mrselfdestrukt's Journal: News Flash: How and when we die in Pretoria / Tswane

it's sad to think that Audrey's dad is now just another statistic.

By Eleanor Momberg and Tsabeng Nthite

A total of 2 836 people died in the Tshwane area in 2004, a survey into causes of death says.

Of these, 2 266 died of unnatural causes, according to the National Injury Mortality Surveillance System report, released on Wednesday.

The data in the report, which is released annually through Unisa, was obtained from mortuaries in Pretoria and at Medunsa.

The leading manner of death in the capital was transport fatalities, totalling 34 percent of the number of unnatural deaths.

A total of 779 deaths were caused by transport-related accidents, with 738 caused by car accidents. A total of 250 people were killed in pedestrian accidents, 135 were the drivers of cars involved in crashes, and 41 people died on railway lines.

Of the 596 people who died violently, 329 died as a result of firearms and 341 in suicides.

The report said 1 768, or 78,2 percent, of the deaths reported were male, while 492, or 21,8 percent, were female.

A total of 23,2 percent of violent deaths happened between 1am and 5am, followed by between 8pm and 10pm, and 11pm to midnight. Most suicides in the capital happened between 3pm and 5pm, followed by people taking their lives between 1pm and 2pm, and between 8am and 9am.

People usually died in transport-related accidents between 8pm and midnight and from other unintentional injuries between 1pm and 4pm.

Most violent deaths (21,4 percent) were on Sunday, followed by Saturday and then Tuesday, while most suicides happened on a Monday, Sunday or Thursday.

Most transport-related deaths happened over weekends with the highest number of men being killed on a Sunday. Women were most likely to die a transport-related death on a Saturday.

Of the figures, the scene of injury was known in 1 767 of the cases. This revealed that roads were the most common place of death. This was followed by private homes, open land, along railway lines, medical service areas, residential institutes, informal settlements, retail areas, farms and industrial areas.

Deaths also varied by season, the report said, pointing out that most violent deaths happened in December, followed by April and May. Most people committed suicide in October, November and May, while most transport-related deaths happened in July, April and September.

Deaths by unintentional injury mostly happened in December, July and January.

The leading external cause of death (22,4 percent) was firearms, and the average age of people dying of unnatural causes was 33. The report also showed that a baby under the age of one had died as a result of sharp force violence, that one child aged between one and four died as a result of burns, and two others died in shootings.

The average age of people committing suicide was 35.

The report said most children up to the age of 14 committed suicide by hanging or shooting themselves. The same applied to young people up to the age of 24, and people aged between 35 and 44.

Suicides by firearms were most popular in the 25 to 34 age group and for people over the age of 45. Surprising was that 12 people had burnt themselves to death, while 27 people had taken poison.

In terms of the transport-related deaths, most children up to the age of 14 died in pedestrian accidents, while people aged between 20 and 29 were more likely to die as passengers in accidents. A total of 43 cyclists were killed in the city in 2004.

The leading cause for non-transport related deaths of children 14 and younger was burns, followed by drowning. Most of the deaths in the older age groups over 45 were also because of burns, while this was a secondary cause of death among teenagers. Other causes of death were falling from heights over 20m, blunt force injuries, and 11 by poisoning.

Blood alcohol levels were obtained in 1 328 of the 2 266 cases, finding that the average blood alcohol concentration for those who were over the legal limit for driving was 0.16.