Nihilism and Driver Safety

This article is important for those safety practitioners wishing to reduce crashes and injuries in their organisation.
 
Wikipedia defines nihilism as "a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values or meaning."
 
This idea, and that's all it is, an idea a philosophy, is important because it [nihilism] is in direct and increasingly more prevalent, opposition to the paradigms and assumptions of most safety professionals. Indeed, modern nihilism seeks "the destruction of higher values and the opposition to the affirmation of life."
 
The driving environment is no place to adopt a nihilistic philosophy because absolute truths are real. Gravity, inertia, acceleration, and momentum do exist. Observation, perception, and reaction-times are real. Stopping distances are real. The finite ability for tyres to grip the road through a corner is real.      
 
Traditional approaches to training, those that rely on a common existentialist thinking may be rejected out-of-hand by the nihilist.  
 
Supervisors of personnel making nihilistic statements, promoting nihilistic ideologies, or demonstrating nihilistic behaviours should be on high alert. 
 
If you’d like help understanding, applying, or sharing these principles, please ask. Cheers, Jeremy Williams www.drivertrainingaustralia.com.au
 
First published (on Linkedin) April 2022