Considering that about 70% of all home accidents in the U.S. occur in the bathroom, it’s pretty surprising that interior decorators aren’t doing all they can to make residential bathrooms as safe as possible. In light of so many in-home accidents, more homeowners have begun realizing that there is an easy and preventative solution — and that’s the walk in bathtub and shower.

If you’ve realized that your own home could be a bit safer, but you aren’t totally sold on the idea of installing one of these tubs, take a look at the following reasons why more people have begun installing these features…

• Walk in bathtubs are most often recommended for elderly people and anyone with a disability that makes it difficult to climb over the side of a tub, or stay standing for a long period of time. Now that a huge number of baby boomers have begun to experience physical limitations due to aging, it’s no surprise that walk in bath tubs are becoming more popular every year.
  

• Similar to a shower, walk in bathtubs don’t require a person to lift his/her legs to walk inside; unlike a traditional shower, these tubs are a bit more comfortable and they allow for extra safety features, like hand rails, to be installed easily. Additionally, most walk in bathtubs have a seat positioned at a normal chair’s height so that the person doesn’t have to stand for an entire shower.
  

• Whether these tubs have an inward-opening door or a fitted, self-sealing door, they allow the tub to be sealed completely after the door is closed so that the tub can be filled with water, just like a traditional bathtub would be. In fact, walk in bath tubs have something called a hydrostatic seal, which means that the tub becomes completely waterproof when the door is closed. As the tub continues to fill up with water, it actually becomes more waterproof, because the weight of the water presses the door shut even tighter.

Sounds like a pretty convenient bathroom feature, doesn’t it? Traditionally, these tubs may have been used primarily by the elderly and disabled, but at this rate, they might just become the most popular (and the safest) addition for bathrooms all over the country.