A new National Safety Council report finds that accidental deaths here in the U.S. have reached an all-time high.
As recently as 2014, 136,000 Americans died from accidental causes, including unintended overdoses, a 4.2 increase over the year before. This equates to 15.5 deaths the hour or one every 4 minutes approximately. Researchers also found the leading causes of accidental deaths include falls and fatal drug overdoses.
Accidental Deaths up Sharply in 2014
In the decade leading up to the year the most recent numbers were tabulated researchers also found the number of accidental deaths swelled by 15.5 percent or the equivalent of one accidental death every four minutes.
"Every individual has the opportunity to make choices to keep themselves safe," said Ken Kolosh, director of NSC. "It's all preventable. Every accident is preventable, but it's not necessarily the [fault] of the victim."
As it is, the 42,000 Americans who perished from overdoses and accidental poisonings are now greater than the number of people who died in traffic accidents. Fatal falls have also become much more common, with nearly 32,000 occurring in 2014, compared to just 10,000 in just over a decade before.
"In 2013, unintentional injuries were the eighth leading cause of death among U.S. adults aged 65 and over, resulting in nearly 46,000 deaths," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Heart Disease Remains top Cause of Death
Overall, heart disease remains the most common form of death in the U.S. accounting for 614,000 deaths annually, followed by cancer at roughly 592,000.
Medical errors have now risen to third on the list of most common causes of death. Behind accidental deaths, stroke comes in as the no. 4 killer with 133,100 fatalities annually, followed by Alzheimer's disease, which is blamed for taking the lives of just under 94,000 Americans each year.
