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Published in Ian Long, Simplicity in Safety Investigations, 2017
Two Formula 1 racing cars are sitting on the grid at the Monza F1 circuit preparing to race each other around the 5.8 km track. The one on the inside is a fully kitted-out car with all the safety gear including his six-point seat belt, HANS device (which protects the head and neck of the driver in an accident), fire-suppression system, etc. and the driver is wearing all of the fire-retardant clothing racing suit, helmet and gloves. The car on the outside of the track has the fire-suppression system deactivated, no HANS device, no seat belts and the driver is wearing a pair of shorts and a tee shirt. Otherwise, the cars are identical F1 cars. The race starts. Who do you think is likely to push the envelope of the cars in terms of grip and win the one-lap race around Monza? You guessed it. The car with all the safety equipment in place and effective. This is what the Peltzman Effect is all about.
Simulation-based assessment of injury risk for an average male motorsport driver
Published in Traffic Injury Prevention, 2020
William B. Decker, Derek A. Jones, Karan Devane, Matthew L. Davis, John P. Patalak, F. Scott Gayzik
NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc.) safety regulations require drivers to wear a Snell or FIA approved helmet and use a 7- or 9-point safety belt system with a head and neck restraint (HNR) (Patalak et al. 2013). The HANS device is the most common HNR revolutionized head–neck safety by coupling the helmet to the restraint system to limit forward head excursion and prevent flexion–distraction injuries. There have been none of these such injuries in professional auto racing since HNRs have been deemed mandatory (Kaul et al. 2016). NASCAR seats are typically constructed with a reinforced carbon fiber outer shell with an energy-absorbing foam liner and padded head surround. The same foam lines the bilateral leg extensions to restrain lower extremity motion and a knee knocker to prevent the knees from hitting. Incident data recorders (IDR) were implemented in NASCAR in 2002 and have allowed researchers to study crash severity and direction of on-track collisions. These IDRs are mounted to the chassis of the vehicle and record acceleration data in the x, y, and z directions (Patalak et al. 2011). Any injuries sustained by these impacts were reported and categorized by body region and severity. The most commonly injured regions were the head, thorax, and extremities, with the majority of injuries categorized as AIS 1 (Patalak et al. 2020). Motorsport dummy sled testing is often conducted using SFI specifications which dictate a 39 mph and 68 peak G acceleration time history for head and neck restraint testing. Additionally, previous studies developed injury risk functions (IRF) to estimate the probability of AIS 1+ injuries from on-track collisions using chassis acceleration data gathered from IDRs. This paper expands on that study by analyzing the probability of injury in specific regions of the body using computational modeling.
Pilot characterization of head kinematics in grassroots dirt track racing
Published in Traffic Injury Prevention, 2022
Tanner M. Filben, N. Stewart Pritchard, Chesney S. Oravec, Connor W. Hile, Jefferson R. Bercaw, Sophia R. Zoch, Logan E. Miller, Garrett S. Bullock, Laura A. Flashman, Christopher M. Miles, Jillian E. Urban, Joel D. Stitzel
Four drivers (ages 16–19, 1 female) who competed in a national midget car dirt track series were recruited to participate in this study, which was approved by the Wake Forest School of Medicine Institutional Review Board. Written informed consent was obtained from drivers aged 18 and older. For drivers under age 18, written informed assent was obtained from the driver and informed consent was obtained from a legal guardian. Drivers wore a head and neck restraint system while racing (e.g., HANS device).