A couple of days ago, a friend mentioned to me that when he visited Turkey, the thing that struck him most was how responsible for one’s own safety the average citizen is expected to be. Roadworks don’t usually have big barriers around them— you’re expected to be smart enough not to walk around in a dangerous area. If you have children, it’s your responsibility to protect them and teach them to protect themselves. It’s not the government’s job. If people wear safety equipment, it’s because they choose to, not because there are any rules forcing them to (as a result, most people don’t wear safety equipment, but that’s another topic for another day). Turkey only recently enacted a motorcycle helmet law, but apparently it’s not all that rigidly enforced, judging from the number of people I see hanging their helmets from the handlebars while they ride.
There are good and bad sides to each of these observations, but I’m reminded of a story I read a few years ago about a town that removed all the road markings and signs in a certain area where there had been a record number of traffic accidents. The result of removing all the markings? All of a sudden drivers had to pay attention to what they were doing. They didn’t have the nanny system to baby them anymore. They had to look around them, assess what was safe using their eyes and ears, and make logical decisions based on those assessments. It was no longer about blindly following the signs and expecting someone else to be responsible for everything. Drivers slowed down, watched the road, and watched out for each other. The traffic accident rate fell drastically.
I think there’s a lot to be said for personal responsibility… though whether one chooses to exercise it is another issue entirely.
As they say: “Hear, hear!”
Bloody Australian namby-pamby nanny kakistocratic police and surveillance state… Time to move, trouble is that there's no place left…
http://www.planetizen.com/node/26983 Bohmte and Drachten are the towns. Very sensible of them, but how radical and un-EU to actually trust to peoples' own common-sense!
@ Teddlesruss – you think Australia's bad for surveillance? Britain beats you hands down! For now, anyway… the new government are making positive noises about dismantling the worst of the police state cameras. Remains to be seen whether they actually DO it, of course.
People would be more cautious, true. You would have to eliminate the ability of people to file lawsuits, which kind of sounds good in a way too. The problem is it used to be this way and corporations could disregard concern for the worker or anyone else for that matter in pursuit of profits. Over time, laws have been made to hold them responsible and they find they need more insurance for when they are at fault. Insurance companies demand they have safety measures, policies, and procedures in place in order to provide them insurance at a rate they can afford. The government is usually motivated to increase safety by impacts to the health care system for uninsured people. It does seem to go overboard at times. Probably needs to be reined in a little, but not done away with completely like some countries where you are on your own. Or maybe I am 100% wrong….”Safety Shmafety…Who needs it!”