# Is Fear the Best Teacher?



## VentureForth (Aug 27, 2018)

An interesting article about safety training for Shinkansen maintenance crews:

https://soranews24.com/2018/08/27/shinkansen-safety-staff-made-to-sit-right-next-to-bullet-trains-running-at-300km-h/

Premise is that they need to feel the train whizzing by at 300 kph to appreciate the importance of their work after an untightened bold came loose on the supertrain a while back.


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## daybeers (Sep 3, 2018)

VentureForth said:


> An interesting article about safety training for Shinkansen maintenance crews:
> 
> https://soranews24.com/2018/08/27/shinkansen-safety-staff-made-to-sit-right-next-to-bullet-trains-running-at-300km-h/
> 
> Premise is that they need to feel the train whizzing by at 300 kph to appreciate the importance of their work after an untightened bold came loose on the supertrain a while back.


Wow, this is terrible.


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## cpotisch (Sep 5, 2018)

That's quite smart and also absolutely terrifying. If I were training for that job and found out that that was part of it, I think I would look for a different job. Maybe I'm just a coward, though.


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## VentureForth (Sep 5, 2018)

So long as it's safely conducted, I think there is value in letting the maintenance crew understand that what they are working on in a static environment isn't static out in real life - far from it.

On that note, though, you can't tie a mechanic to the nose of an airplane for him to appreciate his job.


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## Asher (May 31, 2019)

Ah, no good!


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## AutoTrDvr (May 31, 2019)

Well, at least they were in a "trench," albeit one meter away from the tracks. At least they wouldn't be sucked in by the vacuum votex of the train passing by. Similar (I guess) to being in such a trench during a tornado. Hopefully, their hard hats had straps so they wouldn't fly off as the train passes. But, yes, this is what the Japanese do to emphasize the need for absolute safety and attention to detail when doing track maintenance. The Shinkansen is one of the safest train systems there is. I don't think there has been even one fatality in the history of its operation. And that's saying something, considering how earthquake prone Japan is. The system was built with earthquakes in mind. It has features that will automatically shut down any train that may be heading towards an area undergoing seismic activity. 

I know it seems scary to some, but I also see the reasoning behind their doing it. They want their workers to take extra special care, because they understand the consequences of not doing so.


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## JustOnce (May 31, 2019)

VentureForth said:


> So long as it's safely conducted, I think there is value in letting the maintenance crew understand that what they are working on in a static environment isn't static out in real life - far from it.
> 
> On that note, though, you can't tie a mechanic to the nose of an airplane for him to appreciate his job.


Reminds me of the scene in "Pushing Tin" where the air traffic controllers go out on the runway behind a "heavy" to experience wake turbulence.


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## Asher (Jun 5, 2019)

Reminds me of something one of the clowns from the TV series Jackass would do.


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## me_little_me (Jun 6, 2019)

anumberone said:


> Reminds me of something one of the clowns from the TV series Jackass would do.


Or the idiot TV "reporters" who go out in the hurricane to report "live" that it's raining and windy - as if people didn't know that. I always wanted to see them blow away. Guess I'll have to find the YouTube videos for that.


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## COTraveler (Jun 7, 2019)

me_little_me said:


> Or the idiot TV "reporters" who go out in the hurricane to report "live" that it's raining and windy - as if people didn't know that. I always wanted to see them blow away. Guess I'll have to find the YouTube videos for that.


Like this guy?


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