Vending machines kill, sharks don't, according to a July 4, 2003 Reuters headline. The article quotes an L.A. lifeguard who asserts that in spite of the ubiquitous fear of shark attacks in this country, 'more people are killed in the United States each year by vending machines,' which smacks of an urban legend but probably isn't.

I say "probably isn't" because statistics relating to vending machine deaths aren't as easy to come by as data on shark attack fatalities, so it's difficult to draw a direct comparison. But if we look at 1995, for example — the most recent year for which I was able to find an accounting of deaths due to vending machine tipovers — two people died as a result of being crushed by falling soda machines in the U.S., as compared to zero shark-related deaths in the same twelve-month period.

Moreover, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission there were 37 known vending machine fatalities between 1978 and 1995, for an average of 2.18 deaths per year. Over the past decade there were a total of six recorded shark attack fatalities in the U.S., for an average of .6 deaths per year. Ergo, barring a drastic reduction in the frequency of vending machine accidents since 1995, vending machines are indeed more deadly than sharks by a factor of almost four. Discuss.

Vending machines kill, sharks don't, according to a July 4, 2003 Reuters headline. The article quotes an L.A. lifeguard who asserts that in spite of the ubiquitous fear of shark attacks in this country, 'more people are killed in the United States each year by vending machines,' which smacks of an urban legend but probably isn't.

I say "probably isn't" because statistics relating to vending machine deaths aren't as easy to come by as data on shark attack fatalities, so it's difficult to draw a direct comparison. But if we look at 1995, for example — the most recent year for which I was able to find an accounting of deaths due to vending machine tipovers — two people died as a result of being crushed by falling soda machines in the U.S., as compared to zero shark-related deaths in the same twelve-month period.

Moreover, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission there were 37 known vending machine fatalities between 1978 and 1995, for an average of 2.18 deaths per year. Over the past decade there were a total of six recorded shark attack fatalities in the U.S., for an average of .6 deaths per year. Ergo, barring a drastic reduction in the frequency of vending machine accidents since 1995, vending machines are indeed more deadly than sharks by a factor of almost four. Discuss.