1H!
Guard against these four factors if you want to see another summer By J.D. Wallace, MD We in Canada really enjoy a summer that is all too short. We have to pack into a few months many of the joys of outdoor, carefree living that in more temperate climates the residents enjoy for all or most of the year. As a result, we do our summering with a vengeance, a fact strongly borne out in our national morbidity and mortality statistics. While our accident rates are bad enough the rest of the year, they rise prodigiously during the good old summertime. The sad part of this an¬ nual slaughter and maiming spree is that most of the accidents are preventable, often quite simply. In the age range from birth to the mid-30s, the highest cause of death and disability is accidents. In most of those years, accidents account for more than 50% of all deaths; our favourite na¬ tional possession, the private car, ac¬ counts for well over half these casual¬ ties. To sharpen the tragic picture, re¬ member we are now maiming far more citizens each year with automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats, bicycles and what not than were wounded by bullets in the Canadian Forces during all of World War II. The annual death toll on the roads exceeds the Canadian battle deaths in that war for each year but 1944. Perhaps the newspapers should go back to the front page boxes edged in black that were used in wartime to put this peacetime carnage into but it now ap¬ proper perspective pears to be an accepted risk and is no longer considered newsworthy unless something spectacular occurs, like a major air crash. And you are many times safer in a modern jet than in the .
and manufacture do their best them safe. But the fact re¬ mains that the one nut they can't readily control or regulate is the one and therein lies behind the wheel the real problem that must be solved if we hope to reduce this increasing threat to the health and lives of Cana¬ dians. The short summer is the worst period for a variety of reasons. The first is probably frustration combined with oppressive heat. The main highways out of our cities are congested enough in other seasons but on sum¬ mer Friday and Sunday evenings they are clogged. Traffic is stop and go, the car gets hotter, the kids become rambunctious, and the parents become ir¬ ritable. Normal judgement is replaced by a virtual hatred for all those clots ahead that are keeping you from that cold beer beside the lake, and the reck¬ less "dodge-em" syndrome takes over. Those little electric ears you drive at the exhibition move slowly and have rubber buffers; collisions are fun. Not so headon between two ears with a combined speed of 160 km/h or better.
design
to make
Judgement The second reason is undoubtedly a lack of judgement or experience or both. Those who normally drive only to the local store and back on quiet residential streets during the week set forth bravely but often irresponsibly at the height of the traffic rush. Often they compound their problem by
overloading a low-powered family compact car with a boat on top and a trailer behind. They thus become a double menace by adding yet another family car. We all know most accidents are impediment to other, already fruscaused by human carelessness or lack trated, drivers. When (and if) they of judgement. The manufacturers of arrive they will share with more ex¬ the various forms of personal transpor¬ perienced water sports enthusiasts a tation and recreation that we use and failure to take the safety precautions the national bodies that regulate their that are available and required by law 146 CMA JOURNAL/JULY 26,
1975/VOL. 113
in the operation of watercraft. Orie ac¬ cident that did make headlines last sum¬ mer was the loss of most of the mem¬ bers of two families who set off to cruise choppy waters in a light alu¬ minum boat. A third factor relates closely to the lack of judgement because it impairs that human characteristic. Because summer is a fun time, and because, to many, fun means getting a bit drunk even before the trip starts, alcohol is an increasing factor in accidental deaths and injuries. Autopsy reports and coroners' inquests reveal that many who cause accidents have had a few drinks not long before the accidents occurred. The incidents so reported include motor vehicle collisions, crashes of light aircraft, drownings, motorboats running over swimmers, falls from cot¬ tage roofs, fires, tractor accidents on farms (hobby or working) and many more.
A fourth factor is the peculiar and perhaps emotionally protective human trait that says, "It can't happen to me." I first saw this at work as a young doctor looking after fighter pilots dur¬ ing a war. It was perhaps a good thing then for those fellows in their late teens and early 20s they didn't really recognize the potential finality of each flight. However, as we all know in spite of any fatalistic be¬ liefs we may have it can happen to you and to me. Whether the fault is yours or the other person's really doesn't matter in the end, eventual collections by estates through lawsuits to the contrary. So we have once again entered those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, and we should enjoy them as they are in¬ tended to be enjoyed. However, re¬ member that every future year will have a summer too. Recognize the ha¬ zards, practise safety and increase your chances of seeing another one at .
least that's the way I
see
it... ¦
Guard against these four factors if you want to see another summer By J.D. Wallace, MD We in Canada really enjoy a summer that is all too short. We have to pack into a few months many of the joys of outdoor, carefree living that in more temperate climates the residents enjoy for all or most of the year. As a result, we do our summering with a vengeance, a fact strongly borne out in our national morbidity and mortality statistics. While our accident rates are bad enough the rest of the year, they rise prodigiously during the good old summertime. The sad part of this an¬ nual slaughter and maiming spree is that most of the accidents are preventable, often quite simply. In the age range from birth to the mid-30s, the highest cause of death and disability is accidents. In most of those years, accidents account for more than 50% of all deaths; our favourite na¬ tional possession, the private car, ac¬ counts for well over half these casual¬ ties. To sharpen the tragic picture, re¬ member we are now maiming far more citizens each year with automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats, bicycles and what not than were wounded by bullets in the Canadian Forces during all of World War II. The annual death toll on the roads exceeds the Canadian battle deaths in that war for each year but 1944. Perhaps the newspapers should go back to the front page boxes edged in black that were used in wartime to put this peacetime carnage into but it now ap¬ proper perspective pears to be an accepted risk and is no longer considered newsworthy unless something spectacular occurs, like a major air crash. And you are many times safer in a modern jet than in the .
and manufacture do their best them safe. But the fact re¬ mains that the one nut they can't readily control or regulate is the one and therein lies behind the wheel the real problem that must be solved if we hope to reduce this increasing threat to the health and lives of Cana¬ dians. The short summer is the worst period for a variety of reasons. The first is probably frustration combined with oppressive heat. The main highways out of our cities are congested enough in other seasons but on sum¬ mer Friday and Sunday evenings they are clogged. Traffic is stop and go, the car gets hotter, the kids become rambunctious, and the parents become ir¬ ritable. Normal judgement is replaced by a virtual hatred for all those clots ahead that are keeping you from that cold beer beside the lake, and the reck¬ less "dodge-em" syndrome takes over. Those little electric ears you drive at the exhibition move slowly and have rubber buffers; collisions are fun. Not so headon between two ears with a combined speed of 160 km/h or better.
design
to make
Judgement The second reason is undoubtedly a lack of judgement or experience or both. Those who normally drive only to the local store and back on quiet residential streets during the week set forth bravely but often irresponsibly at the height of the traffic rush. Often they compound their problem by
overloading a low-powered family compact car with a boat on top and a trailer behind. They thus become a double menace by adding yet another family car. We all know most accidents are impediment to other, already fruscaused by human carelessness or lack trated, drivers. When (and if) they of judgement. The manufacturers of arrive they will share with more ex¬ the various forms of personal transpor¬ perienced water sports enthusiasts a tation and recreation that we use and failure to take the safety precautions the national bodies that regulate their that are available and required by law 146 CMA JOURNAL/JULY 26,
1975/VOL. 113
in the operation of watercraft. Orie ac¬ cident that did make headlines last sum¬ mer was the loss of most of the mem¬ bers of two families who set off to cruise choppy waters in a light alu¬ minum boat. A third factor relates closely to the lack of judgement because it impairs that human characteristic. Because summer is a fun time, and because, to many, fun means getting a bit drunk even before the trip starts, alcohol is an increasing factor in accidental deaths and injuries. Autopsy reports and coroners' inquests reveal that many who cause accidents have had a few drinks not long before the accidents occurred. The incidents so reported include motor vehicle collisions, crashes of light aircraft, drownings, motorboats running over swimmers, falls from cot¬ tage roofs, fires, tractor accidents on farms (hobby or working) and many more.
A fourth factor is the peculiar and perhaps emotionally protective human trait that says, "It can't happen to me." I first saw this at work as a young doctor looking after fighter pilots dur¬ ing a war. It was perhaps a good thing then for those fellows in their late teens and early 20s they didn't really recognize the potential finality of each flight. However, as we all know in spite of any fatalistic be¬ liefs we may have it can happen to you and to me. Whether the fault is yours or the other person's really doesn't matter in the end, eventual collections by estates through lawsuits to the contrary. So we have once again entered those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, and we should enjoy them as they are in¬ tended to be enjoyed. However, re¬ member that every future year will have a summer too. Recognize the ha¬ zards, practise safety and increase your chances of seeing another one at .
least that's the way I
see
it... ¦
