Last week’s train crash a few miles south of the Belgian capital city of Brussels highlights the irrevocable intertwining between man and machine; it makes us pause and wonder why our society, with all its scientific advances, is still not able to prevent these catastrophes from happening.There is of course another element inherent in this: the human factor.
Investigators at the site of a deadly crash in which 18 people perished and many dozens more were seriously injured urge caution in putting blame on either technology or individuals. Was it a signal failure? Had snow covered the signal and made it less visible? Are the drivers to blame? Or anyone else, for that matter? Is there perhaps a better device available that lets trains stop automatically and faster when they accidentally pass a signal that has turned red?
We must understand why an accident like the one that occurred just outside Brussels is something that unites a small nation like Belgium perhaps more than would breaking news about similar events in a country such as the United States or China. Belgium is linguistically and often politically divided, but overall its citizens enjoy close proximity to each other as only 10.5 million inhabitants call it home.
Many viewers of pictures of the crash will at one point in their life have been traveling on the same line, perhaps even on board the very same or at least similar trains. TV coverage is spot-on, and Belgian print media are known for substantial and honest news brokerage. While under normal circumstances reasonably relaxed and probably the world’s most Francophile country outside France itself -- in particular as felt in Brussels and the southern Wallonia part of the country -- an accident like the one last week is a wakeup call, something unforeseen, something that raises questions and makes people wonder and worry. According to the Belgian way of life, this is simply not supposed to happen.
While Belgians are perhaps not the inventors of cosmopolitanism, it is a nation open to foreigners and new ideas and full of friendly citizens, for sure. While living in Belgium myself, I came up with the term “Belgian word of honor” to describe a key factor of a Belgian person’s individual character.
One word of caution though: Under this seemingly calm surface of a laissez-faire attitude, disaster looms, “disaster” with regard to accidents and “unforeseen” events. Arguing in defense of the individuals involved in perhaps being responsible for the crash, Belgian trade union officials called for a solidarity strike a day after the trains had crashed. Poor working conditions but not the drivers were to blame for the accident: bad training, not enough pay and working overtime. All this happens in any industrialized country, but once it adds up over years and decades, accidents are bound to happen. Looking beyond the human factor, investigators and rail operators will analyze whether technology and outdated brakes are reasons for the disaster.
The approach that bad weather cannot affect a train journey, that technology never fails and that humans never err all adds to the mix where otherwise enjoyable laissez-faire turns into a lethal type of lethargy. Let me give you a related “laissez-faire” example: While traveling on Turkey’s high-speed rail line, shortly before reaching Eskişehir, our train had to slow down and for a few miles make use of the old tracks. I was able to look over the driver’s shoulder and out of his window. What I saw made me worry: A level crossing without any barriers allowed pedestrians to cross the rails with the approaching train perhaps half a minute away. It seemed as if adults and young people alike had made a game out of whether they could reach the other side in time. God forbid, but who would be to blame if a fatal accident is the result of this unacceptable behavior? Technology, poor infrastructure, the train driver, the people crossing the tracks -- or all of them? Or could it be that a certain perhaps universally detectable overdose of “laissez-faire” would come into the equation, too?
