Jan 31
Anniversaries are convenient occasions on which to reinforce myths. Twenty five years ago, 31 January 1983, it became compulsory for occupants of the front seats of cars in the UK to wear seat belts. Today Britains Department for Transport has posted a press release announcing that in the 25 years since the seat belt law …
Jan 07
Most risk assessments, warning notices and disclaimers are the legal equivalent of juju charms to ward off lawyers and probably as effective as the kind that believers wear around their necks. This disclaimer for Nelson Rocks Preserve in West Virginia was sent to me by Paul Winston, editorial director of Business Insurance . It is …
Dec 19
Arboricultural Journal 2007, Vol. 30, pp. 95103 This is the published version of a paper prepared for a conference on The Future of Tree Risk Management, held in London on 15 September 2006. Abstract Britain, in the view of former Prime Minister Blair, is in danger of having a wholly disproportionate attitude to the risks …
Dec 08
Draft for WHO Workshop, Rome, 13-14 December 2007. The cost of inaction: economic valuation in environment and health. Contemplation of the costs of inaction usually provokes questions about the benefits of inaction, which leads to cost-benefit analysis. Cost-benefit analysis, as a method for settling arguments about action or inaction is enormously seductive. You simply add …
Dec 07
In 1971 Mayer Hillman conducted a survey of how English children got about: at what age were they allowed to play in the street, ride a bike, get to school on their own, visit friends and get about the neighbourhood? In 1990 Mayer persuaded me to join him in re-surveying the same schools he had …
Nov 17
In October 2007 the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety published a Status Report (PDF: 1MB) complaining about my article “Britains Seat Belt Law should be Repealed” (PDF: 0.2MB) (published as “Seat Belt Laws Repeal them?” in the June 2007 issue of the statistical journal Significance). It went on to denounce all those who invoke the …
Nov 12
Many thanks to Jim Tubman who noticed that the previously posted version of the book was missing page 89. Further thanks to Jim for inserting it, and adding further bookmarking features. The new, improved product is now online at https://john-adams.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/risk%20and%20freedom.pdf.
Oct 27
Now available as a free online download Amazon Review (*****): Risk and Freedom is a book of historic significance. Published in 1985 and out of print for many years it continues to have a profound influence on road safety policy. It provides the first coherent application of the concept of risk compensation to the management …
Sep 08
(Commissioned, but not used – and worse not paid for – by The Los Angeles Times. So published here free of charge on the slightly-smaller-circulation Adams’ Blog) There is a growing enthusiasm amongst European transport planners for “shared space”. It is an intriguing idea pioneered by Hans Monderman, a highway engineer in Friesland. He removed …
Sep 07
(Published in abbreviated form in The Times Higher on 24 August 2007, as Tide of paranoia swells safety fears needlessly) We are in danger of having a wholly disproportionate attitude to the risks we should expect to run as a normal part of life. So said the Prime Minister in May 2005. At the highest …