Suicide has overtaken car crashes in as a leading death cause, new data released indicates in a sobering statistic.

Suicide has been on the rise since economic conditions in the US have worsened, and many adults struggle to maintain their quality of life and prospects in the long term. With crushing unemployment and an demoralized workforce, it is probably sad but none too shocking that suicide is becoming ever more common.

The long-term data examines rates of suicide in the past decade, contrasted with those of car crashes. While advances in auto safety have led to a 25 percent decline in road deaths, suicide jumped 15 percent in cause of death from injury rankings.

The suicide and car crashes data was gathered by the epidemiology department at West Virginia University, led by professor Ian Rockett. But in addressing the findings, Rockett noted that the situation with suicide as a growing problem may be even worse than the data suggests. Rockett says suicide is terribly underestimated, and it is well known that suicide deaths are often misreported as accidental death due to a number of causes because of its often ambiguous nature.

Of the decline in car crashes, the Daily Mail credits a number of measures implemented to enhance safety and minimize risk in the 2000s:

“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.”

In light of the alarming data, a $56 million suicide prevention plan is in the works in an attempt to reverse the trend.

Suicide Now Outstrips Car Crashes As Leading Cause Of Injury-Related Death is a post from: The Inquisitr