Beachgoer's recognition of rip current hazard at Miami Beach, Florida

Fallon, Kathleen M.; Lai, Qing; Leatherman, Stephen P.

doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2018.08.011

Cited by 17 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…As demonstrated above, previous studies have shown that the existing rip current identification abilities of beachgoers is poor. However, in these studies, rip current identification by beachgoers has been based either on participants self-reporting on how confident they would feel at being asked to identify a rip current (Morgan et al, 2009a) or on asking people to directly identify rip currents in photographs taken from various perspectives (Moran, 2008;Caldwell et al, 2013;Brannstrom et al, 2015;Clifford et al, 2018) or to identify the safest place to swim in a photograph of a beach (Sherker et al, 2010;Houser et al, 2017;Willcox-Pidgeon et al, 2017;Clifford et al, 2018;Fallon et al, 2018). However, Ménard et al (2018) noted that a fundamental problem is the lack of research investigating whether an individual's ability to identify a rip or a safe swimming area in a photograph translates to an equal ability to identify a rip current in situ at the beach.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beachgoers' ability to identify rip currents at a beach in situ

Pitman

Thompson

Hart

et al. 2021

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Rip currents (“rips”) are the leading cause of drowning on surf beaches worldwide. A major contributing factor is that many beachgoers are unable to identify rip currents. Previous research has attempted to quantify beachgoers' rip identification ability using photographs of rip currents without identifying whether this usefully translates into an ability to identify a rip current in situ at the beach. This study is the first to compare beachgoers ability to identify rip currents in photographs and in situ at a beach in New Zealand (Muriwai Beach) where a channel rip current was present. Only 22 % of respondents were able to identify the in situ rip current. The highest rates of success were for males (33 %), New Zealand residents (25 %), and local beach users (29 %). Of all respondents who were successful at identifying the rip current in situ, 62 % were active surfers/bodyboarders, and 28 % were active beach swimmers. Of the respondents who were able to identify a rip current in two photographs, only 34 % were able to translate this into a successful in situ rip identification, which suggests that the ability to identify rip currents by beachgoers is worse than reported by previous studies involving photographs. This study highlights the difficulty of successfully identifying a rip current in reality and that photographs are not necessarily a useful means of teaching individuals to identify rip currents. It advocates for the use of more immersive and realistic education strategies, such as the use of virtual reality headsets showing moving imagery (videos) of rip currents in order to improve rip identification ability.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beachgoers' ability to identify rip currents at a beach in situ

Pitman

Thompson

Hart

et al. 2021

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…Other studies addressing the impact of gender on the ability to identify a rip have had contrasting outcomes. For example, males at Miami Beach, USA, were more successful in identifying a safe spot to swim (Fallon et al, 2018), whereas females were more successful in an Australian study (Williamson et al, 2012). Higher self-reported competence across both genders was linked to increased ability to spot the rip current in our study.…”

Section: Demographic Trends In Rip Spotting Abilitymentioning

confidence: 53%

“…Similar results have been obtained from studies asking participants to identify safe swimming spots. Sherker et al (2010) showed that 52% of primarily Australian respondents chose a rip current as the safest place to swim in an image, while 40% did so in the UK based study of Gallop et al (2016), and 73% chose a rip current as the safest place in at least one of the two images they were shown in a study at Miami Beach, Florida, by Fallon et al (2018).…”

Section: Implications For Beach Safetymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…asked to identify a rip current (Morgan et al, 2009a), or by asking people to directly identify rip currents in photographs taken from various perspectives (Moran, 2008;Caldwell et al, 2013;Brannstrom et al, 2015;Clifford et al, 2018), or to identify the safest place to swim in a photograph of a beach (Sherker et al, 2010;Gallop et al, 2016;Houser et al, 2017;Willcox-Pidgeon et al, 2017;Clifford et al, 2018;Fallon et al, 2018). However, Ménard et al (2018) noted that a fundamental problem is the lack of research investigating whether an individual's ability to identify a rip, or a safe swimming area in a photograph, translates to an equal ability to spot a rip current in situ at the beach.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beachgoers’ ability to identify rip currents at a beach in situ

Pitman¹,

Thompson²,

Hart³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Rip currents (rips) are the leading cause of drowning on surf beaches worldwide. A major contributing factor is that many beachgoers are unable to identify rip currents. Previous research has attempted to quantify beachgoers' rip spotting ability using photographs of rip currents, without identifying whether this usefully translates into an ability to spot a rip current in situ at the beach. This study is the first to compare beachgoers ability to spot rip currents in photographs and in situ at a beach in New Zealand (Muriwai Beach) where a channel rip current was present. Only 22 % of respondents were able to identify the in situ rip current. The highest rates of success were for males (33 %), New Zealand residents (25 %), and local beach users (29 %). Of all respondents who were successful at identifying the rip current in situ, 62 % were active surfers/bodyboarders and 28 % were active beach swimmers. Of the respondents who were able to identify a rip current in two photographs, only 34 % were unable to translate this into a successful in situ rip identification, which suggests that the ability to identify rip currents by beachgoers is worse than reported by previous studies involving photographs. This study highlights the difficulty of successfully identifying a rip current in reality and that photographs are not necessarily a useful means of teaching individuals to spot rip currents. It advocates for the use of more immersive and realistic education strategies, such as the use of virtual reality headsets showing moving imagery (videos) of rip currents in order to improve rip spotting ability.

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“…Inexperienced swimmers who are trapped by a rip current and transported to deeper water offshore often attempt to swim against the current directly back to shore at the risk of exhaustion, panic, and drowning unless rescued(Miloshis and Stephenson, 2011). In the United States, drowning associated with rip currents causes 80% of surf rescues and about one hundred death each year, more than the annual death from the combination of tornadoes, sharks, hurricanes and lightning strikes(Gensini and Ashley, 2010;Miloshis and Stephenson, 2011).Great progress has been made in the past fifteen years to understand the pattern, dynamics, and formation of rip currents(Castelle et al, 2016b;Dalrymple et al, 2011;MacMahan et al, 2006), develop and evaluate escape strategiesMcCarroll et al, 2014;Miloshis and Stephenson, 2011), and examine the rip current knowledge of beach visitors and rip survivors(Drozdzewski et al, 2012;Fallon et al, 2018;Sherker et al, 2010). Yet, few studies have quantified or classified the severity of rip current hazards to human beings, which is essential for public education of rip hazards and operational warning of the risk by beach safety practitioners Lushine (1991).…”

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confidence: 99%

Rip Current Generation, Flow Characteristics and Implications for Beach Safety in South Florida

Leatherman¹

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Beachgoer's recognition of rip current hazard at Miami Beach, Florida

Cited by 17 publications

References 27 publications

Beachgoers' ability to identify rip currents at a beach in situ

Beachgoers' ability to identify rip currents at a beach in situ

Beachgoers’ ability to identify rip currents at a beach in situ

Rip Current Generation, Flow Characteristics and Implications for Beach Safety in South Florida

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