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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPenn study finds safety in cities, more risk in rural areas
I guess it makes sense, since suburbanites and rural people have to drive so much more than city people.
Penn study finds safety in cities, more risk in rural areas
July 23, 2013
By Zack Seward, @zackseward
New research from the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine has yielded an unexpected finding on personal safety.
"If you consider safety as your risk of injury overall, we found that you're actually safest in larger cities and get less safe as the areas become more rural," said Sage Myers, the lead author of a study published Tuesday in the Annals of Emergency Medicine [PDF].
That's right, Myers says: The big, bad city is less deadly than the suburbs or small-town America.
Myers, a physician at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and an assistant professor at Penn's medical school, crunched the data from nearly 1.3 million injury-related deaths in the U.S. from 1999 to 2006, excluding the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
The study found that motor vehicle crashes, firearms and poisoning were the top causes of injury-related deaths. As for the relative safety of cities, Myers says she was "a little surprised."
"If you look at everything together, cities actually seem kinda safe," she said.
The study confirmed that murder rates are higher in more urban areas, but fatal car crashes are far more common, especially in more rural areas. The greater magnitude of those unintentional-injury deaths (i.e., car crashes, falls, etc.) gave cities the statistical edge on safety.
Myers' research team had to obtain special permission from the National Vital Statisitcs System to access the trove of data from the nation's 3,000-plus counties.
The Penn researchers also took a closer look at America's 20 largest cities.
Of that group, Myers added, Philadelphia had the highest injury-related death rate.
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/blogs/onward/item/57607
onehandle
(51,122 posts)Prosper and Live Long: Health-Minded Manhattan Leads in Increased Life Span
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023294898
Live In The South? Your Life Expectancy Is Shorter, Sicker Than The Rest Of The U.S.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023294755
Red state conservative policies and 'culture' is killing their base.
And I can explain Philadelphia... Pennsylvanians Don't Know How To Drive!
LWolf
(46,179 posts)My doors are never locked.
It's harder to get into a traffic accident when there aren't many cars on the road.
Then again, I spent several days in the city last week and felt, and was, safe the whole time there, too.
onehandle
(51,122 posts)Cities are more likely to produce fender benders.
One of many things I learned while working for a car insurance company for a couple of years.
ErikJ
(6,335 posts)cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)When I leave my mountain I'm immediately reminded of what city living is like when I look down on the layer of smoke, smog, and hate that tops out at about 5500 feet. I'll take life at 7000 feet ANY DAY and suffer the hideous consequences like clean air, snow, lack of crime, and cool night air. Oooh, and STARS. Millions and millions of stars.
Fuck big cities.
Igel
(35,337 posts)If you included deaths that could be attributed to stress, disease, or anything else the numbers might be radically different.
Or not. I suspect that the would be different if you looked at numbers at the state level instead of nationally.
cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)Isn't really living. It's living in fear.
PennsylvaniaMatt
(966 posts)I used to live about 90 minutes outside of New York City, then moved to rural PA, but I still visit the city frequently. I feel safer walking at night or with my iPhone out in Manhattan than I do walking through my small town, which is getting increasingly worse with drugs and crime.
surrealAmerican
(11,362 posts)... you will likely get that attention sooner in a city. Quick response times save lives.