Safety and security is always a layered thing, even more so than other
objectives which have different components or layers, like performance.
The problem is that when adding another layer of safety via safety belts, a
helmet, or safety bottle top, people tend to relax other layers, such as
safe behaviour, worn tires, baby locks, etc.
In part, this is because new safety layers are sold as "solutions" rather
than additional safety layers, just to get them adopted by government. Then
safety proponents are told they need less money for other layers, like
education, because the solution has been found and adopted.
So how do we adopt layers without overselling them? Do we point out where
helmets or safety belts failed to save a life? That seems
counterproductive.
I think the only solution is to make safety measures mandatory, especially
for role models, like the cyclists in the Tour de France! When safety
measures are automatic, people are free to add more layers. Then other
layers can be promoted as well, layers like behaviour or skills, which are
less mandateable.
Tom
On Friday, January 18, 2002 at 7:16, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote re "[CfSC] Lulling effect of safety measures" saying:
> The following is an excerpt from a book called Target Risk by
> Gerald J.S. Wilde. The following are comments that are made with the regard
> to the lulling effect many so called safety features, courses etc. have in
> our lives. This includes such things as helmets and education. Whether or
> not you buy into it, it certainly is an interesting read and you have to
> read the whole thing. It has caused quite the debate in the road safety
> industry.
>
> Lynda
>
>
> Other victims of the "lulling effect" have been reported, e.g. children
> under the age of five. In 1972, the Food and Drug Administration in the USA
> ordered manufacturers of painkillers and other selected drugs to equip their
> bottles with "child-proof" lids. These are difficult to open for children
> (and sometimes for adults as well) and often go under the name of "safety
> caps," a misleading name, as we will see. Their introduction was followed by
> a substantial increase in the per capita rate of fatal accidental poisonings
> in children. It was concluded that the impact of the regulation was
> counterproductive, "leading to 3,500 additional (fatal plus non-fatal)
> poisonings of children under age 5 annually from analgesics".[17] These
> findings were explained as the result of parents becoming less careful in
> the handling and storing of the "safer" bottles". "It is clear that
> individual actions are an important component of the accident-generating
> process. Failure to take such behavi!
> or into account will result in regulations that may not have the intended
> impact". Indeed, safety is in people, or else it is nowhere.
>
> If parents can be blamed for the lack of effectiveness of safety caps, does
> a government that passes such near-sighted safety legislation go guilt-free?
> Does an educational agency that instills a feeling of overconfidence in
> learner drivers go guilt-free? Does a traffic engineering department that
> gives pedestrians a false sense of safety remain blameless; or a government
> that requires driver education at a registered driving school before one is
> allowed to take the licensing test? Is it responsible to call a seatbelt a
> "safety belt", to propagate through the media such slogans as "seatbelts
> save lives", "speed kills", "to be sober is to be safe", "use condoms for
> safe sex", or others of the same ilk?
------- Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur -----------------
,__@ Tom A. Trottier +1 613 860-6633 fax:231-6115
_-\_<, 758 Albert St.,Ottawa ON Canada K1R 7V8
(*)/'(*) ICQ:57647974 N45.412 W75.714
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Laws are the spider's webs which,
if anything small falls into them they ensnare it,
but large things break through and escape.
--Solon, statesman (c.638-c558 BCE)
------
To unsubscribe, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Club Office: [EMAIL PROTECTED], (613) 230-1064
Web/mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.cyberus.ca/~obcweb
Newsletter: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.cyberus.ca/~obcweb/Newsletter
==^================================================================
This email was sent to: [email protected]
EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aVxiDo.a2i8p1
Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail!
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register
==^================================================================
