PSYCHOLOGY IN INDUSTRY 



A comparison of the five collisions showed that they were 

 all alike in two respects: they were all of one relatively 

 infrequent type, namely, front-end collisions; and all five 

 of them happened on Sunday afternoons. Another search 

 of the records showed that all the various cars operated 

 by this motorman through the week were medium-weight 

 cars, but his schedule on Sunday afternoons called for 

 operation of a large, heavy car. Other motormen with 

 similar schedules had no accidents, but this man lacked 

 the necessary flexibility of habit. In other words, he was 

 a perseverator. This peculiarity of mental make-up is 

 measurable in the laboratory. After his schedule was 

 changed so that all his cars were medium weight, he 

 stopped having front-end collisions. 



Consideration of the details of a man's accident record, 

 observation of his actual operation, and personal interview 

 with him all help in diagnosing his difficulties. For 

 instance, a man of sixty, with an excellent record over 

 many years, began to have a good many collision accidents. 

 Reference to the records showed that eight out of eleven 

 of them happened just as he was starting his car. Was he 

 simply getting careless? Not at all. Observation and 

 inquiry showed that he was so conscientiously careful 

 about one part of his work that it was interfering with 

 another part. He had become slightly deaf, and had formed 

 the habit of listening for the starting signal from the 

 conductor so intently that he neglected to look about in 

 front of his car before throwing on the power. By a little 

 retraining he learned to look quickly from side to side 

 instead of starting his car without doing so. Since that 

 time he has had no accident when starting. 



Some of the cases of accident proneness turned out to be 

 medical, some were traceable to wrong mental attitude, 

 while others needed specific information or training. No 

 two cases were exactly alike, so it was necessary to study 



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