[Onelifetogive]

◦track shading and weather protection system

And this one, too.

[Abigail Adams]

How hard would it be to put some padding on those poles? Or do like Nascar does with a “safer barrier”?

[Shermy]

“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?

[Touch Not the Cat]

.
steel I-beam supports a mere 2 to 3 feet away

Seems extremely dangerous -- surely somebody must have noticed and said something?

Or was this just a freak accident?

[tet68]

Poor design coming out of the curve, both sides should have
been clear of obstructions until entering the next curve.

[RikaStrom]

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

[saganite]

Video of the crash. It’s pretty apparent the course isn’t safe.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6202459n

[GraceG]

Why can’t they cover the whole damn course with a large transparent plastic cover? Seems safer to keep the person contained but moving so they can come to a slow stop rather then an abrupt end.

Oh, plastic isn’t environmentally friendly.....

[ArcadeQuarters]

I just did a google image search for luge tracks and only 1 of the first 100 images showed any type of roof. This does look like an unusual design (at least according to my 30 seconds of research).

[Straight Vermonter]

I don't think this track has an inherently more dangerous design than others. I can't find a good picture of the "shed" at Lake Placid but my recollection is that the obstructions near the track are similar to the one in Vancouver. Of course tracks can always be made safer but I just don't think this one is less safe due to environmental or other reasons.

This is a pic of a banked section at Lake Placid.

[gitmo]

Let’s see.
The space shuttle crash was due to environmentalists prevented asbestos tiles from being used.

The twin towers collapsed because they stopped using asbestos on the beams.

There may be a pattern going on. I wonder what it could be.