 I know you felt it. Most everybody has. That chaotic, sickening, uncontrollable, utterly helpless feeling of falling. You've probably dreamt it as a child. The falling dream. You always wake up before a hit, you know, because if you didn't. And perhaps you've known that feeling of falling in reality as well. A dark basement. A dimly lighted stair. An outside stairway. A step. Wet with rain. A slick, wet floor in the bathroom. And no place to hold. A storm door with a glass inset. A teenager in too big a hurry. Every year in the United States, more than a third of a million people go to the hospital with injuries from falls. On simple stairways. In ordinary bathrooms. Through glass doors. In most cases they suffer needlessly. They didn't have to take that tumble that brought on that feeling of falling. A picture of a senseless accident about to happen. A dim basement stair. A missing handrail. And a patterned carpet that can confuse the eye. Hey, look out. Wait a minute. Let's go back. That dangerous fall didn't have to happen. If the victim had done something about that dark stairway, then put light switches at both the top and bottom of the stairs. Install the handrail. Use solid colored carpets instead of that confusing pattern design. Safety around the household is really as easy as that. Yet some people don't seem to understand. For example, a sack that impairs the vision. A wet spot on the stair ahead. Hey, watch out. But let's go back because it didn't have to happen either. A simple precaution like improving traction on the stair surface by adding a skid resistant substance to the paint. Safety around the house isn't really difficult. But you have to think about hazards in advance. Things like a slick floor in the bathroom. No grab bar. Hey, be careful. That didn't have to happen either. Come back. An inexpensive grab bar on the wall. A clean dry floor. Thinking ahead about hazards around the house pays off. Just as ignoring them can hurt. Badly. A glass inset in a storm door. And a teenager in too big a hurry. Hey, slow down. But if we had to do it over again, we'd surely do it differently. With safety glazing in the storm door. Isn't it better that way? The feeling of falling is bad enough when it's only a nightmare. When you get it in reality, you can be badly injured. Crippled or handicapped for life. A third of a million people are in the U.S. every year. What's a little time or money or thought if it can help you prevent accidents around the home? Write the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission for information on preventing accidents like these. Do it. You don't have to have that feeling of falling.