May need a new icon soon...

[stellar_muddle]

So, 2 days at new work, with the main conclusion that I need to have nice early nights and get a bit more sleep...

I think work is going divide into 3 areas: lets call them crunch, 20 questions and hot air*. Currently reading up on what is available on the public bit of the web as my computer hasn't been signed up to certain critical bits of software. Most of the previous work has been on crunch and 20 questions, so most of the reading is focussed there, especially since the hot air people are still on holiday and it appears to be a recent initiative (2030??!?).

A few things to note based on what I have read**:

Being male does not increase your life expectancy. Don't know the general population proportions to be able to compare specifically, but there is significant over-representation there. Testosterone and phallic compensation objects really don't combine well.

Slow down and relax. The faster you go, the more likely the accident (or whatever) will kill you.

Don't overtake stupidly or wander into the wrong lane. Head on collisions (especially on open rural roads - see the above mentioned contributing factor) will kill you dead dead dead. Not so many injuries, just mainly dead.

Be careful around trucks. If you run into them at high speeds, they wont notice and you will be dead. The truck driver will be slightly shaken or maybe minorly injured and very upset, but you will be very much past that. Play nicely and remember they have far more mass.

About 20% of Edit: 26 crash deaths (of precisely what sample I can't exactly remember, but I know where to look it up)or more per year could be avoided or reduced to injuries by wearing a seatbelt. That is a lot of people who didn't need to die.

I shall stop being morbid and go to sleep now.

*The paperwork, meetings, and muttering at Microsoft products (bloody top posting) are par for the course and will be accepted as givens.

** Including some sweeping generalisations, but only plus or minus about 10 %.

Comments

[etfb.livejournal.com]

Will repeat for you a story I tell on the topic of seatbelts; use it as you wish.

Picture if you will: a class of fifth graders and a special guest visitor, an ambulance driver, there to talk to the kids about road safety. Question time: he asks, "When the ambos go to an accident, they want everyone who was in it to have been wearing a seatbelt. Why is that?" Usual suspects stick up their hands: "Because it saves lives?" "Naaah," says the ambo. "If you're going at a hundred and you hit a truck going at a hundred the other way, a seatbelt won't save you. But you ought to wear it for the ambos. If you wear a seatbelt, we can get your dead body out of your mangled car using some heavy cutting equipment and a body bag. If you don't wear your seatbelt, we use a bucket and sponge."

I'll tell you, I don't remember much from primary school, but that stuck.

[theuns.livejournal.com]

From an article on driver safety tips from police officers: have your window fully up, or fully down. Half-way, you just have a nice straight edge to connect with when struck from the side, and they have to make two trips to move the remains.

From the same article: don't cross arms when driving - when the airbag goes off, it'll try to snap them.

[stellar-muddle.livejournal.com]

I'm rather happy the database I work with classifies injuries into Fatal, Serious, Minor, None, though I can read more details should I wish (really not at the moment). I have enough fun with the number and types of objects impacted with...