More Americans Are Dying Each Year By Accident
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Accidents are killing more Americans each year, increasingly from overdoses and falls.
A new report from the National Safety Council said that in 2014, more than 136,000 Americans died accidentally. That's up 4.2 percent from the year before and a jump of 15.5 percent over a decade. And the accident rate has risen despite a 22 percent plunge in car crash deaths since 2005.
Overdose and accidental poisonings are up 78 percent over a decade -- pushing aside car crashes as the No. 1 accidental killer in the U.S. Falls are up 63 percent over a decade.
George Washington University public health professor George Gray says America has made progress in making cars safer, but the prescription drug abuse epidemic is growing more deadly and Baby Boomers are aging.
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