Throughout the 20th century, the relentless development of automobiles and boating has required ongoing improvements in safety. To enable this development, public authorities have established standards, boat and car manufacturers have worked on safer designs and equipment, and insurance companies have made drivers and skippers more responsible.
History
In the 21st century, the only remaining risks are inherent to human nature – fatigue, routine, alcohol consumption, stress, panic, etc. These are also known as “human factors,” which highly affect users, communities, and insurances. Removing humans and robotizing everything is a great temptation. However, is removing humans from the system without any risks? How can we reduce the infamous “human factors” without diminishing our freedom?
At Safetics®, like all true humanists, we believe that the freedom of thought and to express oneself, freedom to come and go, and more generally, freedom to decide what is best for us, are fundamental rights of human beings – inherent to democracy.
Travel and transportation always involve some level of risk. It is the skipper’s or driver’s responsibility to minimize these risks through expertise, knowledge of equipment and decision-making systems, and the usage of checklists.
1. Comparative History of Sea and Land Travel
A surge of freedom !
During antiquity, the first navigation rules and coastal lighthouses were built to avoid collisions between boats and ensure safer navigation during the day and the night. Thus, the Lighthouse of Alexandria served as a guide for sailors for nearly 17 centuries (from the 3rd century BC to the 14th century AD). It was raised on the island of Pharos in Egypt, which gave its name to the word “lighthouse.”
With the rise of steam navigation in the first half of the 19th century, we witnessed the establishment of the first international code of maritime signals initiated by the British Navy, – which was published in 1857. Its purpose was to reduce collisions between ships that had become more numerous and faster. At that time, the first sea rescue stations were also established in France and England.
A few decades later, the piston engine gradually replaced carriage transportation. The growth of the automobile industry in the early 20th century was staggering. The first regulations for automobile traffic were quickly established, as well as the first road assistance companies. It is said that the first electric traffic light appeared in 1914 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Innovations to minimize damage
At the end of the 19th century, safety harnesses equipped some car racers and taxis. However, it was not until the 1960s that standardized seat belts as we know them today were introduced. Some countries had to wait decades before they became mandatory.
“There are three kinds of men: the living, the dead, and those who are at sea.”, as Aristotle said. Indeed, back then, a man who fell into the sea was a dead man. Navigation was therefore revolutionized by the appearance of the first cork life jackets created in 1854 by the British, and by the first self-inflating life jackets created in 1915 by the French.
Subsequently, the democratization of maritime mobile service in the early 20th century allowed ships to report emergency situations and receive weather information. The development of direction finders in the 1920s and maritime radars in the 1930s was crucial for positioning boats and avoiding collisions and groundings. It wasn’t until the 1950s-1960s that VHF appeared and the 1980s for the GPS system. Today, the vast majority of pleasure boats are equipped with chart plotters and electronic tablets – making geolocation extremely reliable and precise except in case of electronic failure.
2.Public Authorities: Establishing Good Practices
In order to popularize safety equipment or technical control procedures – and thus create a new habit among the population – it is often necessary to enact new regulations, sometimes in response to a disaster.
In the automotive field, the first radar speed guns spread in Great Britain in the 1960s. In France, they were truly spread across the territory starting from 2003. This contributed to reducing the number of accidents and deaths on the road as well as replenishing the country’s accounts at the expense of drivers.
In 1985, due to the lack of vehicle maintenance, the French government implemented mandatory technical inspection for vehicle purchases over 5 years old. Then, in 1992, it implemented mandatory vehicle safety inspection. This inspection identifies in advance the main accident-prone elements of a vehicle: brakes, tires, suspensions, steering, etc. – a total of 136 points that can result in up to 610 potential failures.
In the maritime field, it was the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 that led to the SOLAS Convention, acronym for Safety Of Life at Sea. This convention establishes international standards for equipment, training, and emergency procedures. Updated four times since 1914, it is now ratified by 164 countries.
In 1960, France set the first regulation on the mandatory minimum equipment of pleasure boats, now called Division 240. So far, there is no mandatory technical inspection for boats, however, the Information Mission of the French Senate on sea rescue recalls that “all awareness-raising devices for boaters must be supported, such as the use of safety checklists” like Safetics® the Sailor’s Checklist.
3. The Pioneer Role of Insurance Companies
Directly concerned with the cost of accidents, insurers and brokers play a crucial role in improving road and boat safety. They encourage drivers and skippers to adopt safer equipment and behaviors, and highlight innovations to manufacturers and public authorities.
Risk-based pricing: insurers assess the risks associated with each driver and vehicle and adjust their rates in the form of bonuses or penalties. For boating, the skipper’s history as a boat owner is taken into account in the calculation of the initial bonus, and the amount of the deductible owed in case of damage can be reduced for each year spent without damage.
Data analysis to identify accident factors: the collection and analysis of significant amounts of data on their clients’ behaviors allow insurers to contribute to identifying trends, underlying causes of accidents, and to develop recommendations to manufacturers and public authorities.
Emphasis on training and education: insurance companies invest in prevention programs. This can include sponsoring awareness campaigns, providing educational resources, and taking part in initiatives aimed at improving road or boat safety. This is the case with several of them who actively promote the Safetics guide, the Sailor’s Checklist.
4. The Key Role of Manufacturers
Manufacturers collaborate with regulatory agencies and insurers and invest in research and development to meet user expectations in terms of safety. Since 1930, crash tests have been used to constantly improve the resistance of cars in case of collisions. Competitive sports have also been a powerful vector of innovation whether in the maritime or road world. Manufacturers work on designs and the use of materials improving stability and resistance to shocks. We can distinguish:
"Active safety" devices that reduce risks
In cars, this includes emergency braking assistance, electronic stability control, collision warnings, and driving and braking assistance systems that have reduced the frequency and impact of accidents.
In boats, the design of safer cockpits and decks taking into account crew ergonomics and safety has reduced the risks of man overboard. Modern propulsion systems with kill switches, electronic controls, emergency stop systems, and power control devices for safer handling have also had a major impact.
"Passive safety" devices that minimize damage
In cars, this includes seat belts, airbags, and advanced restraint systems. In boats, there are numerous devices: life jackets, flotation equipment and survival rafts, distress beacons, automatic extinguishers, and other devices designed to respond to emergency situations.
"Mixed safety" devices that reduce risks and damage:
Safety checklists validated by experts and tested in real situations are part of this category. They include pre-checks of equipment, navigation conditions checks, and decision-making assistance during cruising and emergency situations. They are an essential complement to the “owner’s manual” published by the manufacturer.
Public authorities, insurance companies, and manufacturers compete with ingenuity to improve safety at sea and on the road. Human factors remain the challenge of the 21st century. Should we make room for autonomous decision-making systems and Artificial Intelligence?
In order to consolidate modern technologies while preserving human autonomy, it seems that checklists inspired by aviation are the missing piece that allows most human factors to be addressed by overcoming oversights – active safety – and by allowing a better response to distress – passive safety.
Checklists are a synthesis of experience feedback, a source of wisdom allowing to save lives, reduce accidents, and save time. They allow the driver or skipper to improve safety while preserving their autonomy and decision-making capacity, a synthesis between the spirit of a good father and of adventure!
Guillaume & the Safetics team
