We all love a selfie these days. Any reason to snap a self portrait and we have a camera in the palm of our hands, literally. But is it getting out of hand? These crazy deaths by selfie stats from 2015 show that it may be time to tame this narcissistic obsession.
According to Priceonomics‘ Zachary Crokett, who researched the number of people around the world who died from selfie-related incidents, there are a few things one could have done in 2015 that were safer than taking a selfie.
Sixteen people met their fate while taking a selfie and accidentally plunging to their deaths, another fourteen died drowning and eight people were hit by trains. Four gunshot deaths while snapping a selfie also occurred, two with grenades, two with plane crashes or car crashes, one involved an animal. The most deaths occurred in India (19), followed by Russia (7) and then the United States (5).
With these stats in mind I decided to hunt around for some more information, and it’s evident we should stick to the bathroom mirror when taking a selfie.
Courtney Sanford attempted to snap a photo of herself when the Pharrell Williams hit ‘Happy’ came on her car stereo. The Independent reported that Sanford’s status declaring her love for the tune, accompanied by a selfie taken at the wheel, appeared on Facebook just one minute before police received reports of a collision involving Sanford’s vehicle. At 8:33 a.m., the 32-year-old posted “The happy song makes me HAPPY!” on her Facebook. At 8:34, police got a call about the crash.
This is a selfie snapped by a famous Puerto Rican reggaetón musician Jadiel, uploaded to Instagram moments before he had a fatal motorcycle crash in New York in May, 2014.
In March 2014 a 21-year-old man died in Spain by electrocution when he climbed to the top of a train to take a selfie. The unnamed 21-year-old climbed on top of the train with a pal to take the high-risk pic. Believing the parked train to not be powered, he accidentally touched a wire that electrocuted him, throwing him off the train. The Local says that the man was killed instantly by the 35,000-volt charge, but the other member of the group survived the shock.
Oscar Otero Aguilar made international headlines after he accidentally shot himself dead while posing for a selfie with a handgun. The 21 year-old Mexican native had been drinking with friends when he decided to take a picture with the weapon, which discharged, killing him with a bullet to the head.
13-year-old, Karen Hernández wanted to snap a selfie on the banks of the El Tunal river in Durango, Mexico. Unfortunately, she fell into the river and drowned; firefighters recovered her body in July.
In December of 2012 Mexican pop star Jenni Rivera and her entourage took this selfie right before taking off on a private jet which sadly crashed and left no survivors.
Gary Slok and his mother took this selfie minutes before taking off from Amsterdam on Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down over Ukraine in July, 2014.
A Polish couple living in Portugal with their two young children stumbled off a cliff edge while trying to take a selfie. The unnamed pair fell hundreds of feet from the scenic Cabo da Raca coastline, after apparently crossing a safety barrier in their quest for a striking picture. Their two children, aged five and six, witnessed the tragedy but were otherwise unharmed.
These two women wanted to take a selfie while singing karaoke in their car. The Iranian girls stopped watching the road to record this video and crashed into another car. They survived and took another selfie at the hospital. Some people never learn.
