More Americans now commit suicide than are killed in car crashes as miserable economy takes its toll

Deaths from suicide up 15pc with fears more deaths go unaccounted
$56m suicide prevention plan being rolled out after shocking statistics
Harsher penalties for drink driving credited with reducing road deaths

Suicide is the cause of more deaths than car crashes, according to an alarming new study.

The number of people who commit suicide in the U.S. has drastically increased while deaths from car accidents have dropped, making suicide the leading cause of injury death.

Suicides via falls or poisoning have risen significantly and experts fear that there could be many more unaccounted for, particularly in cases of overdose.

Shocking trend: While the number of Americans killed in car crashes has declined over the last decade, the suicide rate has increased

'Suicides are terribly under-counted,' said Ian Rockett, author of the study, published on Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health.

'I think the problem is much worse than official data would lead us to believe. We have a situation that has gotten out of hand.'

He added that his goal is to see the same attention paid to other injuries as has been paid to reducing the number of deaths in traffic accidents.

The results were compiled using National Center for Health Statistics data gathered from 2000 to 2009.

Researchers noted a 25 per cent decrease in fatal car accidents, medicalxpress.com reported, while deaths from falls rose 71 per cent, poisoning 128 per cent and from suicide 15 per cent.

Higher automobile standards were credited for the decrease in deaths on the road, with harsher penalties for underage drinking and failing to wear seat belts named as contributing factors.

Previous research has suggested that suicide rates go up during recessions and times of economic crisis.

'Economic problems can impact how people feel about themselves and their futures as well as their relationships with family and friends,' Feijun Luo of CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention told Bloomberg.

'Prevention strategies can focus on individuals, families, neighborhoods or entire communities to reduce risk factors.'

Suicide is now the most frequent cause of injury deaths, followed by car crashes, poisoning, falls and murder.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2207089/56-million-suicide-...

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Comment by bys on September 23, 2012 at 8:32pm: It's been down hill ever since the airbag was invented....

Comment by Wulfrano Ruiz Sainz on September 23, 2012 at 8:31pm: The only rampart against suicidal thoughts is Yeshua.

Comment by mystery on September 23, 2012 at 7:34pm: I kinda feel about suicide the same as Bobby Gaylor does in his song titled Suicide . More air for me to breath. Am not trying to offend anyone.

Comment by Patty Volies on September 23, 2012 at 7:29pm: WE MUST GIVE THEM HOPE to FEED THEIR SOULS a JOYOUS MEAL OF LIGHT & LOVE!

Comment by apeman2502 on September 23, 2012 at 7:28pm: Give up your belief in an afterlife and your creativity and resilience to chronic depression becomes joy.

Comment by Patty Volies on September 23, 2012 at 7:28pm: It's bad all over and so many are in great fear. WE ARE CONTINUALLY NEEDED ALL OVER THE NET! "YES?" Jobs are going over seas and they hear of Aliens coming to war with us, it's weather mania everywhere, crops are not worth eating as everything is poisoned. You gotta admit it does look like very desperate times and so many are living on not even enough to keep a bird alive, when the body is starving the mind grows weak and depression sets in not to mention the pain and suffering. But this is the illusion and we are trying desperately to stop these things from depressing those that live under oppression as it is. LET'S KEEP THEM INFORMED OF BETTER CHOICES!!! "YES?" HELL YEAHHHHHHHHHHHH