BY RAY COMFORT

Charles Spurgeon said that people can be taught to live by being reminded that they have to die. That’s true. Every sane human being has a will to live, and it’s an often-forgotten tool by which we may reason with them. So, here’s some feathers for your evangelistic arrows:
Every year around 90,000 people die in hospitals–from medical mistakes. That is one American dies in a hospital from a medical error or a lethal infection every six minutes. Medical blunders are the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. A horrifying 43,443 died in car accidents in one year–one American is killed by a traffic accident every 12 minutes. That may make you want to stay home. Think again. One American is killed in an accident at home every 29 minutes–that’s an annual total of over 18,000 deaths. One American is accidentally poisoned to death every 27 minutes (19,457). Falls killed 17,227 people back in 2004–that is, one every 31 minutes. One American is killed by a drunk driver every 31 minutes (16,885). Murders are down since the 1990’s (unless Hollywood has succeeded in teaching more people how to disguise murder). One American is murdered every 32 minutes. According to the FBI 17,034 people were murdered in 2006.

One more to cheer you up: Every 30 seconds, a woman somewhere in the world gives birth to a child. She must be found and stopped. [He’s kidding…] —From Comfort Food, used with permission.
Here are the sources of the stats:
Sources:
National Safety Council, for 2006
National Vital Statistics Report, for 2006
Home Safety Council, for 2004
Mothers Against Drunk Driving, for 2005
Department of Justice, for 2004