Accidental injuries (also called unintentional injuries) are a significant public health problem in the United States. Unintentional injuries accounted for 97,860 deaths in 1999 and 40.4 million emergency department visits in 2000. By a very large margin, unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for individuals between the ages of 1 and 34 years. In 1999, unintentional injuries accounted for 43 percent of deaths in the 1- to 24-year-old age group, with deaths from accidents peaking between 15 and 19 years of age. Males are more susceptible to unintentional injuries than are females. For males, unintentional injuries rank as the fourth leading cause of death, whereas for females, unintentional injuries are the seventh leading cause of death. Unintentional injuries are caused most commonly by motor vehicles, followed in number by falls, poisoning, drowning, suffocation (especially for infants), and fire/burns. Billions of dollars are spent each year in the United States dealing with the problem of unintentional injuries.