RISK - PERCEPTION, ACCEPTANCE AND HOMEOSTASIS

As there is no human behaviour with total certainty of outcome, all be haviour may be viewed as risk taking. Notions such as risk perception and risk acceptance are, therefore, central to the understanding of be haviour, including behaviour in traffic and the causation of accidents . This paper presents the basic features of risk homeostasis theory (R HT) and explains how this theory may help to understand the causation of the accident rate and how it may be used to develop an effective ac cident-prevention strategy. Empirical examples demonstrating the lack of effectiveness of current engineering, education, and enforcement pr actices in reducing the accident rate are given, and the prevention of accidents that can be, and has been, achieved by properly designed in centive programmes for safety is pointed out.