Void and without form - August 16th, 2006
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05:18 pm
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Quotations meme
Which is to go to http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 which displays 10 random quotations and pick 5 of them.
Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849), 'Eleanora,' 1842
Take away the miseries and you take away some folks' reason for living.
Toni Cade Bambara
Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.
Carol Burnett (1936 - )
I'm not going to die because I failed as someone else. I’m going to succeed as myself.
Margaret Cho, I'm The One That I Want, 1999
Complaining is good for you as long as you're not complaining to the person you're complaining about.
Lynn Johnston (1947 - ), For Better or For Worse, 11-06-03
Current Mood:  thirsty
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05:40 pm
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Risk Assessment
This morning at my Fás course we had an interesting and scary presentation from a person whose name escapes me at the moment about road safety. He presented a number of alarming statistics about road casualties in Ireland and some of the reasons why the numbers are going up, not down.
Part of the reason for the statistics are failures in education and training. The training documents for learner drivers have not been updated for 11 years, and are way out of date.
The old killer was drink driving, which of course still goes on, but we were told is more the sin of the older generation. The major killer of young males 17-25 is IMO simply hormones. They believe they are immortal and the best drivers in the world, based on their willingness to take risks and survive after them. The percentages go catch up with people though, if they keep taking stupid risks.
I saw a documentary recently about people living on the San Andreas fault, and how they blot out the ongoing risk of the "Big One" hitting, transferring it to say a pronounced interest in disasters in a far-off country. Similarly they ignore the fire threat from vegetation that has evolved to benefit from occasional fires, and look for arsonists to blame when the fires do come. (something I have heard in other countries as well, thinking about it).
The same behavior apparently is seen in those living near active volcanoes and other intermittent, unpredictable dangers.
This ability to ignore disaster staring you in the face is mystifying to me, but then danger has always repelled me, and I hate horror movies.
Basically, people suck at understanding probabilities, including gambling and risk assessment. Training can help, but people have an amazing ability to ignore the inconvenient, both as individuals and as groups.
Current Mood:  pensive
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