On Mon, 22 May 2000, Steven T. Ekstrand wrote:
> I could understand it if the accident had happened during one of the first
> pairs on the course, but this was apparently one of the last? How many
> close calls do you need before somebody realizes it may be prudent to move
> a few cones between run groups.
For whatever reason, most of the close calls were on Sunday, *after* the
actual collision. I think that there were three factors:
1) By Sunday, everyone knew that the box was full-throttle.
2) The driving appeared more agressive on Sunday. Actually, the course
seemed to lend itself well toward agressive driving, in my (novice)
opinion.
3) Several folks reported that the course seemed a little less grippy. I
have no idea whether this is true.
> I can't applaud the course designer for making a fun and competitive
> track. He failed in his number one priority---safety.
Unless the designer *knew* that the box was going to be full out, I can't
really fault him much, honest mistake. Had the box not been there at all,
there would have been plenty of room between the cars. Had the box entry
been a little tighter, forcing braking, there would have been plenty of
room between the cars. I think in this case, hindsight is 20/20.
And I didn't feel that the worker positions were unsafe at all, although I
only worked the right course. As previously mentioned, the cars were
pointed at turn one workers, and under acceleration, but during my shift
only one got wide enough to even cause any jitters. Not to mention that
there was plenty of room to move out of the way - the area behind the
station was grass. Anyone uncomfortable with their position in that turn
could have just stepped 10 feet backwards and been fine.
As far as no one speaking up - we made our own decision, I think.
Perhaps the safety stewards should have insisted on a course change. But
if we're going to criticize the course design based solely on hindsight,
then we should laud the decision to press on. After all, there weren't
any more incidents. (Again, based on hindsight).
As a corner worker at the time of the collision, I would also like to
point out that the whole incident was handled quickly and professionally,
in my opinion.
Steven
p.s. Okay, there was *one* more incident. Apparently someone was
rear-ended in grid. Anyone know anything else about this one? Were the
cars gridded to closely? And if so, should we have insisted that grid be
rearranged? JUST JOSHING - ;-) ;-) I'm VERY serious about safety, but we
must accept that mistakes are made, and stuff happens. As was mentioned
before, let's learn from the incident and move on!
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