Safety Institute of Australia could learn from Craig Lowndes

Doesn't it highlight how pathetic safety is in Australia when a racing car driver knows more about safety than those leading safety in this country! I mean if the Safety Institute and it's cronies in Road Safety investigated the weekends crash at Bathurst, all they would come up with is 'there was speed involved' and that's it they would draw a blank after that.

But here we have a racing driver with more knowledge of risk control than the majority of the Safety Institute of Australia combined! And that's not a very good picture of the Safety Institute as racing drivers don't need to know much, other than how to set up and drive a car fast.

The only thing to Craig Lowndes I would say is that I invented a device very similar to the Hans safety device around 6 years ago and I'm sure the ideas where taken after I couldn't afford the patent. However the device I designed took the presure off the neck, unlike the current device that braces the head and shoulders but then places all that energy into the C3, C4, and C5 vertabrea! If he wanted to sponsor the patent I would share it with him.

Anyway as the Safety Institute and Road Safety Experts can only see speed as a factor in any crash and therefore don't push to remove the risks but focuss on behavioural safety, I paste Craigs most intelligent comments on here and maybe some of the unqualified can learn something.

Lowndes zooms in on safety rules shortfall
10th October 2006, 8:45 WST

Bathurst 1000 champion Craig Lowndes believes V8 Supercars need tougher safety guidelines, as a result of the death of New Zealand driver Mark Porter.

Porter died in a Sydney hospital on Sunday from extensive injuries sustained in a crash with WA-born driver David Clark at Mt Panorama on Friday.

Porter and Clark were admitted to hospital after the collision. Clark’s condition was improving yesterday.

There have been suggestions Porter had been attempting to get out of his vehicle and was not fully strapped into his safety harness when contact was made side-on.

V8 officials denied the claims but said the full details of the accident would be part of their investigation.

Though Lowndes admits it was a “freakish accident”, he says it has highlighted a serious concern about the lack of protection for drivers from side impact.

“Side impact is our worst nightmare because there is no crumple zone,” he said.

“Front or rear impact isn’t bad because we have a large crumple zone. On the side, there’s not a lot of room between us and the outside of the car.

“To have an incident like that (Porter-Clark) is pretty freakish . . . you could not position it. It’s one of those incidents you’d never dream of but it’s happened and now we’ve got to figure out ways to prevent it.”

New Zealand driver Paul Radisich was another victim on a weekend of carnage.

Radisich is recovering in hospital after breaking an ankle and sternum in a high-speed crash on Sunday and will miss the rest of the Supercar season.

Lowndes’ Triple Eight racing team goes beyond current V8 regulations and puts reinforced carbon fibre in the driver’s side door of his Falcon for added safety.

But the series leader wants more to be done, including allowing the drivers to position themselves closer to the centre of the vehicle and adopting a driver safety cell which is used in the German touring car series.

The safety cell is a protective framework within the car that can be removed easily by rescue crews with the driver inside.

Porter and Clark were trapped in their vehicles for about 10 minutes.

Radisich had to wait 20 minutes before being freed through the roof of his Commodore.

Lowndes said recent incidents where drivers were trapped in their cars were more than a coincidence and something must be done.

“It gets back to how many times we’ve now had cars upside down . . . stuck in seatbelts . . . it seems to me now more beyond a coincidence,” he said.

“There is a proper cell that you as a driver sit in and you can pluck it out of the car.

“The cell can basically be popped out of the car with the driver in it.

“V8 rules only allow drivers to move so far into the centre of the car, maybe they need to look at changing that, measurements made a bit flexible.”

Other recommendations from Lowndes include further development of the HANS safety device which protects drivers from whiplash in front and rear contact but is less effective in lateral protection.


AAP, Sydney