Georgian luger dies in horrific training crash

[Joey D]

How is it disrespectful? Death is a common place in the media, especially real life (opposed to fictional) death. During the conflict in Kosovo they showed mass graves on TV, during Sept 11th they showed people jumping out of buildings, during the latest conflict in the Middle East they show dead civilians, military, and enemy personal. There's nothing disrespectful about that, it's showing a world event that happened. If people can't deal with it maybe they should go live under a rock somewhere.

And does it matter if someone is acting out a death? It's still portraying the death of an individual and it still evokes a similar emotion.

The only way that it would have been disrespectful is if his death would have been mocked, which it wasn't...although I'm sure if I venture to 4Chan I'll see it.

 

[Tornado]

I typed up a more thorough counterargument, but I've decided to ask just one question first:

And does it matter if someone is acting out a death? It's still portraying the death of an individual and it still evokes a similar emotion.

Are you being serious?

 

[A2K78]

this sorta reminds me of how motorsport used to have super dangerous racetracks. except this is stranger since it's 2010...

Well, to me this isn't a strange occurrence because life-ending accidents do still happen despite the fact there have been tons of safety upgrades across all motorsport series.

As I have though what scared me about the way this luger died because its also the way Daijiro Kato died. In fact it was Kato's death that led to FIM removing Suzuka from the schedule.

 

[Alan_G]

Well, to me this isn't a strange occurrence because life-ending accidents do still happen...

I think a lot of people are missing the point here.

The luger made a mistake, lost control and ended up with fatal injuries. If another luger made a mistake and ended up with a similar line to the Georgian, that person could be launched up into the air, and quite possibly end up also clearing the barrier.

This is something that has been pretty much eradicated from Formula 1 since the mid-90s; that is a driver leaving the circuit at a particular angle and likely to be in danger of serious injuries, and any following driver leaving the circuit in the same way likely to also be at great risk.

The last F1 accident I can think of like this was Hakkinen in Australia 1995. He had some kind of car failure, lost control, and went into a poorly protected barrier at a particular angle. He just about survived. The point is, if another driver went into the barrier at the same angle and at speed, they would be at great risk (Hakkinen is very lucky not to have a broken neck after that one).

Roland Ratzenberger is another example, with his fatal crash at Imola 1994. There's nothing strange about it; he ran off the track at a particular angle, at speed, hit a concrete wall, and with the severity of his neck injury, pretty much died on impact. If another driver left the circuit at the same point (a flat out bend at 195mph with a concrete wall on the outside), then this driver would also be at great, great risk.

I hope I'm right in feeling that there will be more to come following the luge accident, after the Games finish. It's just not acceptable to have a luger lose control, take a particular line, and end up with fatal injuries.

 

[Tornado]

The last F1 accident I can think of like this was Hakkinen in Australia 1995.

Ralf Schumacher at Indy in 2004 and 2005?

 

[Alan_G]

Ralf Schumacher at Indy in 2004 and 2005?

Well...I'm mostly talking about a great risk of fatal injuries, or severe head & neck injuries in F1. I don't think Ralf was ever at a great risk of fatal injuries. I believe he suffered a hairline fracture on his spine or something, but I think that was almost as bad as it could have been. The worst part about his crash was actually the poor medical team response time; he was left sitting in-car unconscious for around 60 seconds. (If Hakkinen suffered this kind of poor medical response time, he may not have survived, as he required an immediate tracheotomy procedure).

After Ralf's crash, everyone (commentators, officials etc.) immediately acknowledged that the medical response time was unacceptable. And I believe that the crash structure on the back of cars was improved to help absorb impacts better.

 

[Biggles]

It ought to be easier to keep a luge track safer than a auto racing track - there are surely a lot less mechanical variables involved in a sled sliding down a prepared ice track, than a car involved in a lengthy race with many other cars.

There's no question in my mind that the designers of the Whistler track were negligent in their safety precautions. However, it has to be said that there had likely been thousands of runs made down the track without an accident at that particular spot - from what I understand Nodar himself had been down the track more than twenty times prior to his fatal run.

 

[Blitz187]

I saw the clip of the crash on the net... Unbelievable crash...

R.I.P. Nodar Kumaritashvili

 

[Alan_G]

There's going to have to be some serious questions raised after the Games, especially with the happenings in the two-man bobsleigh runs. I have fears for the four-man bobsleigh. It almost seems an inevitability that someone will overturn. With the added weight of 2 extra people, it's even more dangerous.

The most striking thing about the bobsleigh is the exposure of the drivers head; if they overturn (as happened multiple times yesterday), the driver's neck is at great risk.

The real problem is the design of the track, a design influenced probably by the particular motivation of the Games organisers - wanting it to be the fastest, hardest, most difficult track ever. The Canadians also restricting other competitors from practice runs just makes it even more dangerous. (Nodar Kumaritashvili died on his 25th run I believe. The Canadians have had 300+ runs, I've heard.)

The most telling thing is that the main Canadian 2-man bobsleigh crashed during its run yesterday, despite having had so many more practice runs than everyone else. Surely this is indication that the track design is flawed, and will need to be changed.

 

[Omnis]

You mean the brakeman's head is at risk. At least the driver can duck under the cowling.

 

[Alan_G]

From what I could see yesterday, the driver cannot get his head under the cowling. Even when the thing has overturned, the driver's head is still taking knocks all over the place. Maybe they can? But it doesn't explain why in all of yesterday's crashes, they didn't. You could see the drivers actually tilting their head backwards trying to escape taking a hit.

 

[Only_in_f1]

There's going to have to be some serious questions raised after the Games, especially with the happenings in the two-man bobsleigh runs. I have fears for the four-man bobsleigh. It almost seems an inevitability that someone will overturn. With the added weight of 2 extra people, it's even more dangerous.

BBC com team said it's less dangerous as they have more weight to corner with.

BUT the turn that the Canadians came off on is very short. I think its turn 13 they were looking into extending.

Accidents happen but I agree this track seems a step to far.


Moments before if you saw the team GB crash one of the bob-sleighers came out of the bob-sleigh and slid down the track on his back.

 

[Alan_G]

One commentator for the BBC said there may be less of a risk of overturning with the extra weight. But he stated that when the 4-man overturns, it is even more dangerous than the 2-man.

 

[Joel]

I am appalled as a Canadian about how we restricted allowing other countries to practice. Also, seeing as the Canadian team, with tons of practice runs fell last night, there's got to be something wrong with the track.

 

[Omnis]

I saw a clip of Nodar's procession. They had him wrapped in a flag and carried him to his grave without the lid on the coffin. Poor kid.

 

[Alan_G]

Also, seeing as the Canadian team, with tons of practice runs fell last night, there's got to be something wrong with the track.

The problem seems to be with the exit of turns 11 and 13. It appears very difficult for competitors to avoid running high on the exit, and the slope quickly becomes a vertical wall, which flips over the sleighs. The Germany 1 team, the driver of which is said to be the greatest ever, had a crash at that turn in practice. Also the a Swiss team had a crash and pulled out of the competition due to safety concerns.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

How is it disrespectful?

Because it makes it seem like they just did it for the ratings, which they probably did.

 

[Public'sTwin]

Unfortunately, all we seem to have here is a surplus of amateur conjecture. Until we can get the input of those with experience in luge & bobsled, the fact remains that we are unable to comment on whether or not these are the realities of luge & bobsledding, as expected by its competitors.

We must remember: this track had over 3,000 runs without incident prior to the tragedy which befell N.K. To be sure, noone - noone - expected Nodar Kumaritashvili to suffer such a fate and a reconsideration of track design is absolutely warranted.

However, for us to be making the calls on what is and isn't appropriate to the tenets of related sports, such as flips of bobsleds (which I understand to be not unusual), I believe is to opine in a state of relative ignorance as compared to the more experienced [and apparently less aggravated] coaches and athletes.

 

[Aldo]

I searched for a video of Nodar's tragic crash just out of curiosity. I do not find the video disturbing at all. I do however, find the pictures that were on the same site (a news site) very disturbing. The video I saw is rather tame as it only shows Nodar coming out of the track, and thankfully the impact with the pole is obstructed by another pole. The pictures show him lying on the ground, his drained face with blood on it. Not at all in good taste I feel.
My condolences go out to his family and team mates.