Why so Glum?

You're walking along the river one lunchtime when you spot a figure through the trees; you sneak closer only to be confronted by full-frontal nudity, and it knocks you sideways...

No. 2 of a planned 6 Gormley statues is now in place. I've already blipped the first to be erected, so I might as well do them all as and when they're positioned.

This morning's 'We're All Gonna Die!' report on BBC Breakfast (which has taken the 'cure/cause cancer' mantra of the Daily Wail and given it a televisual media twist of late) - windscreen washers on cars may be responsible for up to 20% of cases of Legionnaire's Disease. Note the 'up to' and 'may'. Note also this was a survey undertaken in England and Wales which showed that of people who contracted Legionnaire's Disease, professional drivers, those who drive a lot, and those who drive with the window down on the car made up a large proportion.

Indeed 1 in 5.

And then separate testing of cars (not the cars of the people who contracted the disease) found those without screenwash in their washers (i.e. therefore only containing water to clean the windscreen) sometimes contained traces of the disease. QED. Ipso Facto.

There were 345 cases of Legionnaire's Disease in England and Wales in 2009 apparently. So 69 may have been caused by windscreen washers without screenwash in them. There are around 25-30 million cars in England and Wales. So terrifyingly you might have a one in 362,318 chance... I'm waiting for the supposition to come on the other 4 out of 5 possible causes of Legionnaire's Disease so that my terror can be complete.

Okay, so I'm being flippant - if 69 people might still be alive through the incredibly simple act of putting some screenwash into your window washer reservoir, then clearly it should be done. But in terms of deaths due to motor vehicles, in 2008 (in the UK) 1,257 drivers and passengers were killed in incidents. That's about a one in 39,777 chance. Bring in all other road users and pedestrians and the number dead climbs to 2,538 - a one in 19,700 chance (actally it's likely far lower, I've assumed an additional 25 million cars in Scotland and Northern Ireland which is a bit of an over-estimate).

I've asked so many times, but really, where is the outrage at this particular utterly avoidable number of deaths? Far easier to tell people to check their screenwash levels I guess...