Capsized ship - who gets the lifeboats/life jackets?

[Woodsey]

If your saying that people probably wouldn't be a hero when it comes to it because unless you're faced with that situation you never really don't know what you'll do, how do you know you'd save your own arse and not be a hero?  When the situation arises, anything could happen no?

Possibly, but I still think personal survival is way more likely to kick in than thought for others at the moment of crisis.

[George2Loose]

U keep saying u wouldn't know how u would react so why do u keep speculating about it Woodsey. Maybe if u saw a child drowning those self preservation thoughts would do one

[Woodsey]

U keep saying u wouldn't know how u would react so why do u keep speculating about it Woodsey. Maybe if u saw a child drowning those self preservation thoughts would do one

I've seen first hand what people do when charged by an elephant and it wasn't consideration of others!

[ManuelsMum]

Pretty sure I couldn't bump women and kids from lifeboat spots.

I don't think you can honestly say that unless you have been in a life or death situation when blind panic sets in, I'd say all common sense would go out the window for the majority of people. Who's to say who's life is worth more than anyone else's anyway?

All common sense 'would' go out of the window if blind panic set in - but I'd have thought it would be minority of passengers who would suffer from that kind of irrational panicky response.

I think most people would be scared but perfectly capable of thinking about the situation whilst it was hapenning rather than just acting on pure instinct

And how do you know any of that?

I don't - but boats have sunk in the past and anecdotally there hasn't really been any suggestion of 100's and 100's of people losing control.

Obviously there are lots of factors like if it was a day or a night crash, and how much warning there was of it etc etc - but I'd like to think that order wouldn't so easily be broken down amongst such  a large sample size

This is the problem you see. People tend to write this stuff based on what they think they should do without really knowing what they would actually do.

I'm telling you right now if I was faced with a life or death situation I'd do pretty much whatever to save my own ass. I think most people are probably the same but its not following the standard 'ooh ooh the women and children are the most important' line. Their lives are no more important than mine in the whole scheme of life, and to me personally mine is a lot more valuable!  

You can't personally know how you would react react unless it actually hapenned to you - but you can tell how people in general have reacted in the past, and in general there have only been a small minority of people who have acted completely selfishly. Taking past events as evidence would suggest that most people think they would react in a certain way - and in practice they actually end up acting that way.

LOL if can you show me a questionaire of people who they asked what they would do in a life or death situation, then followed them up afterwards to see if they did as they said they would I'll take your word for it.  

There's a woman that runs the Occupational Psych department at Cranfield and she specializes in human factors in Aircraft Safety, she pwns it and has tons of awards. They have a big plane shell there, they do a kazillion experiments with people in it (fill it with smoke, light fires etc). They pore over reams of data from accidents as well as numerous other studies in controlled settings. The reactions, for planes at least, are very well documented. If you fall in front of someone at the exit of a burning plane, they will help you up if you are blocking them, otherwise your head makes a handy 'step' to place their heel on to propel themselves out of the plane. No one gives a damn about anyone else and they will elbow you in the face to get off. You have 2 mins to get off pretty much, otherwise you die. Dunno how all that transfers to boats, am sure much of it is analogous.

As far as the OP q goes, afaik the 'laws' regarding how many lifeboats you have and how they should be available in a listing setup is set out in  the imo listing imo.

http://www.imo.org/Pages/home.aspx

[Jon MW]

... You have 2 mins to get off pretty much, otherwise you die. Dunno how all that transfers to boats, am sure much of it is analogous.

...

It's the first bit which isn't comparable.

Woodsey mentioned 20 seconds to make a decision.
You've mentioned 2 minutes.

Ships don't sink in 20 seconds or 2 minutes - when a ship sinks you've got a pretty long time to think about what you're doing

[ManuelsMum]

... You have 2 mins to get off pretty much, otherwise you die. Dunno how all that transfers to boats, am sure much of it is analogous.

...

It's the first bit which isn't comparable.

Woodsey mentioned 20 seconds to make a decision.
You've mentioned 2 minutes.

Ships don't sink in 20 seconds or 2 minutes - when a ship sinks you've got a pretty long time to think about what you're doing

Fair point. What maybe matters is the perception of urgency in the minds of those escaping. By all accounts there was a bang then a groan, people thought they were sinking, so wanted to gtfo sharpish.

[ManuelsMum]

.

[RED-DOG]

Now I know it's easy to say, but no way I would ever walk past someone like that.

[AndrewT]

Now I know it's easy to say, but no way I would ever walk past someone like that.

Come live in London - we'll have that old-fashioned 'caring for strangers' trained out of you in no time. You'll be ignoring the homeless by nightfall.

[MANTIS01]

In a crashed plane with smoke and fire all around, especially with an overwhelming smell of aviation fuel, your natural instincts would be to get the fuck out of dodge. If you think the plane is gonna blow in a few seconds then you are powerless to do anything to influence outcomes. Similarly if an elephant charges all you think is get away because again you are powerless to influence outcomes. Both of these events are too quick and too powerful to take control of or influence, so saving yourself is all good. That is a lot different to booting stricken old people in the head and flinging kids out the way so you don't have to face a 600m swim to shore off the italian coast on a nice day.

[Graham C]

Hmmm, someone lying on the floor loooking in pain calling out for help?  Pretty sure I'd not just walk past him too. I'm amazed so many did.

[Woodsey]

Hmmm, someone lying on the floor loooking in pain calling out for help?  Pretty sure I'd not just walk past him too. I'm amazed so many did.

You should try going to poorer parts of the world then mate.

[Matt.NFFC.]

Quite shocked at tall the people in the video just walking past.  I just couldn't walk past someone like that, I would be sickened by my actions if I had.

Then again, I don't live in a city.  Is this pretty standard in London?

Disgusting.

[mulhuzz]

Now I know it's easy to say, but no way I would ever walk past someone like that.

Come live in London - we'll have that old-fashioned 'caring for strangers' trained out of you in no time. You'll be ignoring the homeless by nightfall.

I skimmed this and at first read:

'you'll be igniting the homeless by nightfall'

bit harsh, I thought

[ripple11]

Quite shocked at tall the people in the video just walking past.  I just couldn't walk past someone like that, I would be sickened by my actions if I had.

Then again, I don't live in a city.  Is this pretty standard in London?

Disgusting.

The last guy got quick help because they thought it was Prince Harry.




Live in London and wouldn't walk past the above examples.