A cultured attitude
by Bernard McGrath, Inspection Validation Centre

I find it the most frightening part of driving. Most of the time dangerous situations will occur so fast that you don't have time to worry in anticipation. However, when it is raining, the motorway is wet and the spray thrown up by the HGVs, or to a lesser extent by 4x4s, obliterates your view and you have to strain to see just a few yards in front. That's when you have time to think about what might happen or what might have already happened somewhere in front but you just can't see it.

It is bad enough when you choose to overtake a lorry and drive through the spray. At least you have made the choice, decided the risk is worth taking, and are able to drive through the worst of it to where you are in front and just have to cope with the rain. But it is worse when you stay in the inside lane in a roadwork section. Lorries and 4x4s apparently don't have to obey the same laws as the rest of us and keep to 50 mph. They plough along in the second lane maintaining a continuous sheet of water over the windscreen. Not having anything visible to concentrate on, my mind starts to wander. "This isn’t safe." "How would they like it if I sprayed water over their windscreens." "To do that I would need a hose!" "If I did use a hose I would soon be arrested for endangering human life." "But aren't they endangering my life?" "They are not doing it deliberately, it's part of driving on the motorway in the wet."
 
Hold it there. They are doing it deliberately. It might not be their primary intent but they are choosing to travel at such a speed in the wet that their tyres generate sufficient spray to obstruct the view of other road users. They don't have to go at that speed. It is funny how we have one attitude for one set of actions and a totally different attitude towards another set even though the end result is, in effect, the same.

Attitude: a way of thinking or feeling about someone or something. Spray on the windscreen, the same outcome but two separate origins so two different attitudes! Attitudes are formed by observational learning from our environment. This can hold dangers because our experience is built up over time. Consequently, our attitudes can change slowly over time, such that we are not necessarily conscious of the change. This is particularly pertinent with respect to safety. We can start out having a positive attitude to safety. Our experience may then tell us that money is considered at least as important as safety. We need to get the job done, to time and within budget. We may be tempted to cut corners. If we do this and get away with it then it makes it easier to do it again. And so, gradually, the positive attitude turns into a blasé attitude.

The other threat to our safety is a term coined by psychologist Irving Janis: groupthink. This is where each member of a group conforms to what they believe to be the consensus of the group. On the face of it this appears a rational response to a situation but it can lead to the group making bad and irrational decisions, which each person in the group may independently consider to be incorrect. The intelligence community is said to have suffered from groupthink when considering evidence on WMDs in Iraq. The problem is that it can be beneficial to go along with the group. If you go against the group you can be ostracised and considered a troublemaker.

Attitudes can be changed by persuasion: the whole of the advertising industry is based on this premise. So safety messages and posters can have an effect. But attitudes also change in line with our experience. That's why behaviour is a powerful communicator. Behaviour is experienced and therefore helps form our attitudes. Group behaviour creates a culture which, in turn, reinforces the group behaviour. NDT is all about safety. It is important that we have the correct attitude to safety and that our own attitude, and not groupthink, dictates our actions. We can then challenge and help change the attitudes of others. Who knows? One day we may decide it is unacceptable to obstruct a windscreen with a wall of water irrespective of whether it is from a hose or an HGV!

Please note that the views expressed in this column are the author's own personal ramblings for the purpose of encouraging discussion within the NDT Newspaper. They do not represent the views of the IVC, Serco Assurance or the HSE who funded the PANI projects.

Letters can be mailed to The Editor, NDT News, Newton Building, St George's Avenue, Northampton NN2 6JB. Fax: 01604 89 3861; Email: ndtnews@bindt.org or email Bernard McGrath direct at Bernard.McGrath@sercoassurance.com