Today I Learned - actually I had my memory refreshed about the infamous Otto Know Better. Good Ole' Otto was a cartoon invented by the industrial Safety People to sort of poke fun at hapless idjits who always get into trouble.
Unfortunately, the Otto industry - I mean Auto industry took Good Ole' Otto and used him for their purposes. You see at the time, people in cars were killing and maiming people by the thousands - Jeez sounds familiar doesn't it. I mean, people in cars only killed ~40,000 people in 2016.
Anyway, the auto industry couldn't have people blaming the drivers (people driving cars)...Nope, can't do that. That would be bad for business. So they did a couple of things.
First they shifted the blame - Otto Know Better to the rescue. Auto "manufacturers, auto clubs, auto dealers - invented caricatures of careless pedestrians because most of the people cars were killing then were pedestrians, not other people in cars."
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| The Many Faces of Otto (3) |
Secondly, they introduced the word "Accident!" It's not operator error - it's an accident! It's not an infrastructure problem - it's an accident! It's not Timmy speeding, eating a big burger and face-timing - it's an accident!
You see the word accident means it was unavoidable. You can't control it - because it's - an accident!
You know what's not an accident - the shift in the language. Words are important. These aren't accidents. They're crashes. They're negligent crashes for the most part. If you deconstruct any crash you'll find out that somebody was doing something wrong.
- Aggressive Driving
- Driving Distracted
- Driving Drunk
- Driving High
- Face-timing on the cellphone
- Failure to yield
- Following too closely
- Giving yourself a haircut whilst driving (Yes - I really saw this)
- Not pulling over for the police or fire truck
- Not Slowing Down - Moving Over for Police/Fire on the Shoulder
- Reading a book while driving
- Reading the newspaper while driving
- Right on Red and not coming to a complete and legal stop
- Rolling through that stop sign
- Sexual relations while driving
- Speeding
- Stepping into the road without looking
- Tailgating
- Texting and driving
- Texting while riding (motorcycle or bicycle)
- Texting while walking in the road
- Too fast for conditions
- Yakking on the cellphone
(1) http://www.npr.org/2016/05/25/479502043/when-cars-collide-safety-advocates-say-its-no-accident
(2) http://fortune.com/2017/02/15/traffic-deadliest-year/
(3) https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/the-invention-of-jaywalking-was-a-massive-shaming-campa-858926923
(4) “Street Rivals: Jaywalking and the Invention of the Motor Age Street.” Technology and Culture 48 (April 2007), 331-359.
Thanks for this clear assessment of the importance of language, and the need to focus on driving - not trying to do other tasks. Well done!
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