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involved in accidents, which should serve as an incentive to continue and intensify
lessons on Road Safety.
The number of deaths due to accidents in the home is also less than last year,
8 compared with 11, but it will be noted that this figure is in excess of that due to
road accidents.
Each year in Britain there are some 20,000 accidental deaths. Approximately
1,000 occur at work, 4,000 are miscellaneous, 7,000 occur on the road and 8,000
occur in the home. Each year there are as well some 300,000 admissions to hospital
as a result of accidents. It is thus an enormous problem and the fact that the home
is a more dangerous place than the road is a sobering reflection. A report(2)
on the subject published this year stresses the necessity for research into what is a
complex and alarming situation.
In January and February the weather was the coldest since 1740 and the blizzards
during the first three days were the worst that had occurred since 1881; the coldest
day was the 27th January at 40°F and the night of 25th January the coldest at
13°F. The hottest day of the year was 16th June when 85°F was recorded.
Rainfall for the year showed an increase of 1.71 inches over 1962 to a total of
27.94 inches, the highest rainfall being during November when a total of 5.31 inches
was recorded over 29 days of the month.
(1) Report of the Maternity Services Emergency Informal Committee, National
Birthday Trust Fund, 1963. London.
Brit. Med. J., 1961, 1, 1313.
Ibid., 1962, 2, 1187.
Butler, N. R., and Bonham, D. G., Perinatal Mortality, 1963. E. & S.
Livingstone, Edinburgh and London.
(2) Working Party on Accident Prevention and Life Saving, 1961-1963, 1963.
Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Statistical tables—see pages 62-70.
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