Attitudes, perceived bathing risks and behaviours among recreational users at a high-energy beach in South-West France. A dataset containing human and environmental data, beachgoers and lifeguards assessments

• Published in: Data in brief 2024-12, Vol.57, p.111001, Article 111001
• Main Authors: Lyser, Sandrine, Dehez, Jeoffrey, Castelle, Bruno, Savy, Jean-Philippe
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Beach safety; Behaviour; Data; Humanities and Social Sciences; Rip current; Risk perception; Sciences of the Universe
• ISSN: 2352-3409; 2352-3409
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2024.111001

The dataset provides data on beachgoers’ behaviours, attitudes and perceptions of coastal bathing risks at a high energy beach in South-West France [1]. Data were collected from a face-to-face quantitative survey conducted at La Lette Blanche beach, during the lifeguard-patrolled summer period (July-August) 2022 from a sample of 722 visitors. Beachgoers were interviewed across various times of the day (i.e. morning or afternoon), on various days of the week (i.e. weekdays or weekends) and various marine and weather conditions. All respondents provided informed consent after reading a participant information form at the beginning of the survey. The survey was conducted in French or English and consisted of forty questions convering four main topics: (1) attitudes toward risk in general and concerns about risks in everyday life, including leisure and water based recreation context; (2) risk experience (participation in beach activities in general, visits at southwest France beaches, recreational activities, previous accidents); (3) visits to La Lette-Blanche beach at the time of the survey (attractiveness, bathing behaviour and perception of risks); (4) sources of information and preventive behaviours related to bathing risks. Respondents socio-demographic characteristics were collected at the beginning of the survey [2]. At the same time, environmental data were collected by a nearby directional wave buoy, tide gauge and weather station, and an hourly estimate of rip current hazard, shore break wave hazard and of the total beach crowd during the patrolling hours has been provided by the chief lifeguard of the study beach [3]. The dataset can be used to conduct quantitative analyses or to compare with others studies in the domain of beach safety research.