further away from being objective in progress and more so enamored in keeping things the way they are.
Herbivore animals, meanwhile predators would probably not see humans as worth hunting all the time Herbivores will see anything as a threat and go crazy.
A moose a horse a cow a donkey can kick you to death a lot quicker than you think, theyre not your best buds that you can just go and pet them like a classic Disney movie.
Just think of hippos. They're herbivores and cause more deaths than lions.
Mosquitoes.
I hate those suckers. Unfortunately, they love me. And I can't take Malaria medication.
Driving.
Every time you get into that vehicle you're putting your life at risk.
Ladders.
I’m an emergency physician. Aside from motorcycle/car crashes and gunshots, the next biggest trauma I see is probably falls from ladders.
Ladders were always outsiders, no wonder they threaten to turn against us! Rise up against ladders!!
Running through railroad crossings, it might be the most idiotic thing some can do while driving. There is always that one chance you get stuck and then you get pancaked.
Ever see what a train could do to a semi truck? I've see what it can do to an unsuspecting person. Let's put it this way, he was carrying pizzas and then became one.
Cleaning the home. Many household chemicals can react with very small amounts mixing. A neighbor girl in grade school died from it actually. But to be fair she also had Asthma.
Chernobyl exclusion zone. The amount of people that visit illegally is shocking and the disregard for their own safety and health is also shocking. Like there is a claw that was used to move nuclear waste and it was moved into a spot and left there and the amount of people CLIMBING TOUCHING AND SITTING INSIDE OF IT is insane… like that could kill you with a few hours of exposure. And also not to mention the amount of things that could radiate potentially deadly particles that people take as a souvenir is also mad.
I can count on one hand the amount of times I've been there. It's 13.
Drinking water:
* Drinking too much of it.
* Brain eating Amoebas.
* Ingesting ocean water.
* Flint Michigan drinking water.
* Your cup of drinking water spilled onto the ground and its very cold there and it freezes and you slip on it and hit your head too hard as you fall.
* Fish farts.
Had a brain eating amoeba once. Poor little thing died of nothing to eat :(
Riding a horse.
I like riding horses and I agree, they can be lethal if you startle them.
Driving close to, or behind a semi truck.
Not only because wind might make it swing your way, but all the components that could fail and fly your way. A drum could brake, a wheel bearing not in place properly making a tire come off, a split-rim tire blow out and hit you, and that's just scratching the surface.
Fentynal. People do not realize the absolute magnitude of the tiniest amount of it.
Skiing. I was young and flew through multiple barriers completely out of control on a mountain into unprotected territory in Whistler, Canada. Had to be rescued by ski patrol.
I have two damaged ankles and one damaged knee because of skiing, falling down an 8m cliff into a big pile of snow and twisting my legs. Be careful out there
The original idiot who thought strapping super slippery pieces of wood onto ones feet and going 60mph down a mountain was a good idea probably ended life as a cripple.
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Skiing is only dangerous when you don't get proper ongoing education. The amount of people who think they can try skiing without a lesson baffles me. (Ski instructor talking here)
I wish we could give you all of the upvotes. Almost everyone I know who has been injured while skiing have one thing in common: they didn't take lessons. Worse, they had some idiot relative or friend who was going to "teach" them. I was a ski instructor for many, many years, and I can truthfully say that not a single person I taught has been injured while learning. And that's not because I'm unusually good; that's just because I'm competent.
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Tried once. Just before beginning the second descent, I saw someone falling really bad. I had a panic attack and I told the instructor to leave me for a while, I'd get down when I'd be ready. No idea how much I waited on the top, taking deep breaths, trying to calm down. Eventually I started descending, painfully slow. I was ok. The guy who fell was not.
That's a really bad ski instructor. I was a certified instructor for years, and I pulled something like that, I would have immediately been fired.
Load More Replies... Skiing is great as long as you see have good practice or experience! I've been skiing since I was three and the worst that I've done is fall all the way down the jump course and still come second!
Some mountains like ones in colorado ive been on are actually pretty good for wanting to skii but not wanting to die :] basically one wide snow hill with no obsticals and not very steep
Load More Replies... Agree, tried skiing once. It was such an unpleasant experience (admittedly I'm uncoordinated as f***), the next mountain I encountered I conquered on a sled. Happened to be the tallest mountain in the German Alps.True story!
If I want to rocket down an inclined surface and break my leg, I'll just fall down my basement stairs and save myself the lift fees.
Skiid through a narrow, steep, sharp turning trail... ended up hitting a tree head on and getting my legs locked pointing inwards (my skiis didnt pop off) i am so grateful my mom was with me, she skiid down to me and popped them off... lets just say this occured in feburary and my knees are just now getting back to normal
Tried it once in 2020 (right before the whole Corona s**t hit the fan). On the second day my SO and my FIL took me on a trip that was way too difficult for me. There was a moment when I lost control and approached a line of trees quite fast. I panicked and tried to let myself fall to the side - and hurt my knee really bad during this. I limped for several months and had flashbacks of this moment for almost a year -.-" Skiing. Thanks, I hate it!
That's not because skiing is inherently dangerous. That was because your SO and FIL were behaving like a******s. Just what did they think was going to happen?
Load More Replies... Went skiing once. My friend, who was quite experienced, decided to take me down an advanced slope and I fell/tumbled down, losing my poles and skis in the process. I finally was able to somehow grab a tree and came to a stop, my leg up near my ear. A kind woman stopped and told me if I would stop screaming she would help me. She walked me out through the adjacent forest, saying that if I wasn't so limber (a ballet dancer), I would have been very seriously injured.
My first husband's uncle died in a skiing accident on Christmas day. He was not an amateur. High speed and trees are not a good combination.
I have always thought that skiing was a sure-fire way to be cold, miserable, and break a leg.
Skiing is like using a ladder. It can be very safe, but stupid people are likely to hurt themselves.
The first and only time I went skiing, a teenager lost control coming down the beginner slope and skied right into my face. I was sitting on some hay bales just watching. Had to go with the ski patrol and then the ER. Had stitches in my lip, broke a tooth. My lips swelled so much I looked like Mushmouth on the Fat Albert cartoon. Mortifying and I've never gone back. This was over 30 years ago.
I hate snow, don’t do cold, and don’t understand people risking their lives going hurtling down a mountain on a bit of wood. But I can do apres-ski like you wouldn’t believe
Skiing can be dangerous, however there are precautions you can take, such as skiing runs you are familiar with, skiing with at least one other person, knowing your own skill level, and being able to slow down and stop quickly. I've been skiing for 13 years, and yes, you can get out of control easily, but ski hills often have a runs in a variety of difficulties, and it can be enjoyable for everyone.
I’ve only skied twice and the second time I broke my leg. I had a full leg cast for 10 weeks. Happened right before a trip I’d been looking forward to for months :/
They call them a ”pumpjack”. You see them in oil fields. The look like a big metal rocking horse. They move slow and don’t seem like they would be that dangerous, but they are.
I tried to ride one when I was 12. It mangled my foot and I’m lucky that’s all it did. It required surgical pins down each toe into the middle of my foot, drain hoses, skin grafts and two separate toe amputations to save what I have left of my foot.
You don’t want to mess with them. They will grind you to a pulp in slow motion. It’s all torque and no speed.
Electricity.
No, really? I didn't ever think that electricity, something that can fry just about anything living, could kill you.
Anything heavy suspended over your head. Don't walk under gantries. If something heavy falls, don't tempt mass and gravity with your sausage fingers.
The first lesson in chemical laboratories is : don't attempt to catch anything. Also applies to kitchens, and to any objects falling from overhead.
Compressed air.
High pressure air can pretty easily pass through the skin and into the bloodstream, which is no bueno.
Yeah, no. Not the one in the photo. The risk of skin penetration starts in the range of 100-120 psi/ 7 bar, and it needs a very tight nozzle do be dangerous. As a reference, we are talking three times the average pressure of a car tire, and double the pressure of a truck tire. The OSHA limit for pressure at nozzle is 30 PSI, about 2 bar. The cans in the photo are at best 70 psi (nominal) for commercial-grade product, and most often half that. The real danger with those gas duster is environmental damage from ozone-depleting gases, health hazards from fluoroethanes inhalation and, the biggest danger by far, flammability of the gases leading to fires and explosions when sprayed on hot surfaces.
Bunjee cords. Blind in one eye now because I did not want a cooler rolling around the car.
I feel like there's context to this story that I'd like to know.
Licking snails.
Note: this post originally had 37 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Being alive is one of those things that will inevitably lead to your demise. That is a well-known fact. Now do yourself a favor, set that knowledge aside, and just keep on living.
Hospitals are more dangerous than people generally think. My daughter picked up pneumonia while in hospital for an ear operation. She was dead a fortnight later. My mother picked up three different hospital-acquired diseases in a single visit.
I am so sorry for your loss. Sending you a hug from far away.
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So I'm supposed to stay inside my house all the time just in case something bad might happen? Oh, but wait. Social isolation was listed as dangerous too. Guess I'll just live my life normally and not stress myself out about things I have no control over.
No. Be scared and afraid. Wait no. That's dangerous too.
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Raw oysters. I'll never eat one again after talking to a hospital dietician.
Imagine a bundle of papers or magazines. You know the plastic straps that hold the bundle together? Super dangerous when they are intact and lying on the ground. One foot steps on them, causing them to lift off the ground, the other foot gets caught in the loop now sticking up. This trips you up so suddenly, there's no time to react, and much pain and possible injury quickly ensues.
Being alive is one of those things that will inevitably lead to your demise. That is a well-known fact. Now do yourself a favor, set that knowledge aside, and just keep on living.
Hospitals are more dangerous than people generally think. My daughter picked up pneumonia while in hospital for an ear operation. She was dead a fortnight later. My mother picked up three different hospital-acquired diseases in a single visit.
I am so sorry for your loss. Sending you a hug from far away.
Load More Replies... So I'm supposed to stay inside my house all the time just in case something bad might happen? Oh, but wait. Social isolation was listed as dangerous too. Guess I'll just live my life normally and not stress myself out about things I have no control over.
No. Be scared and afraid. Wait no. That's dangerous too.
Load More Replies... Raw oysters. I'll never eat one again after talking to a hospital dietician.
Imagine a bundle of papers or magazines. You know the plastic straps that hold the bundle together? Super dangerous when they are intact and lying on the ground. One foot steps on them, causing them to lift off the ground, the other foot gets caught in the loop now sticking up. This trips you up so suddenly, there's no time to react, and much pain and possible injury quickly ensues.
