Bloody Black Friday: How Shopping Kills, Injures and Maims

black-friday-wikimedia-commons
Written by Kyle McCarthy

Using the the Silk.co data visualization tool, guest editor Kyle McCarthy shows us the dark side of Black Friday. Here’s how early holiday shopping kills.

aNewDomain — Black Friday got you down? It could be worse. People get injured, even killed, as a result of the shopping craziness that takes place around Thansgiving (U.S.) every year.

I work at Silk, a data viz business that charts the kind of Black Friday data that’ll make your teeth hurt. Truly. Here are a few of the top line facts.

Wal-mart is the No. 1 place for Black Friday injuries and deaths. Be careful out there!

Pepper Spray was the weapon responsible for the most single day Black Friday injuries. It was responsible for 46 injuries in 2011.

The two deadliest Black Friday incidents occured in California.

Here’s a map showing the overall Black Friday injury and death toll since 2005.

Cover image: Gridprop at en.wikipedia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons