Injury prevention: individual factors affecting adult recreational snowboarders’ actual and estimated speeds on regular slopes

Speed is a main factor affecting the kinematic of snow-sports accidents and the degree of severity of the resulting injuries. The aim of this study was to measure on-slope actual maximum speeds of snowboarders and to assess their ability to accurately them with regard to individual factors such as gender, skill level, age and risk-taking behaviour and actual maximum speed. The data were obtained from a sample of 312 (67% male, 33% female) adult recreational snowboarders taking lessons in one of the major resorts in the Spanish Pyrenees. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to investigate the relationship between maximal measured actual speed and estimated speed for all participants. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to estimate the impact of individual factors on both the snowboarders’ actual maximum speed and their error of estimation. The Pearson correlation coefficient between estimated and actual maximum speed was 0.52 (P < 0.001) for all participants. They underestimated their actual maximum speed on average by 10.05 km/h or 28.62%. All assessed factors were shown to significantly affect the snowboarders’ actual maximum speed. However, gender, skill level, age and actual maximum speed were shown to significantly affect the snowboarders’ error of estimation, while risk-taking behavior did not. Gender, skill level, age and risk-taking behaviour are associated with the actual maximum speed at which snowboarders ride, while the same individual factors, except for risk-taking behaviour, and their snowboarding speed seem to affect the ability to estimate actual maximum speeds in adult recreational snowboarders. The ability to estimate actual speed accurately is an important factor to avoid accidents on ski slopes and, therefore, having snowboarders informed about the benefits of speed self-awareness is a key matter for prevention purposes