Summary of Jessie Singer's There Are No Accidents

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 To understand accidents, we must first understand error. And to understand error, we must first understand how powerful people can use our mistakes against us. This book begins with error because questions of error almost always follow an accident.

#2 The Bad Apple Theory states that a factory is inherently safe, and that accident-prone people make it unsafe. The New View, on the other hand, states that the factory is not inherently safe and that people are getting hurt when they make mistakes.

#3 In the spring of 1931, a young man named Joseph Weitz was driving a truck for H. S. Trucking Company when he heard screams rising above the noise of the city. He pulled the truck to a stop in the middle of the street, and was arrested for the killing of six-year-old Irwin Ouser.

#4 Before cars, no one told you how or when to walk. With the arrival of the automobile, and the traffic signals and traffic laws that followed, pedestrians were not just demoted but also killed in the streets in skyrocketing numbers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669356547

IRB Media

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Book preview

Insights on Jessie Singer's There Are No Accidents

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

To understand accidents, we must first understand error. And to understand error, we must first understand how powerful people can use our mistakes against us. This book begins with error because questions of error almost always follow an accident.

#2

The Bad Apple Theory states that a factory is inherently safe, and that accident-prone people make it unsafe. The New View, on the other hand, states that the factory is not inherently safe and that people are getting hurt when they make mistakes.

#3

In the spring of 1931, a young man named Joseph Weitz was driving a truck for H. S. Trucking Company when he heard screams rising above the noise of the city. He pulled the truck to a stop in the middle of the street, and was arrested for the killing of six-year-old Irwin Ouser.

#4

Before cars, no one told you how or when to walk. With the arrival of the automobile, and the traffic signals and traffic laws that followed, pedestrians were not just demoted but also killed in the streets in skyrocketing numbers.

#5

The automobile was initially cast as a weapon, but over time, the blame was shifted to human error. This allowed automakers to continue selling cars, and it took a political radical like William Bunge to point that out.

#6

The auto lobby, which was previously in the business of advocating for paved roads and lower taxes and fees for drivers, was transformed by the outrage around traffic accidents, and was forced to concern itself with safety.

#7

The automobile lobby was successful in reframing the car-murder narrative, and as a result, when we talk about speeding, we almost always talk about speeders as the problem, not how fast those cars can go.

#8