Why do we accept so different risks for different travel situations?
Why are Boeing 737 Max grounded by agencies around the world when a few hundred people are killed but why do “we” allow people to travel by much more dangerous modes without seeing it as something where road safety agencies need to intervene?
In the US, people are switching towards driving SUVs and pickup trucks with higher and higher fronts. These are much more dangerous to pedestrians so why do we not legislate that the hood (bonnet) of the vehicle should be below a certain height?
People are upset when an autostrada bridge collapses but think it is no big deal when people drive into bridge abutments and are killed. But, looking at US data, about five people per year have been killed by structural bridge failures in the last 60 years whereas over 300 people are killed annually in the US when driving off bridges and crashing into rivers or ravines or hitting abutments and other bridge support structures.
In this webinar, Professor Per Erik Gårder (University of Maine, USA) discusses acceptable risk, nominal safety (guidelines by agencies) and perceived safety by travelers.
About the speaker
Per Erik Gårder is a Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Maine, USA, since 1992. He has a doctorate from Lund University in Sweden and from 1983 to 1992 he was a faculty member of the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden.
During sabbaticals, Per Gårder did research at the University of Toronto (Canada), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA) and at VTT (Finland).
Per Erik’s research interests are forecasting, designing and evaluating facilities with emphasis on traffic safety. He has written over 700 papers, reports and reviews.
