It’s amazing how many seriously dangerous things people treat as if they are perfectly harmless. For example, texting while driving. I can’t go anywhere without seeing grown adults using their phones when driving and not paying attention to the road in front of them. After someone asked for other examples in an online community, here is what they volunteered.
1. Sunshine
Have you ever thought about the dangers of the sun? One suggests, “Stare at it, go blind, get too much of it, get cancer. If you don’t get enough, you’ll become depressed, and if it decides to be temperamental, it will kill all life on earth.”
2. Wild Animals
According to one, every year, someone is injured or killed (only two have died) in Yellowstone because people mistakenly think that “bison are slow, stupid, and amenable to being photographed.” Truthfully, however, bison are fast and strong in reality, despite their weak vision.
For example, a bison may only see you once you are close. At which point it may become alarmed and stab you without warning. Several African users said elephants scared them the most, and hippos are more deadly than lions.
3. Stairs
Did you realize that over 12,000 people in America die annually from accidents on the stairs? Additionally, over a million others are injured in falls. So the stairs are something that may appear harmless but is more dangerous than you may think.
4. Hot Oil and Water
A cooking enthusiast warns that if you’re frying with a lot of oil, do not add water, an ice cube, or frosted meat. Considering how harmless it is in theory, you’d be surprised that it’s not more of a public service announcement (PSA).
Another user notes they learned this the hard way when tossing frozen chicken into the hot oil. Fortunately, they could extinguish the fire before it consumed the kitchen or house.
5. Outdoor Cats
Outdoor cats are destroying the ecosystems they are released into, killing for fun, rarely eating their kills, and breeding with feral cats to create more problem animals. National Geographic puts the number of birds cats kill in the United States at between one and four billion and between six and twenty billion mammals annually.
6. Grain Bins
“You can drown in a grain bin. If you fall in, the likelihood of your getting out alive is slim. It’s like quicksand.” This user explains that the more your move, the more you sink.
So always wear a harness if you have to go in, and never alone. Finally, they elaborate that grain dust is super flammable. “I watched a guy get slapped, rightfully so, for trying to light a cigarette in a grain bin.”
7. Small Children and Dogs
How do you feel about allowing small children to play with dogs? Countless individuals don’t think it’s a good idea. Moreover, they acknowledge it is dangerous. One notes that medium to larger breeds can do much damage.
A woman explains, “Even that special angel of a dog who has never shown aggression before can react when feeling stressed. I will fight anyone and die on this hill!”
8. Cutting People Off on the Road
People who drive milk trucks and others who haul horse trailers can’t believe the number of idiots who cut them off or brake suddenly in vehicles such as Honda Civics. One explains that doing that puts everyone in danger because they can’t break quickly – science.
9. Getting Knocked Out
Despite what it may seem like on TV, getting knocked out is very dangerous. People in the forum explain that you can get brain damage. Additionally, you can suffer memory loss, seizures, paralysis, and lasting behavioral or cognitive changes.
10. Mixing NSAIDS With Alcohol
You should never consume NSAIDS (ibuprofen, Aleve, aspirin) when there’s alcohol in your system. Alcohol gets processed through the kidneys, in addition to the liver. NSAIDS have a long-term damaging factor for kidneys. So combining the two with any regularity, you’re looking at “renal failure city.” One notes, “It should be more widely known.”
11. Escalators
Escalators are more dangerous than many realize. According to the CDC, an average of 30 people die every year from elevator or escalator injuries. Another 17,000 are seriously injured.
A forum member shares that they fell down one in a New York City subway where they broke their clavicle, had a metal bar installed, and had a $100,000 surgery bill — “all for slipping on one step.”
12. Putting Your Feet on the Dashboard
Putting your feet up as the passenger on the dashboard in a driving car is more dangerous than people realize. One suggests that if someone is in that position and is involved in an unexpected head-on collision, “you DO NOT want to see the post-accident pictures of what happens.”
Another adds you don’t want to see post-accident pictures of people putting their seatbelts under their arms because it’s “uncomfortable.”
13. Mold
Mold is a dangerous fungus. An individual notes that it’s not dirt spots on your wall that you can clean off at any time. Mold can harm and even kill you.
14. Letting Your Dog Off a Leash In Public
Many pet owners warn that letting their dogs off the leash in public is dangerous, especially near livestock such as sheep. Additionally, one says that putting your dog on a leash is also a protection for your dog.
Reminding people that there are traffic and trash humans in a city that can kill your pet, “so either keep it at home all time or be a responsible pet owner.”
15. Having Babies
Childbirth. Many people in North America seem to think it’s no big deal. However, over 1200 women died in 2021 from giving birth. Additionally, other things go wrong.
According to The American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC), “The United States possessed the highest infant mortality rate at 5.4 deaths per 1000 live births, which is markedly higher than the 1.6 deaths per 1000 live births in Norway, which has the lowest mortality rate.”
16. River Currents
One of the only times I thought I would die in my life involved a heavy current sweeping me down a river. It was scary, and it stays with you. The currents are much stronger than they look and can quickly sweep an adult right off their feet.
Someone suggests, “It only takes six inches of water to be strong enough to rip you from your feet.” Did you know it may have enough force at one foot deep to take a car with it too? It’s super dangerous if you’re not careful.
17. Mosquitos
Did you know mosquitos are the deadliest creature in the world regarding annual human deaths? They are responsible for around one million deaths per year.
18. Flour
Did you know dispersing flour into the air is more explosive than gunpowder? Furthermore, eating raw flour can give you salmonella. One adds, “Many people assume eggs are why you can’t eat raw cookie dough, but raw flour can make you sick or kill you.”
19. Garage Door Springs
Finally, a homeowner explains that garage doors are one of your home’s most dangerous pieces of equipment. The springs are sprung so tightly that a malfunctioning door can rip off its hinges and act like a shotgun shooting barbed wire.
They add most average garage doors are designed to have 9,000-12,000k opens before needing to be worked on by a trained professional.
20. The Platypus
What? Were you aware platypi have venom-filled spikes on their legs that could kill small dogs? A user elaborates that it doesn’t kill humans, it is excruciating, and no painkillers, including morphine, work on easing the pain. “You have to suffer until the venom comes out of your body.”
Source: Reddit.
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Elizabeth Ervin is the owner of Sober Healing. She is a freelance writer passionate about opioid recovery and has celebrated breaking free since 09-27-2013. She advocates for mental health awareness and encourages others to embrace healing, recovery, and Jesus.