Technology demands uniformity from human beings who encounter it. People encountering technology, however, differ from one another. Thinkers in the early twentieth century, observing the awful consequences of interactions between humans and machines—death by automobiles or dismemberment by factory machinery, for example—developed the idea of accident proneness: the tendency of a particular person to have more accidents than most people. In tracing this concept from its birth to its disappearance at the end of the twentieth century, Accident Prone offers a unique history of technology focused not on innovations but on their unintended consequences. Here, John C. Burnham shows that as the machine era progressed, the physical and economic impact of accidents coevolved with the rise of the insurance industry and trends in twentieth-century psychology. After World War I, psychologists determined that some people are more accident prone than others. This designation signaled a shift in social strategy toward minimizing accidents by diverting particular people away from dangerous environments. By the 1960s and 1970s, however, the idea of accident proneness gradually declined, and engineers developed new technologies to protect all people, thereby introducing a hidden, but radical, egalitarianism. Lying at the intersection of the history of technology, the history of medicine and psychology, and environmental history, Accident Prone is an ambitious intellectual analysis of the birth, growth, and decline of an idea that will interest anyone who wishes to understand how Western societies have grappled with the human costs of modern life.

“Gripping, page-turning material . . . a new way of thinking about survival in a world filled with hazards and distractions.” —Charles Duhigg, author of Smarter Faster Better and The Power of Habit A safety expert reveals why few of us are as careful as we think we are, and what we can do about it. As doctors and medical researchers work busily to extend our lives, more people each year are figuring out ways to cut them short. In fact, after a hundred years of steady decline, the rate at which people are being injured (or worse) in everyday accidents is increasing. Blame car crashes, pedestrian fatalities, home-improvement projects gone wrong, medical mistakes, home fires—not to mention all the crazy things that kids are into these days. And the problem seems to be spinning out of control. Steve Casner has devoted his career to studying the psychology of safety, and he knows there’s not a safety warning we won’t ignore or a foolproof device we can’t turn into an implement of disaster. Casner details the psychological traps that prevent us from being more careful. They’re the same whether you’re a pilot, a Hollywood stuntwoman, a parent, or the owner of a clogged dishwasher you’re trying to fix with a screwdriver. Then he shows us gripping real examples of how and when injuries happen, so we know exactly what we should really be worrying about. Careful arms readers with the latest science on how our sometimes fallible minds work, with countless takeaways to incorporate at home, at work, and everywhere in between. This book will help us keep our fingers attached in the kitchen, our kids afloat at the pool, and our teens safe behind the wheel, and demonstrates the many other ways we can maximize our chances of getting through the day in one piece.

Accident Proneness: Research in the Occurrence, Causation, and Prevention of Road Accidents deals with concept of accident proneness. The concept has had a checkered career, from the early British work whose high scientific standard has been universally acknowledged, through a period when the concept was extended beyond the sound basis which had been laid, to a period of reaction when doubt was thrown on the very existence of such a notion. The book examines in detail the arguments brought forward by the proponents of both sides, and, more importantly, studies in detail the facts and figures q.

Logan Hudson was a whole lot of sin wrapped up in heartache. I was the son of the devil. The spawn of the boogeyman. Darkness was my domain. I didn't just thrive on the pain and misery of others, I craved it. Fed on their screams and tears. And I wanted hers the most. Shelby Grace. My walking, talking wet dream. So sweet that she made my teeth hurt. But I'm cursed. Everything I touch rots at the core. I should stay away from her. Leave her alone to live her innocent existence. Except I can't. Because there's one thing darkness is meant to do... Corrupt the light. I know I shouldn't go down this road. Logan Hudson was a bad idea with worse consequences. The pretty boy with a charming smile and a list of conquests a mile long. But how do I resist the devil when he's always there? Tempting me with sparkling green eyes and wicked smirk. It was impossible to hate him. And trust me I was trying. Because it wasn't the monster I was afraid of. It was the broken boy underneath.

Loudest Talker Award Winner is a 6"x9" softcover, blank lined journal you can use as an employee recognition award to the worker who always brings the volume. Give this book to an office mate, boss, coworker or manager when they deserve a job well done for being the loudest in the office! Details 110 pages of high-quality paper. Professional glossy cover. Date line at the top to help organize your ideas. The perfect gift for that perfect employee. Great for a work party, holiday get-together or when you need the perfect gag gift.

Normal Accidents analyzes the social side of technological risk. Charles Perrow argues that the conventional engineering approach to ensuring safety--building in more warnings and safeguards--fails because systems complexity makes failures inevitable. He asserts that typical precautions, by adding to complexity, may help create new categories of accidents. (At Chernobyl, tests of a new safety system helped produce the meltdown and subsequent fire.) By recognizing two dimensions of risk--complex versus linear interactions, and tight versus loose coupling--this book provides a powerful framework for analyzing risks and the organizations that insist we run them. The first edition fulfilled one reviewer's prediction that it "may mark the beginning of accident research." In the new afterword to this edition Perrow reviews the extensive work on the major accidents of the last fifteen years, including Bhopal, Chernobyl, and the Challenger disaster. The new postscript probes what the author considers to be the "quintessential 'Normal Accident'" of our time: the Y2K computer problem.

Accident Proneness: Research in the Occurrence, Causation, and Prevention of Road Accidents deals with concept of accident proneness. The concept has had a checkered career, from the early British work whose high scientific standard has been universally acknowledged, through a period when the concept was extended beyond the sound basis which had been laid, to a period of reaction when doubt was thrown on the very existence of such a notion. The book examines in detail the arguments brought forward by the proponents of both sides, and, more importantly, studies in detail the facts and figures quoted in support. The book is organized into two sections: the first deals with the validity and usefulness of the concept of accident proneness; the second discusses new statistical techniques to evaluate the concept of accident proneness. The book demonstrates the existence of personality-related behavior patterns, which make people differentially prone to traffic accidents. This book is an important contribution to an important field. It is written in a style which should make it understandable (and even enjoyable) to more than the psychological experts to whom it is addressed in the first place.