The ability to quickly and accurately perceive unexpected threatening or harmful situations is critical to our survival.

But our brains are incredibly complex and, sometimes, prone to errors. So Reddit user Smeghead9916 made a post on the platform, asking everyone, “What is something that people perceive as safe, but in actuality is pretty dangerous?”

The question immediately went viral and folks started sending in their answers. From giving birth to gossiping, we collected the most popular ones to help you readjust.

#1

Driving while tired. When we get exhausted, our minds stop working as efficiently as they should. Our reaction time slows down, we tend to daydream, we hyperfixate, we make poor judgement calls. That scene in Better Call Saul where Kim runs off the road is probably the most accurate depiction of driving while tired ever to be shown on TV. That scene is supposed to take place over the span of at least an hour; watch the background for clues. Note how the city just quickly vanishes. One second everything is fine, the next second you’re in a ditch. Don’t try to be a hero and “power through it”. On a long drive, stop every two hours and walk around, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Don’t be afraid to stop longer. And try not to push yourself more than 6-8 hours a day.

Image credits: Fair-Equivalent-8651

#2

Ladders. 7 times more likely to kill you than a gun. Which is why I keep 7 guns in the house in case some MANIAC tries to sneak a ladder in here!

Image credits: kitten_twinkletoes

We managed to get in touch with Smeghead9916 and they agreed to have a little chat with us. “The post was inspired by an opposite post I saw about safe things considered dangerous,” the Redditor told Bored Panda about its origins.

“I didn’t get the chance to read every response, but I noticed many people mentioning driving,” they added.

#3

Stairs. Stumbling and falling down is one of the most common fatal accidents at home.

Image credits: Anxious_Sound_9823

#4

Following another vehicle too closely, especially in a group on the highway. Unbelievable to me that people will be 1-2 car lengths or less in a pack of cars going 60-70 mph+, especially with 18-wheelers in the mix.

Image credits: chaqintaza

And people are definitely onto something here. For example, one study found that about three-quarters of American drivers think their overall skills are better (57%) or much better (17%) than average.

At the same time, 58% say they had been in at least one prior vehicle crash as a driver.

“Most people think they are above-average drivers, and if drivers are a problem, it is other drivers, not themselves,” the researchers noted. “This may explain, in part, the considerable public apathy about highway safety.”

#5

Tanning. You’re literally cooking your skin and increasing your risk of skin cancer.

Image credits: smeghead9916

#6

Being comfortable working around machinery.

I have heard too many horror stories of people getting too comfortable and acting in ways they shouldn’t around moving equipment and machines and horribly maiming themselves or dying.

Now you shouldn’t be terrified but you should always be afraid enough to always remain cautious

Image credits: Grundle_Gripper_

We also asked the author of the now-viral post why they think we sometimes underestimate or overlook potential dangers in everyday activities or objects.

“That’s either because of previously held beliefs that people don’t realize have changed or stubbornly refuse to change (for example, how smoking was once considered safe, now we know better but people still smoke) or because statistics relating to accidents or illness are small compared to other things, so it simply isn’t on most people’s radar,” the Redditor explained.

#7

Childbirth. Still the number one k****r of young women globally.

Image credits: Ok-Computer-1033

#8

Blocking fire escapes.

Used to see this all the time, “Oh I was just putting it there for now”, “there’s another door right there!”, “people can just walk around/over it”, “how am I supposed to do my job with all these mad rules.?!”

In an emergency, most people turn into idiots.
Give them the scenario of an obstical course, or die:

Some people just die.

Image credits: worldworn

Indeed, beliefs are our brain’s way of making sense of and navigating the world. They are mental representations of what we expect from things in our environment and how they should be related to each other. Beliefs are templates for efficient learning and are often essential for survival.

As a prediction machine, our brains must take shortcuts for pattern recognition as it processes the vast amounts of information received from the environment. Beliefs allow it to quickly categorize and evaluate that information and to jump to conclusions.

But in doing so, our brains have a preference for familiar conclusions over unfamiliar ones. Thus, they are prone to error, sometimes seeing patterns where there are none, like assuming something to be safe when in actuality it can be quite dangerous.

#9

Energy drink. I did a presentation on caffeine in school and was shocked to discover that small children can overdose on only a few cans of energy drink… particularly scary when my 10 year old sister (at the time) drunk so much of the stuff.

Image credits: smeghead9916

#10

Not knowing what medications you take.

Can’t tell you how many times someone gets brought in to the ER without a thought in their mind about what they take for meds. “Oh my spouse/kids/etc take care of that for me.” What meds you are given in the ER/hospital can be dependent on what you are already on.
It is your health, you should have some knowledge about it.

Image credits: Castmo

#11

Plastic surgery.

Image credits: Moceannl

#12

Vape

Image credits: SimonPetrikov12

#13

Not wearing a helmet while cycling or skateboarding or roller skating. I have called an ambulance for a teenager who hit his head on a curb doing a skateboard trick and had such a terrible head injury that he slipped into a coma at the hospital and died. It haunts me.

Humans are resilient and can survive crazy things but it can also take as little as an unfortunate fall to kill you.

Image credits: SecretBattleship

#14

Any mechanism involving a cable or rope can redirect drastic amounts of force, and gain or lose tension unpredictably.

Never take a wrap on a line that you aren’t certain the potential load on if you like your fingers. Could be a tow rope on a car. A ratchet strap securing a heavy load that shifts.

And stay clear of any line under tension. You got a high speed machete if it snaps.

Image credits: samtresler

#15

Climbing in and out of the bath tub.

Image credits: thathorsegamingguy

#16

Social Media (Reddit included)

Image credits: AshwoodAurelia

#17

Gossip. I’ve seen too many lives ruined by it.

Image credits: frikanih

#18

Sitting, at home or during long work hours, sedentarism is already bad but sitting turbochargers all bad effects it has on your health, they are not kidding when they say its as bad as smoking, higher risks for heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol you name it.

I have had a deskjob most of my adult life and hobbies centered around a computer but I still jog everyday and try to move as much as possible during iddle hours at work, my coworkers have even asked me why I walk around so much.

Image credits: Zuliano1

#19

Home fireworks displays. Every time I’ve been involved in one it’s very nearly gone horrid in a very bad way due to something falling over or not launching or the fuse being way shorter than expected/advertised (usually not to do with me!).

#20

Sugar.

Look at how much sugar is in that grande caramel frappuccino or soda you’re drinking. Now go into your kitchen and pour out that much sugar on a scale. Would you down that much sugar in one setting?

Image credits: Fair-Equivalent-8651

#21

Heavy drinking. A lot of people, including myself thought that it took a long long time for heavy drinking to catch up to you, like when you’re in your ’50s or older. And mostly for people whose drinking was clearly catastrophic. And even then that a lot of the damage can be reversed through quitting, in the same way quitting smoking can. I was shocked when people I was acquainted with, or friends of friends, started dying of alcoholism in their 30s-40s. All of these people were high functioning- had successful careers, family, friends. And it was liver failure that came on without much warning. I was kind of shocked- I assumed there were many decades of warnings before your system finally failed, and I thought that most people who drank themselves to the point of it killing them were people whose behavior was clearly out of control, not people who are pretty well functioning in every other way.

Image credits: RiceandLeeks

#22

Showering.

Everything in your bathroom is made out of material that can kill you. A slip and fall out of a shower/tub onto the hard porcelain of the toilet (or tub edge), or the corner of the bathroom counter? The tile floors? Immediate brain bleed.

Walking down stairs comes in a close second, especially if you have pets or small children.

Image credits: RD_Life_Enthusiast

#23

Walking in a field of cows

Image credits: trixlife

#24

Modern day coke..”but I KNOW the guy he’d never sell me bad stuff” said a lot of people who aren’t with us anymore.

Image credits: Scumbag787

#25

Hiking. If it‘s a big area without proper trail marking people tend to overestimate themselves and get lost easily. Without a cell phone with connection and enough water it can get tough really soon. Cold nights outside, nothing to eat/drink, dense forests that prevent being spotted by helicopters or wide unvegetated areas where the sun burns down on the hikers and dehydrates them even more

#26

Being overweight

#27

Eating raw flour. Everyone’s worried about the eggs but flour’s up there with raw chicken.

Image credits: Azthun

#28

Alcohol. You’re literally drinking poison

#29

Surgery in general. I feel like people look at a lot of surgeries as something foolproof, because doctors need to have a lot of practice and skills to be able to perform what they do, but with high skill requirement jobs comes high consequences for failure, and it sometimes seems like people don’t give surgery enough respect, as it is literally opening up your body in a controlled environment, something that can usually end up being fatal when not done by experts. Like yeah, the surgeons are well trained and this is their job, but at the same time i’m still holding my breath when a professional daredevil does something risky, and to not have any level of respect for the risks associated with surgery is in my opinion very naive.

For an example of what i mean, there’s a noticeably large number of mothers who hold the bad opinion that if you had a c-section, you’re not a mother because “You took the easy way out”, which always angers me so much because of a variety of reasons, one of them being that having to need surgery for any reason is not the easy way, and it shows their lack of respect for what surgeons do.

Image credits: jabaash

#30

Mosquitoes! bad mfs

#31

Putting your feet on the dash of your car while traveling.

Image credits: Thanles

#32

Hot weather. In the UK because we normally associate this country with being very cold, windy and rainy, the dangers of extreme heat is often overlooked. It’s quite easy to die from heatstroke in 30 celcius weather, if you stay in the sun too long!

#33

Folding chairs. You can lose your fingers.

Image credits: CautiousRice

#34

Motorcycles: I’ve known more than one guy who wanted to be a biker and gets himself a Harley and then finds out how hard they are to drive and get killed.

Also guys even though they have been riding all their lives dont realize they are getting older and dont have the same sense of balance or riding skills. And they get killed.

#35

Cats. They’re always plotting your demise and how quickly they can turn your carcass into a casserole. Trust not the fuzzy ones…

*wuffles tiny pet ninja*

#36

Removing a blade from a stabbed individual.

#37

Am I the first to mention garage door springs?

#38

Living out in the country because “it’s safer” and then commuting 30-60 miles on the highway.

#39

Cooking without paying attention to proper kitchen hygiene

#40

Having natural gas supplied to the home. People really seem to dismiss how easily a leak (and apparently it’s always leaking enough to possibly cause health problems) in a line or old appliance can fill your house with a deadly/explosive amount in short order. Even an external supply line rupturing can f**k up your house. At the very least you need redundant gas detectors, decent air filtration, and not slacking on replacing the water heater

#41

Some people drop their food and do the 5 sec rule. That’s pretty dangerous actually

#42

“If it’s so dangerous why are they allowed to sell it?” consumer products in the U.S are not as regulated as you think. They are more regulated than, say, China, but this bit of “common sense” won’t protect you from suspicious food additives, lead on cable cords, or whatever mystery substances exist on wherever. The FDA probably doesn’t even know what the f**k is in gets added to white glue besides PVA (the preservatives, extenders,etc). They regulate food, drugs, and medical devices, then who regulates that glue?

Heck the FDA allows barely tested medical devices to pass clearance only for people get permanently damaged or die from them.

#43

Walking next to forklifts at Costco

#44

Acetaminophen/Tylenol. I’d really appreciate it if we made a drug that is better at treating headaches and fevers than ibuprofen (ibuprofen being better for muscle pain than headaches or fever, even if it helps a little) and is also easier to dose than acetaminophen. 1 is too little, 2 may be too little or just enough, 3 may be just enough or too much, and 4 may kill you. I have to either have a very *very* bad headache that impedes with my ability to function rather than just being painful or a super bad fever (over 101° F) before I even touch acetaminophen. 

#45

Paracetamol or acetaminophen.

It’s available to buy over the counter but it’s deadly as f**k and it is a horrible death. Only use as directed on the packaging or by a trusted health care professional. Do not exceed the recommended dose.

If you are feeling helpless reach out. There are many anonymous support services. Talk to somebody.

#46

Water.

#47

This crazy neck cracking trend. A little research and you will see a crazy amount of people that went in to a chiropractor for this and ended up paralyzed or dead, do your research before having any spinal adjustments done

Image credits: Oliver10110

#48

Eye drops

> Over-the-counter eyedrops and decongestant sprays are frequently used to treat upper respiratory congestion and irritated, red eyes. When consumed by mouth, they may result in serious toxicity and even death.

Image credits: HotSpicedChai

#49

Living. Everyone who have tried end up dead at some point.

#50

People thinking they need to put their hands on every animal they see

#51

Sex w/o protection…

Image credits: -ONEAL

#52

Doing “stunts”or “pranks” involving fire. I’m not saying people think fire is 100% safe, but the level to which they underestimate it is astounding. 

#53

Eating rice that hasn’t been refrigerated/reheated properly. If you store rice at the wrong temperature, it can allow the bacteria Bacillus cereus to grow in the rice. People who have gotten sick from the rice have had severe vomiting, sometimes as little as 20 minutes after eating the rice. I only learned about this after hearing about a restaurant where about two dozen people got sick from eating contaminated rice, and the restaurant ended up shutting down because of it.

#54

Swimming pools. Kids can drown in them very easily.

#55

Sucking helium

#56

Night shifts. It’s so damaging to the human brain to go against our natural sleep-wake cycle aligned with the day-night cycle, yet we don’t have the appropriate countermeasures to help shift workers stay healthy and safe.

#57

Household cleaning products.

#58

Hippos

#59

Breaking down on the interstate. You’re stationary on the shoulder of the road while trucks weighing 80k pounds zoom past you a couple feet away.

#60

Dogs. Wildly energetic and lacks a sense of boundaries. Without proper training, they can easily get loose and hurt people and animals, on accident or not.

#61

Daylight savings time – driving afterward when the light hits your eyes

And the heart attacks that ensue from this ridiculous time change every year

#62

White water rafting

#63

Skiing and snowboarding and rollerskating!

#64

Boomers love to order their coffee ‘extra hot’ even though studies have shown it increases your chances of oesophageal cancer

#65

Cycling, I think a lot of people don’t realize the risks.

#66

Trusting people you’ve never met.

#67

Using weeds, especially for those people who have schizo background in their family.

#68

Trampolines

#69

Raw milk