Pretty tricky -- these Occidentals

Where are people after disasters? Where are they before disasters? If you know a train wreck is coming, do you....
(a) Wait for the train to hit -- cleaning up is cheaper than avoiding it...(b) Divert the train and apologize to passengers for the inconvenience -- and lose $$ when passengers don't come back...(c) Fix the problem
In Minnesota, it is pretty clear they knew something was going to happen. They opted for inspecting ... why? Who knows? I am sure it will be looked into.
My question is why do we inspect and inspect and inspect when you see a problem starting? Do inspections make things safer? Not at all if results are suppressed. Do they delay getting a problem fixed? You betcha. After all, the deal about delay is that if you stall long enough perhaps the people who need a problem fixed will go away and you won't need to fix it at all.
Pretty tricky these occidentals....