The study shows the risk of death from an injury— including shootings, vehicle accidents, drownings, falls and many other accidents — is more than 20 percent higher in rural small towns than larger cities.

“Cars, guns and drugs are the unholy trinity causing the majority of injury deaths in the U.S.,” Myers said.

The risk of homicide is what most people think of when they look at how safe big cities are, she said. But, although homicide rates are indeed higher in big cities, the risk of unintentional injury-related deaths is a full 40 percent higher in rural areas than in urban areas.

And the overall number of deaths from homicides is dwarfed by deaths from unintentional injuries.

via Surprise! Big cities safer than small towns, study finds – U.S. News.

Interesting study.  While our fellow citizens do tend to kill each other more often when concentrated, they do so at a lower rate than inanimate objects and nature in general.