More Americans are dying each year by accident

WASHINGTON (AP) — Accidents are killing more Americans each year, increasingly from overdoses and falls.

A new report from the National Safety Council said that in 2014, more than 136,000 Americans died accidentally. That's up 4.2 percent from the year before and a jump of 15.5 percent over a decade. And the accident rate has risen despite a 22 percent plunge in car crash deaths since 2005.

Overdose and accidental poisonings are up 78 percent over a decade – pushing aside car crashes as the No. 1 accidental killer in the U.S. Falls are up 63 percent over a decade.

George Gray, a George Washington University public health professor, says America has made progress in making cars safer, but the prescription drug abuse epidemic is growing more deadly and Baby Boomers are aging.