What he means, I think, is that an airbag doesn't really make anybody drive faster, but a better handling car with better brakes etc would do.
Paulp is obviously right in that more capable hardware is purchased (mainly) for flying more challenging mission profiles.
Speaking of the Cirrus chute, I don't know whether the presence of the chute drives a more challenging mission profile, rather than the marketing which is aimed at a different (younger, wealthier, but not by default better trained because the initial pilot training is not type specific) pilot population.
My guess is that the more experienced a pilot is, the more likely he would be to consciously use the chute to fly a riskier mission profile.