Posted on 02/12/2010 3:02:32 PM PST by Yossarian
And this one, too.
How hard would it be to put some padding on those poles? Or do like Nascar does with a “safer barrier”?
“After looking at the crash footage, that “minimize required vegetation clearing and to reduce facility footprint” really jumps out at you, doesn’t it?”
No.
BTW, do the heads-first skeleton athletes use the same track?
And why the name skeleton? Morbid humor?
Seems extremely dangerous -- surely somebody must have noticed and said something?
Or was this just a freak accident?
Poor design coming out of the curve, both sides should have
been clear of obstructions until entering the next curve.
I don't think cushioning the support beams would do a darn thing, given the angle of approach and speed (80 to 95 MPH) the lugers are going.
I think the goal of any barrier would be to put the athlete back on the track, where they can lose their energy gradually, like over the course of 10 seconds or more.
Two weeks of human trials coming up to determine if it is “freak.”
They should raid the local CFL team of blocking dummies and duct tape them around the poles.
Yes, they use the same track. As to the name, I suppose it seems more "technical" than just calling it a "sled".
("Flexible Flyer" is probably covered by trademark issues....)
Something should have been done. It seems so obviously dangerous!
I have to ask... this can’t be the first time that someone has been on that luge track.
Wasn’t it used prior to today, for training, or something?
RS
I think luge is inherently pretty dangerous. There’s no way to build a barrier-free track. See these examples of luge accidents on other luge runs. Barriers are par for the course, if you will. But in most accidents, the rider ends up staying in the track itself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG99ULoWXHU&feature=related
I was watching the ESPN crawler reporting the accident and it said that 12 lugers have been injured there. That sounds pretty high even for a sport this dangerous.
It looks like they have a lot of "J-Beams" that hold a fabric cover close to the course, but from what I can tell, they are positioned so that if you fly off the course, you're going to rebound off the fabric first.
Yes, luge is a dangerous sport, but it can be made less dangerous by making smart choices regarding the track design. Those choices should never be infringed upon by environmental concerns, which might have happened here.
The details will all come out eventually.
This is the third crash today on the same track. The others were women. A Romanian and an American.
Video of the crash. It’s pretty apparent the course isn’t safe.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6202459n
You know it’s bad when someone hits a large steel piling and it goes “clang.”
The Vancouver Olympic Committee and the IOC have some serious “lawyering up” to do.
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