View report page

42
Road accidents, which are now the commonest cause of death
in adolescents and young adults, were responsible for 6,353
deaths and over 60,000 serious injuries during the year and the totals
are mounting. Whether epidemiology can be usefully employed
in this field is problematical. Some people are obviously unsuited
emotionally to be in charge of a car whilst others with minor
physical disabilities should perhaps be advised to give up driving.
Undoubtedly safety on the roads depends ultimately upon an individual's
ability to recognise and assess the responsibility which he
owes to the community at large.
Contrary to general belief suicide claims a formidable number
of victims. In England and Wales the number of suicides during
1963 reached the staggering total of 5,717. This figure was
almost double that for the deaths from tuberculosis and was
almost equivalent to the total of deaths from motor vehicle
accidents. In some countries which sustain high living standards
it has become a most important psychiatric problem.
Until recently, suicide remained a felony and attempted
suicide an indictable offence and a misdemeanour. It is interesting
to recall that until 1824, the original penalty for suicide was to
be buried at the crossroads with a stake through the heart. From
then onwards until the 1880's the penalty was ameliorated to one
of being buried in unconsecrated ground between 9 p.m. and mid
night, without ceremony. Confiscation of goods by the Crown
which constituted a further penalty was discontinued in 1870.
Society, presumably, has become mature enough to respond
constructively to suicide by providing the maximum of medical
care that these sick people require, for, with the introduction of
the Suicide Act, 1961, the law has been brought into line with
modern thought and attempted suicide is now considered to be a
medical and social problem and not one constituting an indictable
offence.
In general, it is now agreed that the number of suicides could
conceivably be reduced by medical means for in many instances,
signs of abnormality were discernible before death and comparatively
few cases had received psychiatric treatment. Depression,
which appears to be a common factor in elderly suicides, did not
receive as urgent attention as it might have. Much can be achieved,
on the one hand, by the general practitioner in reassuring and
explaining illnesses which often assume monumental proportions
in the lives of the lonely and, on the other, by the lady public
health officer or social worker who could help to disperse some
of the financial worries and assist by bringing community welfare
services to bear.