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TRAUMA REDUCTION IN
MOTOR SPORT:
SCIENCE AND SAFETY
A public health and historical
perspective
Michael Henderson
Chairman, Australian Institute For Motor Sport Safety
Fellow, FIA Institute For Motor Sport Safety
2009 Annual Conference
International Council For Motorsport Sciences
Aims of the presentation
 Review how public health approaches have been
applied to safety in motor sport
 Highlight how success has followed the
application of scientific method to injury
causation and prevention
 Consider recent trends in motor sport injury
 Review priorities for motor sport injury
reduction in the future
Three eras in motor sport safety
 1900 to 1960
The pre-scientific
era
Carnage at Le Mans,
1955
Three eras in motor sport safety
 1960 to 1995
The emergence of
a science
Jackie Stewart, with early attempts
at fire protection 1966
Three eras in motor sport safety
 1995 to the
present
The modern era
Cutting edge crash protection
The three eras: total driver deaths,
worldwide, 1895-2008
An emerging science
The modern era
The pre-scientific era
Data source: www.motorsportmemorial.org
The pre-scientific era: were driver deaths
an inexorable trend?
Features of the era:
 Fatalism – survival from death
or injury was simply a matter of
luck
 Many famous drivers killed -
death and injury were seen as an
acceptable consequence of the
sport
 Also, disastrous events
caused mass spectator deaths
– and often caused suspension of
motor racing, at least temporarily
The era of an emerging science
Features of the era
 A stimulus for change




brought about by recurrent
disasters
An acceptance that injury can
be reduced through research
and scientific method
A new conceptual model for
injury control, going beyond
“human error” and into multifactorial aetiology
The generation of a research
imperative
The successful application of
results
Lorenzo Bandini 1967: no belts, hay-bail
barriers, poor rollover protection, postcrash fire, poorly protective driving suit,
untrained and ill-equipped track staff: a
preventable death
The era of an emerging science: the early
days

1942: seminal paper of Hugh De
Haven:

1949: Gordon and Gibson placed injury
control within the public health
framework,

1952: De Haven introduced the concept
of “safety packaging” the vehicle
occupant

1956: first automobile barrier crash
tests reported by Severy and
Mathewson

1957: Dr John Paul Stapp personally
confirmed that human tolerance levels
approached 100 g deceleration for very
short applications
Stapp being prepared for rocket-propelled ride at
1,017.5 km/h, coming to dead stop in 1.4 seconds
An emerging science: the concept of
managing energy, the agent of injury
Crash prevention:
Prevent energy transfer
to human body
Injury prevention:
Human
Vehicle
Environment
Behaviour
Performance
Training
Experience
Braking
Handling
Maintenance
Driver aids
Road and track surfaces
and layouts
Signalling and warning
systems
Personal protection
systems: choice and use
Restraint system
installation
Supplementary
restraints
Cockpit, seats and
surrounds
Roadside and trackside
design and installations
Physical fitness
Recovery potential
Fuel system integrity
Fire extinguishing
Access and egress
First intervention
efficiency and speed
Patient transport
Trauma services and
care
Modify the way that
energy transfer occurs
After the crash:
Counter and minimise
damage caused by the
energy transfer
The matrix of Dr William Haddon Jr, 1972
An emerging science: epidemiology in motor
sport and the need for good data
Examples of the gradual collection of
data on rates, factors and injury
mechanisms:

1968 (Henderson): year’s sample of crashes in
Britain;

1972: (Jim Clark Foundation): study of Formula
One cars 1966-1972 seasons;
Crash prevention:



1990: (Trammel and Olvey): data from Indy-car
racing , 1981 to 1989
1999 (Chesser et al): five-year study of 521 medical
centre attendances at a British circuit
2004 (Minoyama and Tsuchida): study of
professional racing in Japan
Prevent energy
transfer to human
body
Injury prevention:
Modify the way that
energy transfer
occurs
After the crash:
Counter and minimise
damage caused by the
energy transfer
Human
Vehicle
Environment
Behaviour
Performance
Training
Experience
Braking
Handling
Maintenance
Driver aids
Road and track
surfaces and layouts
Signalling and
warning systems
Personal protection
systems: choice and
use
Restraint system
installation
Supplementary
restraints
Cockpit, seats and
surrounds
Roadside and
trackside design and
installations
Physical fitness
Recovery potential
Fuel system integrity
Fire extinguishing
Access and egress
First intervention
efficiency and speed
Patient transport
Trauma services and
care
An emerging science: the biomechanics of
motor sports injury and a new literature
 1998 (Melvin et al): in the US,
instrumentation of Indy cars
 2000 (Wright): for Formula One, the first
analysis of instrumented cars
 2000 (Mellor): Formula One in-depth
crash investigations examined head injury,
scientific basis for new helmet designs
 2006 (Melvin et al): extended study of
impact recorders in stock car racing
An emerging science: the competition
car
Pininfarina/Ferrari Formula One safety concept: the
1969 Sigma Grand Prix
An emerging science: the competition
car, developments since 1969
Built-in fire protection and extinguishers
- F1 regulations starting 1969
Six-point restraint harness
- F1 regulation 1972
Head restraint system
- F1 regulation 2003
Driver’s safety cell with
surrounding collapsible
structures
- F1 regulations from 1981
Crash data recording system
Indy cars 1990; FIA F1 cars 1997
Rear wheel over-ride protection
- No FIA regulation as of 2009
An emerging science: tracksides and
barriers
A slow evolution of measures to protect
competitors and spectators, with contrasts
between road and track events
An emerging science: advances in
medical services
 Louis Stanley and the
International Grand Prix
Medical Service
 Professor Sid Watkins and the
FIA medical teams
 Many other clinicians in recent
years
The modern era: 1995 to present
How successful have we been?
The modern era – saving lives in the most
severe crashes in professional motor sport
Luciano Burti, Hockenheim 2001
© Schlegelmilch/Corbis
Ryan Briscoe,
Indianapolis 2005
© LAT
Colin McRae, WRC Finland 2003
Robert Kubica, Montreal 2007
© Speed TV
The modern era: drama in world
championship rallying
Jari-Matti Latvala, WRC Portugal 2009
The modern era: drama at the 2009 WRC
Championship round in Portugal
Jari-Matti Latvala, WRC Portugal
2009
"I realised we were going to
crash . . . and then it rolled
and rolled. . . I thought I was
going to die. It was my biggest
accident ever. I have to thank
the team and the FIA for
saving my life and building
such a strong car.”
www.Autosport.com, April 9 2009
The modern era: has science been
successful in all fields of motor sport?
Compare two periods for changes in patterns of worldwide fatality:
1964-1970 (the worst period ever) versus 2000 -2007 (the modern era)
Data source: www.motorsportmemorial.org
Worldwide motor sport fatalities:
absolute numbers
Data source: www.motorsportmemorial.org
Worldwide motor sport fatalities:
absolute numbers
Data source: www.motorsportmemorial.org
Worldwide motor sport fatalities:
absolute numbers
Data source: www.motorsportmemorial.org
Worldwide motor sport fatalities:
absolute numbers
Data source: www.motorsportmemorial.org
Total reported deaths in motor sport,
all participants world wide, 1895-2008
What’s going on here?
Data source: www.motorsportmemorial.org
Drivers and co-drivers, annual deaths
by year and category, 1990-2008
(Three-order polynomial smoothed data
Data source: www.motorsportmemorial.org
Other participants, annual reported
deaths by year and category, 1990-2008
Spectators
Track officials
Journalists
The modern era and its implications
 Worldwide figures show that while safety is improving for competitors in
circuit racing, the situation is very different for rallying
 Competitor protection for professional circuit racing is now so good that it may
be recognised as a successful application of the “vision zero” concept now being
used in highway safety
 The concept means that no motor sport participant should be exposed to forces
above tolerance levels for death or serious injury
 However, safety advances in professional racing have so far been applied
essentially irrespective of cost– and although costs have so far been borne, it
becomes ever harder to reduce the risk of injury even further
 The data presented here show that major problems remain for the application
of this concept to other kinds and levels of motor sport without adversely
affecting competition by cost pressures or loss of challenge and excitement for
competitors and other participants
Summary and conclusions
A public health perspective on the reduction of injury in
motor sport recognises that:
 Trauma results from the complex interaction of man (the host), machine (the
vector), the environment, and the agent of injury (energy)
 The ultimate goal is to prevent death and severe injury by ensuring that exposure to
energy does not exceed tolerable levels
 Available data show that the application of science-based measures has brought
huge reductions in trauma and rapidly reversed trends that could have meant the
end of motor sport
 Improvements, however, have been very unevenly distributed throughout the sport,
with professional circuit racing showing the greatest benefits and arguably leading
to a degree of complacency
 A continuing flow of good data on crash rates, contributory factors and injury
mechanisms is essential for the priority implementation of affordable safety
measures, perhaps with associated cost-benefit analysis, especially at club and
national level