THE WORLD'S PROBLEMS AND A BUCKET OF YELLOW PAINT

I recently read a quote by William Phelps Eno, the father of modern traffic safety who said, “I can solve 90% of the world's problems with a bucket of yellow paint.”  Now I notice so many things marked with yellow: patterns of yellow stripes on the roadside telling when I'm permitted to pass and when not; curbs where parking is prohibited; yellow caution signs, caution tape, caution flags, caution wet floor, caution icy surface, caution watch your step, yellow traffic lights, and more, all in yellow. In all cases caution is proclaimed.  It implies a warning with accountability and consequences.  In some cases, it’s a matter of life and death.

In India a bucket of paint literally saves lives.  What do you think is the number one killer (unnatural deaths) in Mumbai, India?  Fire? Car wrecks? Suicide?  According to a World Development Report (2015)*, it is railway track accidents.  Ten people die every day crossing the tracks.  The annual total is 3,500 just in Mumbai. In several major cities 15,000 people are killed every year crossing the railroad tracks.  The paradox is that fewer people are killed when they can’t see the train coming.  More are killed when they have a clear view.  What accounts for this surprising outcome?  Perceived risk.  Those who lack visual cues imagine greater risk of the train suddenly coming. When they can clearly see the oncoming train, they misjudge how fast the train is approaching believing they can beat it.  They take the risk and BAMMM!

What could be done to prevent such deaths?  The genius solution was remarkably simple and inexpensive.  It wasn’t building pedestrian overpasses, nor mounting a nation wide education campaign, nor building barriers to prevent pedestrian movement.  It was a bucket of paint.  They painted alternate ties of the railroad track yellow.  This helped people to better judge the speed of approaching trains.  It gave them a reference point to help them better judge the risk.  As a result, in four locations this simple use of yellow paint reduced fatalities up to 71%.  In one location, over a period of a year, fatalities dropped from twenty-three deaths to only one.

Here’s a thought:  In some Bibles, the words of Jesus are printed in red.  Yet, all throughout the Bible we find words of caution.  What if all the scriptures of caution were highlighted in yellow: Exodus 20:1-17 (Ten Commandments); Mark 10:113-15; John 15:5&6; Hebrews 12:14; 1 John 15:17, and so many more.  Perhaps it would give us an abundance of reference points to help us better judge the risk of disobedience.  It just might save the world!

*  http://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/saving-lives-bucket-yellow-paint