Safety vs. Cost

The Problem 

In our daily lives, most of us take the world around us for granted – the world constructed by humans in particular.  We have gotten used to an infrastructure that functions well.  Even though we know that it functions well, many projects created by Civil Engineers specifically go unseen.  For example, we flush the toilet or take a shower at least once a day (I hope), but how many of us actually know what happens when we push the lever?  How many people know the various factors that go into designing a road besides the fact that there are curves, grades, and asphalt on the top?  Without most of the projects built by Civil Engineers, modern society could not function.

My point is, that we as humans have gotten too sucked in to the thought that everything in life should run smoothly.  The question that’s commonly asked is, “Why can’t we just produce the safest roads, bridges, and buildings possible so that no one will ever get hurt?”  Well even if we did, would that ensure the safety of everyone?  Through the remainder of this post, I am going to focus on the topic of safety when related to transportation and hopefully be able to answer this question.

Analyzing the Issue

When a Civil Engineer is designing a road, one of the main thoughts that cross their mind is cost vs. safety.  The top priority ethically in any project completed is the welfare of the public.  Not far behind in the discussion, is the cost of the project.  To look further into this dispute, let’s look at roads for an example.

If a Civil Engineer were to design the safest road ever made, what would be the result (assuming the road would be similar to what they are like in the world today, but just safer)?   The immediate benefit of this choice would be that there is a really safe road to drive on.  The immediate downfall of this choice would be that it probably would cost a whole lot of money, and also most likely would not be able to be repaired easily.

On the flip side of the coin, let’s say that we design the most cost-efficient road possible that still meets the basic requirements for a safe road – as it is needed to even construct the road in the first place.   The immediate benefit would be that it was less expensive to produce, so there would probably be money left to repair the road when needed.  The immediate downfall is that it’s probably not as safe as the really safe road.  So the remaining question is what makes a road safe or unsafe?  

Before answering this question we should keep in mind the process of making a road.   Before the actual construction of a project, an engineer will most likely create a computer simulation of it to make it “safe” according to the computer.  With roads, this involves everything from the alignment of the road, to making sure there’s enough sight distance around or over a curve, and assuring the road drains properly.  The problem is that engineering models will always be subject to uncertainty. There’s no possible way to know what the weather will be like exactly 257 days after the completion of the road.  I mean, the National Weather Service couldn’t be accurate over the course of a day when they told us we were supposed to get a foot of snow last night.  On top of that, we are all humans.  We make mistakes.  No matter how safe of a road you construct in today’s day and age, I don’t think we will ever go without an accident for an entire day, let alone a week or a year.

Conclusion

With all that being said, I think that there needs to be a balance between the cost and safety of a project.  If there’s too much focus on the safety, the road will become too expensive to even build let alone maintain.  If there’s too much effort put into the cost efficiency, the road won’t be very safe to drive on and will probably need to be repaired more frequently.  The bottom line is that we should not be putting all the marbles in one bucket or the other. As I stated previously, without both cost and safety taken into account, the project will remain impractical or dysfunctional.