These 35 Stupid And Thoughtless Mistakes Wouldn't Have Ended People's Lives If Only Preventive Measures Were Taken

Let's all learn and be more careful of these things

Maryjane

• Published in Facts
• March 11, 2024

Our mortality is something we try not to worry about too much, yet it's always a possibility. People often underestimate the risks they pose to themselves and frequently put themselves in needless jeopardy. 

Although we tend to associate life-threatening events with drama and usually involve a car or natural disaster, the sad reality is that most of the time, it's our bodies going wrong that end up killing us. One of the leading causes of death in the modern world is heart disease, which frequently presents as a heart attack.

The most crucial preventative action is generally leading a healthy lifestyle, but since this is often done too late, it's critical that people are aware of the signs of an attack. Chest pains are what most folks will jump to the first.

So do not disregard any sporadic spasms of discomfort in this area, as these are signs of a potential heart attack. One internet user was curious about the common, preventable risks that people have taken, many of which have resulted in death.

Online users shared some thought-provoking and frequently harrowing stories of preventable deaths. Thus, go over everything and make sure to take notes as it might save your life.

More Info: Reddit

1. "Mao's idea to get rid of sparrows."

In short, Chinas great leader Mao had calculated that sparrows eat grain and if china got rid of them, they would have more food. So they did indeed decimate the sparrow population.

They did not consider that sparrows eat lots of insects aswell, which started to thrive. Including locusts. The locusts ate the grain, famine, between 16 and 30 million people died.

When he recognized his mistake, he asked the soviet union for help and they secretly shipped sparrows to china.

This is a bit a stretch though, lots of factors led to the famine, lots of mistakes were made. But of all of them, this was probably the most obviously stupid one.

2. "Oily paint/staining rags will combust."

Per the internets:

"Spontaneous combustion of oily rags occurs when rag or cloth is slowly heated to its ignition point through oxidation. A substance will begin to release heat as it oxidizes. If this heat has no way to escape, like in a pile, the temperature will rise to a level high enough to ignite the oil and ignite the rag or cloth."

My Dad worked in construction and this had happened on job sites a time or two.

3. "Drinking while taking medications"

4. "Not leaving where you are during a hurricane."

5. Test dummies

6. Right of way

7. "Getting fired up from road rage."

8. "Not using a f*****g turn signal"

9. "People outdoors getting amazed when their hair stands up during a thunderstorm. PS: it means you're about to die."

10. "Cutting towards yourself, rather than away."

Being on statins for high cholesterol plus amiodarone for cardiac issues and having a glass of grapefruit juice before going to bed.

Smoking in bed.

former paramedic

11. "As a healthcare worker, giving the wrong amount of insulin."

12. "Not having a carbon monoxide detector"

13. "Not being honest with doctors about viagra."

It has many dangerous drug interactions and can cause a lot of problems from what I’ve heard. Trust me the doctor ain’t gonna judge you guys, they have seen much more embarrassing things. And it would suck to die because you wanted to hide something just for it to be later stated in your death certificate.

14. "Pulling the knife out of someone"

15. "There's a super famous example which got made into a film eventually I think called open water"

But the original story was a yacht was found sailing adrift with a baby aboard and no crew anywhere to be seen. No signs of panic were found. The baby was dehydrated but otherwise fine.

Eventually it was assumed that whilst at sea they went for a swim. The sides of yacht stick out of water quite high in place but on most boats the stern is lowered so you can climb into and out of the yacht from a tender (small dingy). This yacht was different and had a ladder lowered from the back.

This was either up or missing. But they couldnt get back on the boat and eventually drowned or were attacked by predators.

Now I never jump in without thinking about this. Because you can't ever garuntee the person behind won't do the same.

Imagine trying everything to get back to your screaming baby mere feet away and just being out of reach. It'd get dark. The wind might pick up and carry the boat away.

Those final moment would be agony from such a simple mistake

16. "Not wearing a seatbelt"

17. Falling down the stairs

18. "Not looking both ways when crossing a street"

19. "Not cleaning the lint catcher on the dryer"

20. "Not checking and planning for the weather"

21. "The most common cause of quadriplegia is diving into water without checking the depth of the water. Always check the water depth before you jump."

22. "Shaking a vending machine"

23. Terrible

Near me there was a serious traffic collision. Several cars and 2 trucks. 3 people died when one truck ploughed into stationary traffic at around 50mph. The crash and resulting fire was so horrific 2 people were only identified by their dead dog on the carriageway (it was microchipped).

It was on the BBC news and have been documentaries about it.

The truck driver was on his phone. He was charged and is now in prison.

24. "A friend’s husband locked himself out of their home. He tried to get in through a window that had security bars. While squeezing through his foot slipped and he essentially hung himself on the window sill."

25. "Leaving the stranded vehicle on the road in winter and trying to walk to get help. It happens in rural parts of our province once or twice a year and they find the body a few days later. They get disoriented and freeze."

26. Plane crash

I read an article a long time ago about a aircraft maintenance worker not removing a piece of tape that was put in place to protect a sensor during cleaning. The pilot failed to notice during the preflight inspection. 70 people died in the plane crash.

27. "Mixing cleaning ingredients."

28. "Baby in the backseat."

I’m in childcare and I’ll do some insane things to remember there’s a baby back there. Take my shoes off, put my phone back there, dirty diaper as a reminder.

People forget. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Mom, nanny, father, nurse, firefighter. It happens.

And yet there’s always someone who says “I’d never forget my baby”. And every year babies die because of it.

29. "Go to hospital after almost drowning!!!! Water can still be in your lungs and kill u later!!"

30. "That all heart attacks have the exact same symptoms. They don't. Trust yourself and seek help ASAP if you are afraid that you're having a heart attack."

31. "I worked at a tire place for a summer and the first thing they told me was “See that torque wrench ? One mistake with this and you can kill a whole family in a matter of seconds”. I thought well, better take this thing seriously"

32. Thank goodness

Long, long ago I was on the crew of a submarine older than me. We went into the shipyard; one of the planned jobs was to install some new equipment that required a hull penetration. One Friday afternoon a shipyard worker drilled a 1/8 inch pilot hole through the hull, intending to come back on Monday to finish the job. The job got cancelled, he got reassigned, and the hole remained. It was covered with duct tape to keep dirt out.

The painters went ahead and sprayed over the tape.

How deep can a piece of duct tape + paint hold on a dive? About 218 feet. Before you ask, yes, we survived.

33. Flight issues

34. Sad

35. "There have been too many instances of rock climbers rappelling off of the ends of their ropes, which could have been easily avoided by tying stopper knots at the ends of their ropes."

A far more frequent—and regrettably preventable—death occurs when a person crosses the street carelessly and is struck by a car. Although the driver may be at fault in certain situations, it's usually obvious who suffers more damage in car-human crashes.

There are enough distractions from cell phones that it is possible for someone to miss the fact that a massive car is heading in their direction. So let's all be careful and stay safe always!

Maryjane