I am gemused to see that the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has come out with the "startling" conclusion that if there were less accidents then there would be less injuries/deaths.
The BBC reports that RoSPA found that up to the age of 60, accidents were the leading cause of preventable years of life lost, accounting for 23% of the total.
That might, at a pinch, be true (although, as loyal readers know, Nanny tends to use very dodgy "research" to support her own views). However, it is a simple fact of the human condition that people are careless and that sometimes shit happens; ie accidents do happen.
This isn't deterring the CEO of RoSPA, Tom Mullarkey, who said that there is a "moral obligation" to prevent people dying before their time.
"Before their time"?
What does that actually mean?
Who determines what my time, or your time is?
Mr Mullarkey went on to say:
"We all know about diseases and the resources that are pumped into preventing the deaths they cause.I don't doubt Mr Mullarkey's good intentions but he seems to have slipped into hyperbole here, I see little hard evidence of vast swathes of the population being "wiped out" by accidents.
But if only a fraction of that resource was used to prevent accidents we would not be faced, as we are today, with an accident epidemic that's wiping out people in their prime."
Factoid: Official figures show accidents account for just 2% of deaths in England and Wales - far behind cancer, and heart and respiratory disease.
Methinks his hyperbole, and today's PR about accidents, has something to do with the name of his organisation.
Accidents happen, that's a fact of life!
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Again, its another example of single issue groups getting too much sway and say in how we live.
ReplyDeleteA risk free life would be boring.....Would we all live longer? Perhaps but, I suspect it would bloody feel longer because of the boredom we would all suffer from.
Every activity carries a risk and we should weigh up whether we feel a risk is acceptable or not: I haven't survived as long as I have by not being able to assess whether something is too risky or not to try.
Nanny funds too many of these silly, single issue groups and I suspect, they feel the need to come out with something every now and again to justify their position and their funding.
If nobody died from accidents there would be even more likely to suffer from diseases requiring expensive treatment!
ReplyDeleteAnd as for the CEO of RoSPA, Tom Mullarkey, saying that there is a "moral obligation" to prevent people dying before their time - he can fuck right off. It's MY life, and if I decide I've had enough of his ilk hectoring me about my lifestyle I reserve the right to do whatever I wish...
I have given this agreat deal of thought and have reached the conclusion that Tom Mullarkey is a dry-lunch cunt.
ReplyDeleteWith a name like Mullarky it sounds like RoSPA is being run by the Carry On team. Who is second in command, Kenneth Williams?
It's another way of saying that before the age of 60, people are less likely to die of natural causes.
ReplyDeleteRather than the cause of death being 'heart attack' or 'stroke', it's more likely to be 'drowned whilst white-water rafting', or 'hit on head by grand piano and microlight pianist whilst running for bus (sans RoSPA-approved crash helmet)'.
As one percentage increases, the other decreases, so the two campaign groups (absolute health and absolute safety) play one off against the other for more cotton wool or food and drink regulation.
It's all about grabbing headlines. Another headline recently stated something about single men having a higher risk of dying than married men. As in this case (and ignoring the fact that the probability for both is 100%) the 'research' was deliberately targeting a particular age range, 40 – 45. Not a time when men are renowned for dropping like flies in the streets. It was a case of pulling a detail out of the statistical noise in order to generate a headline.
Another classic one was “Brighton Beach Hotter Yesterday Than Bondi Beach”; without mentioning that it was winter in Australia.
With so many groups competing for headlines nowadays, if you want to retain your sanity, it's necessary to learn to take life with a pinch of salt (can I mention salt before the watershed?).
tom mullarkey - an accident waiting to happen
ReplyDelete'Gentle Readers' may be Gemused to learn that RoSPA has a separate website for their 'Home & Leisure Accident Surveillance System' -
ReplyDelete\\
Do you need to know how many children fall down stairs or how many people aged over 65 have skateboarding accidents each year? Welcome to RoSPA's home and leisure accident web pages.\\
[ http://www.hassandlass.org.uk ]
The link to FAQ may be 'interesting'