Well damn, I had no idea they caused that many problems, thanks for the reply

Thank you for representing the knowledge. During forklift training the instructor was very deliberate about teaching us that the forklift is half the size and three times the weight of a car. It has the torque to rip out limbs at idle speeds. It does not care about keeping the loads level - that's our job.

I wish there was footage of a head on collision between a forklift and a car because then folks can see the reality of what a forklift is able to do and the industrial levels of abuse they sustain. The car will be absolutely crumpled. There are no crumple zones on a forklift. There is only the weight and structural framework for lifting a car over its head while remaining balanced the entire time.

Sounds like a fun base rates problem, much like when you say airplanes are much safer than cars, etc. I wonder how it breaks down by vehicle, though; 2% might be cars as a whole, but trucks vs suvs vs sedans change that up and trucks, having the highest rate of dui and accident rate (after accounting for urban density) you end up with maybe a comparable 4% rate with forklifts.

None the less, respect the forklift. They may do as many injuries per capita as an F150 but at a fraction of the speed! And in new and exciting ways!

Not to undermine your point about forklifts being more dangerous than cars (no idea personally, I don’t have any firsthand experience, only horror stories I’ve read on the internet), but I wonder if accidents/injuries per vehicle per year is the best measurement of danger considering I would assume most cars are only driven for about an hour per day, but I would assume forklifts are operated for about 8-12 hours per day.

still less risk to the general public

Yes, but often they top out at 15mph

Whatever the latest 2 tonne pickup truck is, can go 10x that speed