Item: Avalanche Airbags and Risk Compensation: An Empirical Investigation
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Title: Avalanche Airbags and Risk Compensation: An Empirical Investigation
Proceedings: International Snow Science Workshop 2014 Proceedings, Banff, Canada
Authors:
- Nicholas J. Wolken [ Leopold Franzens University, Department of Psychology, Innsbruck, Austria ]
- Benjamin Zweifel [ WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos, Switzerland ]
- Reinhard Tschiesner [ Free University of Bozen-Bolzano; Faculty of Education; Clinical Psychology, Bozen, Italy ]
Date: 2014-09-29
Abstract: Avalanche airbags have dramatically increased in popularity over recent years and so the question has emerged concerning the influence they have on our risk judgment and behavior in avalanche terrain. There is widespread public opinion that avalanche airbags provide a sense of security that leads people to take higher risks. We conducted an online questionnaire, in which 387 participants judged 19 different potential avalanche slopes by avalanche risk, and willingness to ride or ski the slope. Additionally, we asked about demographic data, safety equipment, use of risk management strategies and the Bremer Sensation Seeking Scale for measuring the participants predisposition for seeking novel and intensive sensations or experiences and their influence on judgment and behavior. While we did not find evidence for risk compensation for airbag users, we found Sensation Seeking as the strongest predictor whether respondents ski a slope or not. However, due to the setting of this study we relate our findings to a planning situation and further research is necessary to evaluate these results in real backcountry trip situations.
Language of Article: English
Presenters:
Keywords:
Page Number(s): 1001-1006
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Digital Abstract Not Available
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