How often do people in cities like New York that have sidewalks alongside densely packed tall buildings get hit with various types of falling debris?
Call me neurotic but when I'm walking on a city street in Manhattan I find myself wondering how often people get hit by something falling down from the side or top of buildings or from a window ledge. I wonder about that especially in cities that have a lot of older structures.
I presume the chance of any given individual encountering such a situation is extremely rare, but I haven't read anything on the topic except for one or two incidents in the news, so I was wondering if it's indeed super uncommon, and if so, is it because buildings are subject to very strict maintenance and inspection requirements and severe non-compliance penalties, or because stuff falls more often than we think or know but doesn't usually actually hit someone.