Mikkelsen in fatal rally accident - spectator died.

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Originally Posted by bt52b

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.

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+100.

Firstly, my sincere condolances to the family & friends of the young girl, and also to Mikkelsen, his team & the next competitors who would have come across this horific scene just minutes after.

Just a question to you guys in europe. Do you have designated spectator points/areas in each stage or is it up to the spectators to choose a safe position to watch from? I know that here in Australia we have one spectator point in a stage that is controlled by a team of marshals & is chosen by the organisers & advertised in the local shops etc. and it seems to work well (albeit not the best for spectacle but it is safe).

These are very sad circumstances and my sympathies go out to all involved. The fact of the matter is though, trying to regulate rally anymore will only be suggesting to some like the idiots who wrote those articles will be that the Rally was actually to blame. The one thing that happens much too often these days is that even though an accident might be entirely the victims fault, people try to blame someone innocent involved to protect or feel sympathy for the victim for some unknown reason. And no I’m not saying it was the little girls fault, she was only 10. I would however say her blood is on the hands of whoever the adult was in charge of looking after her at the time of the accident and that they should be prosecuted for her death. When it’s all said and done Mikkelsen and the event organizers are totally innocent, the girl’s guardian/guardians are to blame and no amount of rules or regulations can fix stupid.
When or why did society stop holding people responsible for their own actions?

So just because these sort of incidents are not always the fault of the organisers or competitors we should no longer strive for ways to make our sport safer for competitors & specatators alike... what rubbish!

Corral more people into crappy safety designated zones like they are blind sheep or go ahead and ban tarmac rallies and see how many spectators stop coming to events. Rally is already one step away from being a charity event, from local rallies all the way up to the WRC. One more undermining of the sport and it could be the end; fewer spectators = fewer sponsors= fewer rallies= even fewer spectators= no sponsors= no rallies…

Very sad news indeed.

I think it's 5-6 spectators killed this year, right? Should someone maybe react somehow to this apparent issue? Ok, in the end there's no resources to prevent people from following the rally from wrong places, but still I would like to see some actions from FIA's side.

Or take a step back 25years or so to Group B with spectators standing where they want hence increasing the risk of injury (and death for that matter) in an incident & have it cancelled/banned anyway.

I don't totally disagree Saabaru, but we can't just leave things as is, there has to be some way to make things better for all involved. With the "spectator points", if we can make it interesting enough (rather like they used to with bunnings/sotico in rally oz) then maybe it can work, but whatever we do we have to look further into ideas before dismissing them...

Once again, are there designated areas in europe or is it free roam?

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Originally Posted by macksrallye

Once again, are there designated areas in europe or is it free roam?

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There are usually areas set up on events but the vast majority are not restricted and you can wander around wherever you want within reason. Here in the UK there are some non-spectator events but these are usually as a result of the landowners at a closed venue not wanting any issues caused by spectators.

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Originally Posted by bt52b

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.

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Agree with you on most counts. But not when you say that "tarmac is not the issue". Everybody involved in this sport - and as a former competitor I belong among them - knows that (dry) tarmac is much more unpredictable than any other road surface. As I in this instance also happen to have access to detailed information about Andreas Mikkelsen tragic accident, I can tell you that tarmac was definitely an issue in this case.

Even more of an issie was the fact that the girl was sitting in a chair, while the father and another person was standing on their feet right next to her. Both the two grown ups had time to react and run away, with some margin actually. The girl never got out of her chair.

So please, all rally fans, leave the camping chairs at home! Stand upright on your feet and be observant - at all times! It may well save your life - even when a rally car changes direction really abrupt and unpredictably.

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Originally Posted by J4MIE

Here in the UK there are some non-spectator events but these are usually as a result of the landowners at a closed venue not wanting any issues caused by spectators.

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I believe that some are insurance issues too.

Sad news but from the sound of it she wasn't in the best position. Right from the first rally I went to my father said never stand after a jump, never sit down and never, ever turn your back on a rally car because anything can happen.

The few times when I've gone against that advice have usually resulted in a scare, like at Epynt when I was sat down and the 0 car came through, got it sideways and was pointed straight towards me. I've never moved so fast in my life and was about 50 metres back in the trees by the time he sorted it out. Lesson learnt though.