Want To Be Safer?

It’s safer to climb than to have babies. At least according to these numbers from the British government. (I’m assuming the moms are at more risk than the dads when it comes to having babies.)

“The American Alpine Club, in its yearly compendium Accidents in North American Mountaineering, reported 15 fatalities in the United States in all of 2007. The highest tally in the last 57 years, in 1956, was 53. The yearly average was 25. The British government, comparing the risks of various activities, assembled these statistics:

• Maternal death in pregnancy         1 in 8,200 maternities
• Surgical anesthesia                       1 in 185,000 operations
• Hang-gliding                                  1 in 116,000 flights
• Scuba Diving                                 1 in 200,000 dives
• Rock climbing                                1 in 320,000 climbs
• Canoeing                                       1 in 750,000 outings
• Fairground rides                            1 in 834,000,000 rides
• Rail travel accidents                      1 in 43,000,000 passenger journeys
• Aircraft accidents                           1 in 125,000,000 passenger journeys

Clearly, hang-gliding and scuba diving are more dangerous than climbing (as is ordinary bike-riding, which accounts for roughly one fatality for every 100,000 rides).  But watch out for that really dangerous sport: pregnancy.”

(Of course, without babies, there’d be no more climbers. So don’t stop with the babies.)