Brave new motoring?

[NitroDann]

Pilots and bus drivers have the black boxes just like coles has a manager, because people are being paid agree to have a supervisor as part of their contract.

If they dont like it they can go to a position that doesnt have one or start their own business.

Dann

[JBT]

Pilots fly aircraft that have "black boxes" (FDR and CVR) to record data to tell the service crews what it has done prior to service or to tell investigators what went wrong if it goes wrong and only when it goes wrong. The "black boxes" do not supervise or manage the pilots, the aircraft or its operation but can be used during operation to help the crews assess a problem.

[rjastra2]

Pilots fly aircraft that have "black boxes" (FDR and CVR) to record data to tell the service crews what it has done prior to service or to tell investigators what went wrong if it goes wrong and only when it goes wrong.

And that's exactly what any black box info stored in a vehicle would be used for.

Do you think that the notion that a pilot's voice and actions are being monitored and could be reported on when an accident occurs may moderate their behaviour?

[JBT]

Do you think that the notion that a pilot's voice and actions are being monitored and could be reported on when an accident occurs may moderate their behaviour?

No. They do what they do as professionals and because they rarely walk away from accidents. In multi-crew situations, the crew help prevent human errors. However, mechanical problems. poor training. poor skills. procedural errors and/or cultural issues can still lead to an accident or incident.

[StuwieP]

I don't think people are dumb. I think a person is actually pretty smart.

That's two separate things, in my mind, which you cover below

People are dumb if you treat them like they're dumb. Flocks of people can be pretty dumb.

But I think a sophisticated policy which treats people as not-dumb (e.g. please drive to the conditions of the day) is not going to fail because 'people are dumb'.

We know that it works in Germany. Are Germans smarter than Australians? Maybe there's experiance and practice and culture - but I don't think they're smarter.

I think this is spot on. Problem is, the government generally treats people as though they are stupid. In catering for, perhaps, the lowest common denominator, the rules and regulations encourage a culture, as you point out, of poor personal responsibility.

I think if we introduce drastic 'driver monitoring' programs we just encourage further laxity in terms of behaviour, just expecting the government to look after all the problems.

[Rocky]

The difficulty in trying to compare what happens in different countries is that you are talking about different cultures.
Culturally, Germany (and Japan for e.g.) is very different from Australia.
Japan is a better example to use -
Japanese are (in general) more compliant to authority. Look at the clean street - nobody litters. Have a look at Australia - feral.
Australia is very much an "Individualist" culture whilst others are more "Collectivist".
I doubt you could ever train Australians to have much regard for the 'greater wellbeing of society'.
We are too far down the road of 'do what you like and to hell with everybody else'.
Appealing to a 'sense of social responsibility' doesn't work very well with intensely 'individualistic' cultures. You need to start brainwashing people at birth to achieve innate compliance.