[cameronh90]

This approach is rarely useful in safety engineering.

Sure, if someone is grossly negligent like driving drunk, then we can blame the individual, but usually the best way to improve safety is to look at the whole sequence that led up to the incident, and that requires cooperation from all parties rather than arse-covering.

Why is it with rail and plane accidents that we investigate every safety incident, no matter how minor, no matter if there are no injuries or property damage? Yet with car travel, often we won't even look into a road design (or car design) unless there have been multiple fatalities in a short space of time. We just assign some blame, fine or incarcerate someone, and don't bother investigating it any further.

This seems like such an obviously wrong way to improve road safety.