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In ethology, risk compensation is an effect whereby individual animals may tend to adjust their behaviour in response to perceived changes in risk. It is seen as self-evident that individuals will tend to behave in a more cautious manner if their perception of risk or danger increases. An other way of stating this is that individuals will behave less cautiously in situations where they feel "safer" or more protected. Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Animalia redirects here. ... Behavior or behaviour refers to the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment. ...

There is evidence that such an effect is seen in humans, associated with the use of safety features such as car seat belts and bicycle helmets. The evidence is particularly compelling for the case of antilock braking systems. The existence of this balancing behaviour does not mean an intervention does not work; the effect could be less than, equal to, or even more than the true efficacy of the intervention, depending on how well the perceived efficacy matches actual efficacy - and this will differ from individual to individual. It is likely to be least when an intervention is imperceptible and greatest when an intervention is intrusive or conspicuous. Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin: wise man or knowing man) in the family Hominidae (the great apes). ... Karl Benzs Velo (vélo means bicycle in French) model (1894) - entered into the first automobile race 2005 MINI Cooper S. An automobile (also motor car or simply car) is a wheeled passenger vehicle that carries its own motor. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Bicycle helmet A bicycle helmet is designed to provide head protection for cyclists. ... An anti-lock braking system (commonly known as ABS, from the German name Antiblockiersystem given to it by its inventors at Bosch) is a system on motor vehicles which prevents the wheels from locking while braking. ...

The theory grew largely out of investigations of road safety interventions. It was noted that most interventions had failed to achieve the forecast savings in lives and injuries.^{[citation needed]} Theorists speculated that while the studies demonstrated that the probability of injury given a crash had reduced, the fact that the overall probability of injury was unchanged indicated that there must have been some change in the probability of crashing. The field of road safety is concerned with reducing the numbers or the consequences of vehicle crashes, by developing and implementing management systems ideally based in a multidisciplinary and holistic approach, with interrelated activities in a number of fields. ... Probability is the chance that something is likely to happen or be the case. ...

This controversial view was at first strongly resisted but detailed investigation, particularly of the case of compulsory seat belts, caused the theory to become more widely accepted, although it is still resisted by many who support an interventionist approach.^{[citation needed]}

The logical conclusion of this theory has been reached with the shared space initiatives piloted first in Denmark and the Netherlands, and now being copied elsewhere in Europe and North America. Significant safety benefits have been claimed from the complete removal of street furniture and signage from urban environments, requiring all users to take more care. Shared space is a traffic engineering philosophy pioneered by the Dutch traffic engineer Hans Monderman. ...

Seat Belts

In 1981 John Adams published a paper, The efficacy of seatbelt legislation: A comparative study of road accident fatality statistics from 18 countries, Dept of Geography University College, London 1981 - published in 1982 by the Society of Automotive Engineers.[1] This showed that in the countries studied, which included states with and without seat belt laws, there was no correlation between the passing of seat belt legislation and reductions in injuries or fatalities. 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Professor John Adams of University College London, is a professor of geography and leading theorist on risk compensation and an environmentalist. ... A three-point seat belt. ... The Front Quad University College London, commonly known as UCL, is one of the colleges that make up the University of London. ... The Society of Automotive Engineers is a professional organisation and standards body for the engineering of powered vehicles of all kinds - cars, trucks, boats, aircraft and more. ... Seat belt legislation is a law or laws put in place to enforce or require the wearing of seat belts while person is driving, or there are passengers in the front or back seats. ...

This paper was published at a time when Britain was considering a seat belt law, so the Department of Transport commissioned a report into the issue. In the event the report's author, Isles, agreed with Adams' conclusions. The Isles Report was never published officially but a copy was leaked to the Press some years later.^[1] The law was duly passed and subsequent investigation showed, as predicted, no associated reduction in fatalities (although there was some reduction due to the simultaneous introduction of evidential breath testing).^[2] In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the transport network. ... Drunk driving (drink driving in the UK) or drinking and driving is the act of operating a motor vehicle after having consumed alcohol (i. ...

Other research has taken groups of drivers, including those who did and did not habitually wear seat-belts, and measured the effect on driving style in the habitually unbelted. The drivers were found to drive faster and less carefully when belted.^{[citation needed]}

Anti-lock Brakes

There are at least three studies which show that drivers' response to antilock brakes is to drive faster, follow closer and brake later, accounting for the failure of ABS to result in any measurable improvement in road safety. The following references describe studies in Canada, Denmark and Germany. An anti-lock braking system (ABS) is a system on motor vehicles which prevents the wheels from locking while braking. ...

Grant and Smiley, "Driver response to antilock brakes: a demonstration on behavioural adaptation" from Proceedings, Canadian Multidisciplinary Road Safety Conference VIII, June 14-16, Saskatchewan 1993.

Sagberg, Fosser, and Saetermo, "An investigation of behavioural adaptation to airbags and antilock brakes among taxi drivers" Accident Analysis and Prevention #29 pp 293-302 1997.

Aschenbrenner and Biehl, "Improved safety through improved technical measures? empirical studies regarding risk compensation processes in relation to anti-lock braking systems". In Trimpop and Wilde, Challenges to Accident Prevention: The issue of risk compensation behaviour (Groningen, NL, Styx Publications, 1994).

Cycle Helmets

The editor of Injury Prevention, a dedicated promoter of bicycle helmets, long disputed the idea of risk compensation in bicycle helmets, particularly in children. He set out to settle the issue, but his study showed strong evidence that children do indeed exhibit balancing behaviour.[2] Bicycle helmet A bicycle helmet is designed to provide head protection for cyclists. ...

Skydiving

Booth's rule #2, coined by skydiving pioneer Bill Booth, states that "The safer skydiving gear becomes, the more chances skydivers will take, in order to keep the fatality rate constant". Even though skydiving equipment has made huge leaps forward in terms of reliability in the past two decades, and safety devices such as AADs have been introduced, the fatality rate has stayed roughly constant since the early 1980s.[3] This can largely be attributed to an increase in the popularity of high performance canopies, which fly much faster than traditional parachutes. High speed manoeuvres close to the ground have increased the number of landing fatalities in recent years,[4] even though these jumpers have perfectly functioning parachutes over their heads. Bill Booth is the inventor of the 3-ring release system, the throw-out pilot chute, both of which are now widely used in the sport of skydiving, and the Sky-Hook RSL. Trivia Bill Booth appears as a part of an introduction-to-skydiving video, which is shown to... In skydiving terminology, an AAD refers to an electronic or mechanical device that automatically opens the main or a reserve parachute at a preset altitude or at a preset time. ...

Risk Homeostasis

An associated theory is known as risk homeostasis. This extends risk compensation theory somewhat, although in practice the two terms are often used interchangeably. Risk homeostasis is a psychological theory developed by Gerald J.S. Wilde, a professor emeritus of psychology at Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. ...

Professor Gerald J. S. Wilde illustrates this by reference to the Swedish experience when they changed from right- to left-hand drive in 1967.[5] This was followed by a marked reduction in the traffic fatality rate, but the trend returned to its previous values after about 18 months. Drivers had responded to increased perceived danger by taking more care; as they became accustomed to the new regime, the additional care evaporated.

Risk compensation is now widely accepted, but risk homeostasis, which goes much further, has a much smaller following.

See also

• Risk homeostasis

Risk homeostasis is a psychological theory developed by Gerald J.S. Wilde, a professor emeritus of psychology at Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. ...

References

• Adams, John (1995). Risk. Routledge. ISBN 1-85728-068-7. 
• Wilde, Gerald J.S. (1994). Target Risk. PDE Publications. ISBN 0-9699124-0-4. Retrieved on 2006-04-26.