Danger Makes You Safe; Skill, Superfluous.

Unrelated snippets that have me scratching my head right now:

First, according to an article in the Walrus, some cities in the Netherlands are removing traffic control signs, lane markers and other commonplace road safety measures because, apparently, the lack of appropriate signage and safety measures has been found to actually promote safer driving conduct. Evidently, people – when confronted with an obviously dangerous and frightening driving environment totally bereft of safety makers and control signage – have a tendency to behave rationally and make generally safer operating choices that are more likely to enhance their own chances of survival, with the result that traffic-related fatalities have plummeted in such areas.

Second, according to an article in Sports Illustrated, the 32 most proficient marksmen in the United States military are held back from combat. In other words, these soldiers are just proficient enough at firing their weapons to be prevented from firing at things that soldiers generally try to hit.

Third, although there is an appalling shortage of family physicians in many areas of this country – a country in which we enjoy universal health care – there are apparently enough doctors in the United States (a country in which a large percentage of the population can’t afford health care coverage at all) that some of them are apparently busy studying whether robot dogs can relieve the boredom and loneliness of geriatric patients as well as real dogs. Are we so in danger of running low on real dogs that we need to spend valuable medical resources on developing robot substitutes?