In a recent Conde Nast Traveler Magazine (March 2005), they reported on their readership poll (designed with Carnegie Mellon’s Risk Perception and Communication and Harvard’s Center for Risk Analysis) that was aimed at the most fundamental travel question – to go or not to go. Their analytic results were surprising in some respects.
The results show that although most of us may be debating this question, we are largely choosing to take the chance and go. What they deemed as remarkable is that we are NOT taking seriously the travel advisories and warnings issues by the US State Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
OK – maybe I have been a road warrior for way too long but haven’t we been under a code yellow or orange travel alert for more than three years? Does it surprise you that we travelers are no longer affected by these warnings? That we feel these warnings are influenced more by politics than reality? More by business interests and legal liabilities than real danger to the traveling public?
In short, the poll demonstrated that we don’t trust our government’s security information or analytics. It desperately needs a reliable BI environment. Our government must hire the best of the best BI consultants to get its analytics straightened out and produce reliable, consistent, nonpolitical intelligence about our travel situation…
Yours in BI success,
Claudia
Posted April 18, 2005 9:43 AM
Permalink | 2 Comments |
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I think that the alert codes really have more to do with the relative level of readiness for first responders than it does for any sort of reasonable assurance for the individual. When the alert goes from one color to the next, it really means almost nothing to the general public -- however it may mean a lot to, say, the NYC police department or airport security, who may bump up the staff for a short time in response. So my point is that they're not just colors, and that things are happening that we don't know about, necessarily. I think they really need to get that info out there, and then maybe the poll response will change.
Good point, Johnny. I appreciate your comment. I wonder though how many of those first responders also get alert-fatigue too. Seems like they would also get to the point where the color change does not make them more alert or more responsive. Let's hear from a first responder on this.