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> Because accidents are inevitable, Swedish regulations aim to make them nonlethal. I sometimes wonder how it would be possible to just adopt new laws and regu

> Because accidents are inevitable, Swedish regulations aim to make them nonlethal. I sometimes wonder how it would be possible to just adopt new laws and regulations wholesale from countries that have aimed to do a thing well, and succeeded. I know countries take ideas from each other, but it always seems to be small things and adapted with local modifications. Laws are obviously not for "move fast and break things" approach, but feels like we could achieve so much more.

athenot 9y ago
Yes. But laws must fit within a given culture. Different cultures have different risk appreciation.
berg01 9y ago
Kind of related: There's a small Swedish state-owned (soon to be privatized though) consulting company with about 15 people that exists with the sole purpose of exporting this know-how to other countries. It's been relatively successful in selected developing countries. The know-how is typically given away for free, only actual work (training etc) is charged for. http://www.sweroad.se/ http://www.sweroad.se/ They haven't been hugely successful though. I hear there's often way too much national pride and similar factors ("our country is unique because irrelevant factors X, Y and Z") involved. These people have an odd mix of a) satisfaction because they are helping people not get... killed or maimed b) but also an extreme amount of banging your head against the wall kind of moments Anyway, if you want to implement road safety quickly in your country, they are who you should go to.
- kilotaras 9y ago
  Person from (semi)developing country here (Ukraine). Car is often seen as status symbol due to Soviet baggage. This leads to disregard of some traffic laws that are about "lesser status" pedestrians, e.g. speed limits, sidewalks parking, etc. The trend is slowly changing though with traffic calming measures becoming more common. This leads to a good number of accidents with drivers who can't ignore laws of physics as easily as traffic laws[1][2] though. [1] https://www.facebook.com/comfycity.lviv/videos/vb.666527553506020/924859431006163/?type=2&theater https://www.facebook.com/comfycity.lviv/videos/vb.6665275535... (sorry for FB videos) [2] https://www.facebook.com/comfycity.lviv/videos/vb.666527553506020/925792900912816/?type=2&theater https://www.facebook.com/comfycity.lviv/videos/vb.6665275535...
  - berg01 9y ago
    It should be noted that apart from alcohol aspects, Swedish road safety thinking systematically treats the human behavior as something that can not be changed with training, propaganda etc. The only thing that works is to change the environment to fit the human, and to make the human behave safely.

athenot 9y ago

Yes. But laws must fit within a given culture. Different cultures have different risk appreciation.

berg01 9y ago

Kind of related: There's a small Swedish state-owned (soon to be privatized though) consulting company with about 15 people that exists with the sole purpose of exporting this know-how to other countries. It's been relatively successful in selected developing countries. The know-how is typically given away for free, only actual work (training etc) is charged for. http://www.sweroad.se/ http://www.sweroad.se/ They haven't been hugely successful though. I hear there's often way too much national pride and similar factors ("our country is unique because irrelevant factors X, Y and Z") involved. These people have an odd mix of a) satisfaction because they are helping people not get... killed or maimed b) but also an extreme amount of banging your head against the wall kind of moments Anyway, if you want to implement road safety quickly in your country, they are who you should go to.

kilotaras 9y ago
Person from (semi)developing country here (Ukraine). Car is often seen as status symbol due to Soviet baggage. This leads to disregard of some traffic laws that are about "lesser status" pedestrians, e.g. speed limits, sidewalks parking, etc. The trend is slowly changing though with traffic calming measures becoming more common. This leads to a good number of accidents with drivers who can't ignore laws of physics as easily as traffic laws[1][2] though. [1] https://www.facebook.com/comfycity.lviv/videos/vb.666527553506020/924859431006163/?type=2&theater https://www.facebook.com/comfycity.lviv/videos/vb.6665275535... (sorry for FB videos) [2] https://www.facebook.com/comfycity.lviv/videos/vb.666527553506020/925792900912816/?type=2&theater https://www.facebook.com/comfycity.lviv/videos/vb.6665275535...
- berg01 9y ago
  It should be noted that apart from alcohol aspects, Swedish road safety thinking systematically treats the human behavior as something that can not be changed with training, propaganda etc. The only thing that works is to change the environment to fit the human, and to make the human behave safely.