http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/25/world/asia/new-zealand-ship-disaster-convictions/index.html

To summarize,

1) Ship’s officers deliberately deviated from a planned course and engaged in a hastily-improvised maneuver in order to meet a deadline (i.e., monetary gain was the prime cause of the accident).

2) Due care (failure to look at a chart and plot the new course) was not taken to ensure the maneuver did not put the ship into danger: a collision with a well-charted hazard to navigation, Astrolabe Reef.

3) Although the hazard was detected by radar, the warning was misinterpreted and subsequently ignored, a profound error and lack of judgement.

4) A deliberate and fraudulent attempt was made to cover up the evidence.

The technology certainly cannot be blamed in this case, it functioned perfectly. However, blind faith in that technology, and a subsequent false sense of security leading to abandonment and ignoring even the most elementary precautions and procedures, certainly was a major cause of this accident.

Although people have been taking chances, and paying the consequences, for centuries; I can’t help but suspect that having “foolproof” technical assistance available makes them careless, and more likely to take risks. I am convinced this over-reliance on technology is a profound danger to our society, as more and more of our activities are managed by impersonal digital systems. Although mechanical failures of these systems may be very rare, they will occur. Still, the biggest danger is not of a mechanical flaw, but the failure to take routine precautions because it assumes the mechanical aid will somehow guarantee safety and make basic safety precautions, backups and training redundant.

This danger exists everywhere in our society, but I repeatedly bring up these maritime cases because they are examples where I feel I have some relevant professional expertise. Accidents have been happening at sea since men first went sailing. Some accidents will happen, regardless of how conscientious and competent seamen are, and negligence and foolhardy behavior were not invented yesterday.

But three recent incidents, very similar in nature and all involving perfectly functioning and up-to-date navigational technology, should tell us something. The similar circumstances in the losses of Rena, Aegean, and Costa Concordia are a warning.