Editing Friday the 13th (section)

=== Rate of accidents ===
A study by Scanlon, Luben, Scanlon, & Singleton (1993)<ref name=Scanlon-Luben-Scanlon-Singleton-1993>
{{cite journal
 |last1=Scanlon |first1=T.J. |last2=Luben |first2=R.N.
 |last3=Scanlon |first3=F.L. |last4=Singleton |first4=N.
 |date=1993-12-18
 |title=Is Friday the 13th bad for your health?
 |journal=[[British Medical Journal]]
 |volume=307 |issue=6919 |pages=1584–1586
 |language=en |doi=10.1136/bmj.307.6919.1584
 |issn=0959-8138 |pmid=8292946 |pmc=1697765
}}
</ref>
attracted attention from popular science literature,{{efn|name=Melina-2012-01-13-quote|
For starters, a 1993 study published in the [[British Medical Journal]] indicates otherwise: Researchers analyzed the traffic flow and number of injuries from car accidents on the southern section of London's [[M25 motorway]] during the five months that the 13th fell on a Friday between 1990 and 1992. They compared these numbers to data collected on Friday the 6th of the same months, and found that although there are consistently fewer vehicles on the road during the 13th – possibly as a result of superstitious people choosing not to drive that day, the researchers proposed – "the risk of hospital admission as a result of a transport accident may be increased by as much as 52&nbsp;percent" on the 13th.<ref name=Melina-2012-01-13>
{{cite web
 |last=Melina |first=Remy
 |date=13 January 2012
 |title=Statistically speaking, is Friday the 13th really unlucky?
 |website=[[Live Science]] |language=en
 |url=https://www.livescience.com/17900-statistically-speaking-friday-13th-unlucky.html |access-date=13 April 2018
}}
</ref>
}}{{efn|name=Gawande-1998-03-20-quote|
The study compared hospital admissions for traffic accidents on a Friday the 13th with those on a Friday the 6th in a community outside London. Despite a lower highway traffic volume on the 13th than on the 6th, admissions for traffic accident victims increased 52&nbsp;percent on the 13th.<ref name=Gawande-1998-03-20>
{{cite magazine
 |author=Gawande, A. |author-link=Atul Gawande
 |date=20 March 1998
 |title=When a full moon and a lunar eclipse collide with Friday the 13th, do more accidents really happen?
 |magazine=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |lang=en
 |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/1998/03/er_and_the_triple_hex.html
 |access-date=13 April 2018
}}
</ref>
}}
as it concluded that "the risk of hospital admission as a result of a transport accident ''may'' be increased by as much as 52&nbsp;percent on the 13th";<ref name=Scanlon-Luben-Scanlon-Singleton-1993/>{{rp|page=1584}}
however, the authors clearly state that "the numbers of admissions from accidents are too small to allow meaningful analysis".<ref name=Scanlon-Luben-Scanlon-Singleton-1993/>{{rp|page=1586}}
Subsequent studies have disproved any correlation between Friday the 13th and the rate of accidents.<ref>
{{cite journal
 |last1=Lo |first1=Bruce M.
 |last2=Visintainer |first2=Catherine M.
 |last3=Best |first3=Heidi A.
 |last4=Beydoun |first4=Hind A.
 |date=July 2012
 |title=Answering the myth: Use of emergency services on Friday the 13th
 |journal=[[The American Journal of Emergency Medicine]]
 |volume=30 |issue=6 |pages=886–889
 |doi=10.1016/j.ajem.2011.06.008 |pmid=21855260
}}
</ref><ref>
{{Cite journal
 |first1=Jochen    |last1=Schuld       |first2=Jan E. |last2=Slotta 
 |first3=Simone    |last3=Schuld       |first4=Otto   |last4=Kollmar 
 |first5=Martin K. |last5=Schilling    |first6=Sven   |last6=Richter 
 |date=2011-09-01
 |title=Popular belief meets surgical reality: Impact of Lunar phases, Friday the 13th, and Zodiac signs on emergency operations and intraoperative blood loss
 |journal=[[World Journal of Surgery]]
 |volume=35 |issue=9 |pages=1945–1949
 |language=en |doi=10.1007/s00268-011-1166-8
 |pmid=21713579|s2cid=23787395 |issn=0364-2313
}}
</ref>

On 12&nbsp;June 2008 the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics stated to the contrary, that "fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays, because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home. Statistically speaking, driving is slightly safer on Friday the 13th, at least in the [[Netherlands]]; in the last two years, Dutch insurers received reports of an average 7,800&nbsp;traffic accidents each Friday; but the average figure when the 13th fell on a Friday was just 7,500."<ref>
{{cite news
 |title=Friday 13th is no longer unlucky
 |orig-year=13 Jun 2008 |date=4 Feb 2012
 |website=Mirror (mirror.co.uk)
 |publisher=[[Daily Mirror]]
 |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/friday-13th-is-no-longer-unlucky-313210
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite news
 |work=[[Reuters]]
 |date=2008-06-13
 |title=Friday 13th not more unlucky, Dutch study shows
 |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKL1268660720080613
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206053052/http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKL1268660720080613
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=6 December 2008
}}
</ref>