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16
Deaths from accidents
The three main causes of deaths from accidents are those on the road
in which a motor vehicle is mostly involved; a variety of deaths occurring
in the home, and falls. Apart from those falling in one of these categories,
accidents caused six deaths, of which two were from drowning and two
were on the railway.
Deaths from Falls. Of the nine deaths from falls, four were the
result of falls of elderly persons occurring in their own homes or in the
institutions in which they were living.
Road Accidents. The twenty-six deaths from road accidents
amongst local residents which occurred in 1959 was the highest figure
over the last few years, the numbers in other years ranging from ten to
twenty-three. In this last year there were only twenty-one, of which ten
were the result of accidents in the district.
The local figures of road accidents (excluding those not affected by
layout or conditions of highway) for last year were slightly higher than in
the previous year. The monthly average of accidents was 43.6 (main road
33.3, other roads 10.2). Of the monthly average of 58.6 of the injured
49.5 were slight (38 0 on main roads, 11.5 on other) and 91 serious (6.4
on main roads, 2.7 on others). There was a welcome fall in fatalitiesfour
instead of eight, three being on main roads and one on other roads.
The activities of the Harrow Road Safety Council have included the
instruction of child cyclists. At the Council meeting on January 27th,
1961, the Mayor presented her National Cycling Proficiency Certificate
and badge to the five-thousandth entrant to pass the Cycling Proficiency
test.
Accidents in the Home. The local deaths from accidents in the
home last year included four of persons who died as the result of a fall
when in their homes or institutions in which they were living; all were
over seventy-seven years of age. Five died as the result of falls elsewhere.
Four adults, two of each sex, died from consuming poisons. Nine adults,
four men and five women, died from coal gas poisoning. Burns were
responsible for the deaths of two elderly women.
in the country as a whole, in 1959, accidents in the home formed
forty-one per cent of all accidental deaths and were responsible for 1.4 per
cent of all deaths. Of the 8,096 deaths from accidents in the home in that
year, 4,839 were the result of falls (4,364 amongst those aged sixty-five and
over) the number of women being over twice that of men; 1,426 from
poisoning ; 833 from burns and scalds (102 of them being children under
five and 503 adults of sixty-five and over) ; 645 due to suffocation (46
children under five) and 353 to other causes.