Woozle/2023/02/18

posted to Nextdoor

Quora: Why are there so few car wrecks on the German autobahn?

[quote]

I once asked this question of a civil engineer I knew who had worked on American civil engineering projects after having studied in Europe. Her answer was enlightening:

In Germany, if the authorities notice a significant number of accidents on a certain portion of roadway, they call in an engineer to fix the problem. They redesign the curve, they re-grade the road, whatever it takes.

In the US, if the authorities notice a significant number of accidents on a certain portion of roadway, they start issuing lots of traffic tickets on that portion of the road, and it becomes a steady source of revenue for the city.

That answer is a bit pat, of course, but there is a kernel of truth to it: Americans and Germans have different attitudes. That includes different attitudes about driving, but it also includes different attitudes about design and engineering. The US has a culture of the Rugged Individualist: we make the road however we make it, and as the driver it’s your responsibility to drive safely. It’s your fault if there’s a crash. Germany has a culture that it is the responsibility of the engineer to think carefully about the project, anticipate how things can go wrong, and create a design that is logical, consistent, and makes sense in everyday use.

[/quote] https://www.quora.com/Why-are-there-so-few-car-wrecks-on-the-German-autobahn

The American idea of "individualism" (or "frontierism", as I call it) is kinda anti-civilization, basically; I think it's time to start doing away with it. We're no longer a frontier; the overwhelming majority of us depend on a complex network of trade, knowledge, and infrastructure in our daily lives; we can't let the elites continue to have us believe we shouldn't be able to count on that infrastructure to, you know, WORK PROPERLY.