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The forest can be a dangerous place

tony barnhill

Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
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Seems more dangerous for the fans than the drivers!
 

Nunyas

Yoda
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yeah... as much as I like watching Rally Racing, I can't help but think that it's got to be the most dangerous sport for the fans there is. I've seen videos where fans all crowd into the race path and jump out of the way in the nick of time. It's got to be the most unsafe spectator sport there is. I can't think of any other racing that lets spectators stand at the apex of a turn where cars are whipping around on the knife's edge of control at 60+ MPH.

I don't know what it's going to take, but I reckon that it won't be too much longer before they start implementing and enforcing spectator safety zones. Then again, I've no clue how they'd go about doing something like that.
 
OP
coldplugs

coldplugs

Darth Vader
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[ QUOTE ]
...
I don't know what it's going to take, but I reckon that it won't be too much longer before they start implementing and enforcing spectator safety zones. Then again, I've no clue how they'd go about doing something like that.

[/ QUOTE ]

It'll take what it took for the famous old long distance road races like the Targa and the Mille Miglia - a bunch of people to get hurt. The solution will be to simply ban events of this type.

It's a tough issue - as a spectator it's hard to know where it's safe to plant yourself. In front of a television I guess.
 

Nunyas

Yoda
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from some of the videos I've seen, it looks like some of them don't even think about what might be a safe vantage point....
 

tony barnhill

Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
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Like the old man who got his feet run over?
 
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[ QUOTE ]
from some of the videos I've seen, it looks like some of them don't even think about what might be a safe vantage point....

[/ QUOTE ]

No, that's not where you get the exciting pictures... or these videos, either.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 

William

Darth Vader
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In the first clip, the guy jumping out of the way is a marshall-he starts blowing his whistle soon thereafter. In the fourth, it's a photog, and I think I saw his press pass flapping as he jumped out of the way (although I do not know if he was suppose to be in that location or not).

Most rallies have designated "safe" areas for spectators to watch. The problem is, these events are usually in the forests somewhere, so there's a large amount of area to police. Most of the fans know the dangers of standing on the edge of the road during an event, but its a risk they're willing to take.

-Wm.
 

tony barnhill

Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
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Undercarriage of the car in the first photo was exceptionally clean!
 

aeronca65t

Great Pumpkin
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In the late 70's, I co-owned ~THIS~ Datsun 510 SCCA Pro-Rally car. We ran two events in the northeast (Buffum won one of them and a couple of Swedes in a factory 99 won the other).
It was terrifying. Two events out in the lonely woods with no chance of quick rescue if a bad accident took place was too much for me. Road racing on a closed course with a nearby ambulance (or rally-cross) seems so much more safer to me.
 

jayhawk

Jedi Warrior
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Here in the good ol' USA, all kinds of folks might be sued big time if a spectator was hurt, maybe even when in a place he wasn't supposed to be. I'm told that in many other contries that that the idiot in the way would be deemed just that.
 

swift6

Yoda
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Imagine that... personal responsibility. Go figure. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif
 
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