Negative Energy and Road Crashes
Admittedly, when I think about pyramids and road safety, I tend to think of Heinrich’s triangle, or the so-called ‘incident pyramid.”
That phrase is taking on a whole new meaning in Nagpur, India, however.
Traffic officers in Nagpur, 870km west of Mumbai, have agreed to allow small pyramids to be placed at 10 accident-prone sites in the city to see if their claimed positive energy can reduce crashes.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Sahebrao Patil said the road safety initiative came about after a meeting with an expert in Vastu, an ancient Hindu system of construction which is similar to Chinese Feng Shui.
“He told me that he had placed a number of pyramids on roads outside the city and the results were excellent.The number of accidents reduced. He wanted to do it in the city, so I said, ‘OK, no problem’,” Mr Patil said.
“He’s going to be installing them in 10 spots. They won’t be on the road directly but at the corner of chowks (squares) or near traffic signals so they won’t obstruct traffic.”
While I personally have no belief in negative energy, reincarnation, the Rapture, etc. etc., I am interested in the possible “placebo” effects the pyramids may instill in those believing drivers who drive by — similar to what Freakonomics dubbed the “Hindu traffic nudge”; religious shrines erected at crash hotspots near Simla (a version of the crash memorials erected the world over). And, after all, things could hardly get worse on Indian roads — so what’s the harm in a little positive energy?
(thanks Alan)
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 1:06 pm and is filed under Etc., Traffic Culture, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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July 14th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
The professional debunker James Randi usually goes off on these sorts of initiatives, giving the harm as 1) the direct and opportunity costs of the research, and 2) tacit governmental “approval” of the idea leading to more non-scientific endeavors.
A few years ago, I had a taxi driver in Bucharest who, when passing by each church along the way, would cross himself three times with one hand and smoke his cigarette with the other. I’m not sure if all his rituals helped with safety.
July 14th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
The expected “placebo” effect would presumably come from drivers believing that the pyramids have made the road safer. Wouldn’t this encourage drivers to take less care? As the pyramids have no actual effect, this could be quite harmful.
July 16th, 2010 at 3:26 am
Or should that be ‘carcebo’ effect?
July 16th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
What is the size of the pyramids?
August 8th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Perhaps the drivers slow down to view the pyramid, which brings about its own measure of safety.
Ah, thank goodness for superstition. : ))