Mikkelsen in fatal rally accident - spectator died.

[Tomi]

yes, very sad news Looks that I dont have to buy Ilta-Sanomat anymore either.

[cut the b.s.]

very sad news, even worse that a child has died, thoughts with all involved

[Francis44]

Very sad news . Poor young girl, my condolences to the family.


And i wish Mikkelsen recovery from this accident!!!!

[Maui J.]

Very sad news indeed.
I hate reading about these things. All too common in this sport.

[Koz]

RIP Girl. Thought with the family. Also for Mikkelsen.

Very sad how media brands him a murderer. He's going to have to live forever with the knowledge that he has killed a child. No need to the poor guy up even more.

[WRCfan]

Sad news to wake up to...

Condolences to all involved and I hope Andreas has the strength to work through this.

As for the media, they need to be made an example of!

[J4MIE]

[N.O.T]

really sad news and the fact that a child is involved makes it even worse...

[pino]

Very very sad

[Zeakiwi]

I extend my sympathies to all those involved in the accident.

Alex Fiorio and Kenneth Eriksson both had serious accidents involving spectators and went on with their driving careers. I hope Mikkelsen can recover from this.

[WRC1]

as a father and rallyefan i can maybe a little bit imagine how both sides feel....

my deepest condulences to the parents of the little girl and all the strengh for andreas and ole to recover from this tragedy

[LCD]

I wish that never happened...

[kolvas]

Originally Posted by Juha_Koo Is that the only reason? Or do you have the same problem as we here in Finland - the lack of suitable tarmac roads? It's impossible to make a tarmac rally in Finland because it would be waaaay too fast... Same s*it in the Finnish "media" too.

We had a couple of bad accidents in a short time period that was the reason to the decision, in one accident 2 spectators died and in one the codriver got really badly hurt, I don´t remember exactly what happend.
After theese accidents the commision took the decision that we didn´t have tarmac-roads that could be save enough for spectators or team.
We have alot of small and very tight tarmac roads that could be suitable but there are absolutely no way to make a mistake cause you´ll end up in a tree very hard.

My opinion is that rally should be on gravel or snow and ice because you can loose control over the car in very particulars places that no one could see.
There is one more way of seeing it, in Sweden Norway and Finland the organisation don´t have experience of tarmac rally, that could allso have a roll in this accidents

[alexlake]

It is very very sad, must be terrible for both sides.

But the driver cant be to blame, a lot of the blame should lie with the organisers. If the girl and her father were in a proper area, which it seems they were, then it should have been safe. I know any motorsport can have its risks, but generally when they set an area for spectators, it is overly safe.

[Sladden]

Sad and tragic!

As others have hinted at...There was a very serious accident on a swedish tarmac rally involving deaths in the early 2000s. I dont remember specifics, but the stage was averaging 140km/h. As I recall the nail in coffin for swedish tarmac rallies. I would not stand near the road on a tarmac rally.. the point of direction can just snap change. And with the stiff low car it will not take kind to ditches and bumps on the outside of roads, making a recovery even more difficult.

[tmx]

Originally Posted by OldF The worst thing with this accident is that it was a child that was killed. I must say I don’t like the way the Expressen is writing about the accident in its headlines, “WRC driver killed a ten year old girl”.

I basically stop reading at websites with those kind of headlines. I haven't read crash.net for almost a year now since they like to make up craps.

[SubaruNorway]

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/R...009_707321.htm

[Halvis]

Originally Posted by SubaruNorway http://videos.streetfire.net/video/R...009_707321.htm

I hope this isn't a video of the accident?

[SubaruNorway]

Originally Posted by Halvis I hope this isn't a video of the accident?

Of course it's not!

Sorry i didn't say what it was, it's just Østberg and Grøndal.

[bt52b]

Originally Posted by JFL Terrible news! And it's also a shame to see how some of the media cover this! This could have happened to everbody (Quote Mats Østberg who just passed the accident point b4 Mikkelsen) The spectators were in a "safe" area, but then again.. nothing is safe.. a car can loose it brakes,, a tyre may blow.. +++ Some of the media covered this by showing all(3) fatal accident the last 15 years(or so) and some covered it in a very sensible way! .. Let's just hope not this get any consecuenses for further rallying in Norway.. RIP girl, and all thoughts to the family and friends of the girl... and Team Mikkelsen..

Truly dreadful accident. Hope those affected can come to terms with it eventually.

Mikkelsen is compeletly blameless.

With respect to Mats Østberg, sitting in a chair, 2m from the road, 100m after a jump, is not a safe area.

If there is a quick approach for a junction, usually there is a requirement for at least 200m of an escape road. The danger area after a jump is at least 200m and a min' of 10m back from the road. Most experienced fans know this, they've witnessed these accidents before or seen the videos.

Tarmac is not the issue. Could easily happen on any surface if the jump area is not setup and run properly by the organisers.

Neither spectator or competitor rally safety is given the priority it should be with the FIA. Sadly it will take more than this for things to really change.

For starters, the fact that people can list off alot of accidents this year, following on from similar numbers of tragic accidents in recent years, is quiet shocking. In the aviation industry there is an awful phrase to describe this, tombstone technology. Only when enough people are killed will something be done.