How often do you chance risky behavior?

How many times have you come to a "rolling" rather than a full stop at a stop sign, driven over the speed limit, or gone biking without a helmet? Too often, if you're like many of the folks surveyed recently by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Of the 1,000 Americans asked about risky behaviors, 50 percent often or occasionally fail to come to full stop, 69 percent sometimes drive 10 miles-per-hour over the speed limit on highways and 58 percent of cyclists fail to wear a helmet while riding a bike.

We know we can be nannyish at times but the statistics back us up. For example, 92 percent of bicyclists killed in 2007 reportedly weren't wearing a helmet, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which notes that helmet use has been estimated to reduce risk of head injury by 85 percent.

In a report on the survey in the February issue of Consumer Reports, the editors highlight the things people do that they shouldn't (text while driving, leave items on the stairs) and the things they don't do that they should (unplug toasters, use hearing protection while mowing). To see where you fit in with those surveyed, read the full report.

Next month, we'll write about the results from the second half of the risky-behavior survey. (Sneak preview: Too many of you are putting cotton swabs inside your ears.)

Comments

[Leonard Blake]

If putting a cotton swab in your ear is so risky and engaged in by 75% of the population, why is the media ignoring the "crisis epidemic of punctured eardrum's ravaging America."

Think about it. If 75% of the people you know engage in this "risky" behavior, why dont you have bunch of acquaintences with an eardrum punctured by swabs?

Do you know of even one?
Can't be much of a risk.

[Philip Graves]

Oh dear.

Why oh why do people conduct this type of survey? It must surely be the lowest form of lazy pseudo journalism (I'm not blaming you for passing it on, but it does wind me up).

Firstly, most behaviour is unconscious and much of it passes below conscious awareness. Most people have experienced that mental state whilst driving where they can't remember a single thing about what they've just done, and yet they've managed perfectly well to avoid crashing. Why anyone should think that people capable of such mental amnesia are well-placed to self-report their driving behaviour is mystifying.

Secondly, excessive speed isn't necessarily dangerous. Yes, the higher the speed the greater the chance of injury or death, but that's an argument for driving at walking pace all the time. What causes accidents is bad driving, not fast driving. Here in the UK this preoccupation with speed has led to lots of cameras to monitor speed (and raise revenue) but fewer police to monitor bad driving; not a change for the better from a safety perspective.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, propogating a message like "58 percent of cyclists fail to wear a helmet while riding a bike" may seem worthy - and I agree entirely with the benefits of wearing a helmet - but the message sends implicit social proof that lots of other people don't wear helmets. Studies from social psychology show that this will have the opposite of the desired effect.

For a blog headed "Safety" I suspect this isn't the outcome you intended.

Philip Graves Consumer Behaviour Consultant