Psy 409a - Driving Psychology, March 13, 2006
Vehicle Accidents: Costly Consequences
Tiare MacDonald
J. Peter Rothe. Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems that Make Traffic Suffer. Pages 173-192.
Instructions for this
activity are found at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/g24-oral1.htm
Instructor: Dr. Leon James
I. Most people know that car accidents are costly for the individuals, but they are also very expensive for institutions.
a. Society seems to be more conscious of costs for things like terminal illnesses like AIDS, even though the price of traffic trauma consequences is much higher.
b. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s estimated cost of traffic crashes in 1998 was $150.5 billion.
1. Costs include goods and services.
2. Including individual expenses, costs amount to about $336 billion.
c. Macro level barriers to safety are like laws.
d. Micro level barriers to safety are the consequence of an individual’s actions.
e. Micro and macro level barriers are often in conflict.
II. The leading cause of death while on the job is vehicle accidents.
a. Most of these drivers are not truck drivers, but rather people commuting on the job to different locations to do work (e.g. salespeople).
III. There are many organizational costs involved with vehicle crashes, which usually involve several of the following factors:
a. Lost time
b. Sick Leave
c. Temporary Worker Costs
d. Insurance Costs
e. Lawsuits
f. Reduced Efficiency and Productivity
g. Reduced Morale
h. Corporate Image
IV. Employers often have a minimal response to traffic accidents within their company to reduce costs.
a. Wellness programs, which include organizational wellness and personal wellness, have had positive effects on employees’ health, because they take a proactive instead of reactive approach (meaning that they don’t wait until the damage has been done; they prevent damage before it happens).
b. Due diligence is also geared towards preventing on-the-job accidents.
c. Employers should not just be concerned with traffic trauma on-the-job, because it is also costly for them if employees are injured away from work.
V. The workplace is a good setting for accident-prevention programs.
VI. Mission Possible Work (MPW) is a relatively inexpensive program that educates employees and seeks to prevent vehicle injury on and off the job.
a. It takes expands on ideas such as Wellness programs, systems thinking, affective learning, adult education, prevention and accommodation, and follows a model to effect change in people.
b. This program has proven to be successful because it takes place within a work setting, where people have a common ground.
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2004-136/default.html
I picked this link because it was pretty on-target with its portrayal of the severity of on-the-job crashes. It provided employers with ways to prevent this from happening, but it did not adequately cover the affective and cognitive aspects of driving.
Risky Drivers behind the Wheel of Government Cars
http://www.kirotv.com/news/3341300/detail.html
I thought that this website was interesting because it did an undercover investigation on government employees who drive company cars taking risks. One of these risks is drunk driving. The article discusses how traffic violations are committed on a regular basis in government vehicles.
Auto Accident Lawyers in Pennsylvania - Shrager, Spivey and Sachs
http://www.shragerlaw.com/html/motor_vehicle_acidents.html
This is just an example of a website for lawyers to take auto accident cases. It demonstrates that traffic trauma is profitable (otherwise there would not be so many lawyers that specialize in it. They also list many different types of reasons why someone would need their services (illustrating the many potential lawsuits that could occur).
My Homepage: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409as2006/macdonald/macdonald-home.htm
Class Homepage: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/classhome-g24.htm