Going Beyond Human Scale Speeds: Sensation-Seeking, Impulsivity, and Risk Compensation as a Foundational Element to the Development of Safety Countermeasures

Abstract

This paper examines five aspects of risk compensation, namely 1.) the history of psychology in relation to risk compensation in section 2, 2.) the history of speed as a fundamental component of risk in section 3, 3.) the personality traits that have the strongest associations with speed and risk, risk propensity and greater participation, injury, and death in section 4, 4.) approaches and frameworks for safety countermeasures and areas for additional study in section 5. The purpose of writing this is to highlight man’s relationship to both speed and risk as a foundational element to developing safety countermeasures (such as helmets) and serve as a continual reference point. Although designing bicycle helmets is an exciting endeavor in and of itself, there is a goal to explore adjacent markets and continually connect design and development activities to the most exciting pursuit, space travel.