Podcast. Jessie Singer - Why would someone drive a vehicle down a pedestrian walkway?

April 16, 20261 min read

My best friend was killed but why would someone drive a vehicle down a pedestrian walkway? The answer isn’t as simple as you might think.

In this episode of How Did It Make Sense?, I sit down with investigative journalist and author Jessie Singer to challenge the way we think about accidents. Inspired by her book There Are No Accidents. Jessie shares the story of her best friend’s death, a so-called accident that, years later, played out in near-identical fashion with devastating results. But was it really just down to bad luck and poor choices, or was something bigger at play?

We explore the uncomfortable truth about how blame obscures the real causes of harm, from road safety to workplace incidents. We unpack how narratives of individual failure let flawed systems off the hook, and why real change only happens when we stop treating accidents as inevitable. Whether you're in safety, leadership, or just want to see the world differently, this is an episode that will change the way you think about risk, responsibility, and the structures that shape our lives.

Gareth Lock is the founder of The Human Diver and Human in the System — two organisations built on a single conviction: that most unwanted events in high-risk environments are system failures, not people failures. Through structured courses, immersive simulations, incident investigation, and keynote speaking, he brings frameworks from military aviation and academic human factors research into the practical reality of diving and high-risk industry. His work spans recreational and technical divers learning non-technical skills for the first time, through to senior safety leaders restructuring how their organisations investigate, debrief, and learn. Everything sits under one guiding principle: be better than yesterday.

Gareth Lock

Gareth Lock is the founder of The Human Diver and Human in the System — two organisations built on a single conviction: that most unwanted events in high-risk environments are system failures, not people failures. Through structured courses, immersive simulations, incident investigation, and keynote speaking, he brings frameworks from military aviation and academic human factors research into the practical reality of diving and high-risk industry. His work spans recreational and technical divers learning non-technical skills for the first time, through to senior safety leaders restructuring how their organisations investigate, debrief, and learn. Everything sits under one guiding principle: be better than yesterday.

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