Paul-A-R07

As the other side of the coin to “meaningless information to assuage… anxiety” there is also meaningful information that gives people a false sense of security. I am thinking of statistical information I read recently in Time magazine regarding the recent tornadoes that have hit the United States. Although prognostication of these storms has improved from 1953 to the point that warnings of impending tornadoes can now be given 15 minutes prior to an actual occurrence versus a few minutes in 1953, the number of deaths attributed to the storms has not decreased, this also despite the fact that most storm prone regions have emergency plans and shelters for such situations. Apparently, people are just not taking precautions when the warnings are given. Some people even take the warning as an invitation to find an advantageous place to view the storm. The same situation has been occurring with people who climbed to the tops of levees in order to view the flooding Mississippi river. The held opinion seems to be that if we can understand these elements to the point of predicting them, we can also control them. Of course, these are the same people who look for someone to sue after they get injured due to their own stupidity.

Crosswalk signs are another good example. Despite the campaign of a few years back to mark all pedestrian crossings with bright yellow signs in place of the old dull yellow ones, you would be foolish to enter one of those crosswalks believing that drivers of automobiles are going to stop while you are in the crosswalk (well, maybe on Hartford Avenue or Kenwood Avenue near UWM, but nowhere else.) The same can be said of the recently added bicycle crossing signs on bike trails. Unless some effort is made to prosecute people who violate these rules of the road, the signs are just window dressing giving people a false sense of security.