Culture on the Road: Why Driver Behaviour is Still the Biggest Risk

If you were just in the lone workers session this is going to overlap hugely because drivers are lone workers. So the holistic and integrated humanistic approach to the psychology of bad driving overlaps hugely with the psychology of unsafe lone working. So I am afraid you are going to get bored senseless very soon. Slightly longer. So it is slightly more material.

The first thing, I have just been doing a project recently on bridge strikes with Logistics UK, talking about why people make really stupid mistakes. A classic bit of theory to kick all this off is Sidney Dekker’s zigging and zagging. What he says is that when people make mistakes, we often look back and say, “You zigged when you should have zagged.” What you do not want to do is wait for that to happen and then go back and try to understand why they zigged when they should have zagged. You need to do it proactively because of hindsight bias and all the rest of it, and rationalisation, projection, all good Freudian stuff and mental gymnastics.

What you understand about hindsight bias, the most important bit is the fundamental attribution error. Fundamental attribution error says when it is us, we are completely aware of all the environmental factors plus a few excuses. When it is them, they are just an idiot.

A simple example. You are driving along and nearly run somebody off the road. It is because your mirrors are steamed up, or you are arguing with your partner, or your kids are playing up, or you are trying to change a CD or fiddle with a satnav. No harm done. But the person shakes their fist at you and says, “You bloody idiot.” Your response is likely to be, “No need for that. No harm done. And if you were in my shoes, you would understand.”

Typically, it is always a big guy at the back who says, “Anybody shakes their fist at me, they die or something.”

You are driving along and somebody overtakes you in a Ferrari, they are on the mobile phone, they nearly run you off the road. Two minutes later you find the perfect crash. They have wrapped it around a lamppost. It is a write-off, but they are standing next to it unhurt.

Simple question. How many of you would slow down, wind the window down, and make some choice observations about how hysterical this scene is? You often get, “You cannot park there, mate.”

But by some magic, you find out this is actually a young driver taking a life-saving triage. This is his sister’s Ferrari that he has borrowed. How many of you would stop, reverse back, and say, “Jump in, I will get you there quick”?

So, fundamental attribution error. When it is us, we are completely aware of all the environmental factors plus a few excuses. When it is them, they are just an idiot. So you do not want to be doing stuff when something painful, expensive, or inconvenient has happened. You want to be analysing it much more proactively than that before it happens. Hence proactive. Call it the Elvis rule if you like. Walk a mile in a man’s shoes before you judge them.

We are asking two questions: why did they do what they did, why might they do what they did, and what did we do to trigger that, or what can we do to make sure it does not happen in the future.

That is it. That is it. The importance of that is towards human fallibility and taking a holistic approach.

You know the answer to this question because you just sat in on it. Can I work with a gambler? Are there any gamblers out there? You have gone to the races, you have got a five horse accumulator going. You have put a tenner down on a 20 to 1 outsider for the fun of it, but it won, and a three to one, three to one, three to one. Fifth race, even priced favourite, they have all won. Your 10 pound is going to become 10,000 pounds, or you lose your tenner.

At the last minute they parachute in a jockey I am about to introduce you to. Last minute replacement. I am going to give you the chance to cash out. This jockey I shared a stage with introduced himself as the losingest jockey in the history of horse riding.

He said he has got three world records. World record number one, he has lost more races than any jockey who ever lived. World record two, he has fallen off a horse as a professional more than anybody who ever lived.

You are going to cash out. Thank you. You are helpfully cashing out. You should not, because I was sharing a stage with him for the following reason. He said he has got three world records, falling off horses, losing races, winning races, 4,200 is also a world record. I might have lost 14,000 plus. World record number one, but I have won 4,200 plus. I should have shown you his photos. This is to illustrate just how inept and useless he is. And that is Sir Tony McCoy.

The point he makes is if you are going to strive to do anything, you are going to fall off and you are going to make mistakes, which is an introduction to Matthew Syed’s Black Box Thinking, probably the best book written about safety in the last 30 years. It makes the case that the best organisations, individuals, and societies advance best when they have a mature, grown-up, objective approach to human failure. Or you could cross-reference Carol Dweck’s mindset. She says if you want to maximise your potential in any sphere in life, you need to ask yourself three questions on a daily basis: what is going wrong, why is it going wrong, and what are we going to do about it.

We could also talk about psychological safety, the idea of a psychologically safe workforce. Psychological safety is just being unafraid to fail and feeling that you are going to be treated fairly. Just culture and all that we have not got time to get into. Being unafraid to pass bad news up and being unafraid to ask for help when you need it. All of which is extremely psychological.

We are overly faces and genuinely cocked up, an explanation of why we do that.

This is Juan Fangio driving at Le Mans 1958. He could have been involved in the worst motor racing accident in history. Eighty-eight people killed in a horrendous explosion. He came around a blind corner slowing, and afterwards they said to him, how on earth did you know to slow down? It was a blind corner. He explained that he was Fangio, five times world champion in the last nine years, driving a bright silver Mercedes at 200 mph, and he noticed that nobody was looking at him, so he knew something was up. That is pretty switched on, isn’t it.

If all your drivers could be that switched on at all times, we would not go far wrong. The trouble is that is as good as it gets. That is the physiological limitations of human concentration. And this is a person who has slept well, eats well, exercises, has no financial worries, no relationship worries, kids are fine, not diabetic, not menopausal, not struggling with PTSD, not on pain medication. They are basically absolutely tiptop. They still have to spend five minutes an hour away with the fairies.

You see this every day in everyday life. Professional footballers, top athletes, can run for 90 minutes. Rugby players for 80. Referees and crowds need a break after 45 just to regroup. We see this all the time.

When we talk about basic safety, we often find organisations have had three accidents in the last quarter and they were all stupid accidents where someone has tripped over something right in front of them. And the reaction is “stop being numpties and do not trip over stuff right in front of you.”

What we stress is a better approach: in the 50 minutes when you are bright and alert, if you see a potential trip hazard, stop and tidy it up so it is not there to trip over 20 minutes from now when you come back around the corner and you are away with the fairies. It just works better.

What this talk is about is this.

Anybody have days like this, when you miss your train and your next one is cancelled so you have to get a taxi to Newport, that sort of thing.

So, four main reasons for this. First one is all the stuff I just talked about, pain medication, worries, hating your job, never in flow, time never passes quickly, just watching the clock. Second, you are tired. Tired people are a disaster. They have exactly the same physiology as drunk people, impetuous, physically and socially clumsy, easily distracted.

The fourth one is mental health, but I will come back to that. In the meantime, I also need to talk about risk because the psychology of driver safety is that our perception of risk is not what we want it to be at all times.

Starting with ABC analysis. How many of you are familiar with ABC analysis?

ABC analysis is the most important bit of psychological safety. It says we think antecedents, context, and triggers determine behaviour, but actually 90 percent of the action is in the consequences. Consequences can be soon or delayed, certain or uncertain, positive or negative.

Anything with a soon, certain, positive consequence is a temptation. And if there is a temptation, it is just a headcount of how many people give in and how much risk mounts up. Drinking too much, taking drugs, driving too fast, having affairs, smoking, breaking New Year’s resolutions, all the things we should not do but do.

In safety, you can tell people not to do it because it is dangerous, but if the safe way is slow, inconvenient, or uncomfortable, people will look for a workaround. And if people look for a workaround, it is just a question of how many come up with one and how much risk is mounting up.

Second big problem with risk is we like it. We are not only risk tolerant, we like a bit of risk. We like driving fast. It is fun. It makes the blood pump. It makes us feel in control of a dangerous environment.

Research shows we are born with a risk appetite. If you find a playground designed to be too safe, three year olds will not climb through it, they will climb over it to get the balance of risk and fun.

The problem with organisations that say “do not do that” is that people are not really listening. Basic risk awareness is foundational.

Finally, mental health. The figures are worth restating. One in five in any given day at work, heading towards one in four. For every person killed in an industrial accident in the UK, 32 working age people take their own lives. In call centres it is about 100 to 1. In construction it is 10 to 12 to 1.

Mental health is a huge issue and it links directly to accidents and risk because people having bad days are more distracted, more fatalistic, and more likely to make bad decisions.

Mental health and safety are inextricably intertwined. Ten years ago that was controversial, now it is being addressed. Around 15 percent is serious conditions like bipolar and schizophrenia. Another large proportion is depression and anxiety.

In the old days we said this is none of our business, it is personal. But it is our business because it affects risk and incidents. Depression is thinking about the past negatively, anxiety is thinking about the future negatively. At low levels, two or three out of ten, they are useful. They prompt reflection, learning, effort, focus, and concentration.

The problem is when it gets to four, five, six out of ten. Then it becomes different. Organisations need to spot when people are drifting and intervene early. Everyone should have basic skills to have conversations about mental health, not just mental health first aiders.

Good work is good for you. A good job gives meaning, purpose, and social connection. A strong, fair, supportive culture keeps people in the middle naturally.

We also still have basic safety issues. Two bridge strikes a day in the UK is not a technology issue, it is a human error issue. What matters is coaching conversations, not telling, and praise rather than criticism.

In safety we often say “safety is the number one priority, but I want this done safely by Friday.” Everyone knows the “but” is what matters. It leads to shortcuts. Instead, it should be “safely and by Friday,” and if there is a problem, have a conversation about how to do both.

Finally, leadership. People remember how you made them feel. Leaders who focus on dialogue, respect, and asking what people need create stronger cultures. It is not about surviving, it is about thriving with passion, compassion, humour, and style.

People will forget what you said and what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

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