It does not take an expert to recognize that Americans are fascinated with cars. They can be a luxury or necessity in the American lifestyle. However, what many may not know is that the history of the automobile is one filled with stories and lessons concerning risk, regulation, and performance standards. Assistant Professor Lee Vinsel talked about these very issues in a comical manner in order to engage his audience about his upcoming book.
A knowledgeable historian with a sarcastic sense of humor, Vinsel was able to attract both students and faculty to his talk this past Wednesday during one of the College of Arts and Letters’ Humanities Forums. He divided his talk into four categories: background, basic picture, story time, and conclusions. In a playful mood, Vinsel decided that a Powerpoint slide showing his beard would be the best way to convey his academic background and research on cars and performance standards. While getting laughs from the audience, he described his dissertation work at Carnegie Mellon and expressed it as his initial spark of knowledge on the subject.
From there Vinsel proceeded to describe “the basic picture.” He concluded that regulation influences technological change. This history can be seen as a “series of waves or moments, where groups of people problematize different parts of the car and then different groups solve the problem,” Vinsel said. There are waves with action and retraction and then periods when nothing happens until another problem arises. There is a social process of technological risk regulation which can also be divided into four steps: problem identification, reformation of expert communities, governance mechanism, and resolution, typically through standardization. Standardization is often used because it works in America. According to Vinsel, standardization is “fundamentally liberal.” A test is created, and organizations are asked to pass or beat the test in whatever style they chose. For example, a car is expected to pass inspection, but how the car passes inspection is not questioned. This leaves room for companies to come up with different ways to solve a problem.
From there Vinsel entered into the “story time” part of his presentation in which he expressed as his favorite. Beginning with the horseless carriage in 1893, Vinsel walked his audience through the various stages of regulation and standardization of the automobile. Some examples he mentioned were standardization of traffic rules, traffic lights, and headlights. He then began to discuss the rise of impact biomechanics, when people began to study how forces in accidents affect the human body. This, of course, led to more regulation and standardization of the automobile. He stated that history shows that industry always fights back when regulations are implemented—it always try to weaken them.
However, when regulations are set and companies are forced to adhere to them, automobile companies do research and create new innovative ways to “pass the test.” Vinsel argued that this leads to progress and technological innovation. “When successful, regulations can cause technological innovation,” Vinsel said. Industries do create new knowledge. Vinsel said this lesson can be applied to any issue that needs to be addressed today. The industry must be forced to follow new standards and regulations. That is the method to get the changes we want. “Beat these people with heavy sticks,” he said.
