2-11 crash at the ring.

[campbell]

My take is that this all stemmed from the shock that someone would drive past (through, in fact!) a clearly "just-happened" accident at the Ring.

Now on your average race-track / trackday, the briefing and expectation tends to be that you DON'T stop on the circuit through any other reason than YOUR car gives out. There are marshalls to take care of incidents, who are better able to see all around, judge the situation, radio for help, etc, etc. On top of all that, you could well cause or exacerbate an accident by stopping in "heat of the moment", by getting run into and so on.

The Ring is in that twilight zone, though, between public road and racetrack...at least is when it's a "Public Day". On those occasions, there are no briefings, only what your mates or t'internet told you, which for some may be very little.

When you are met with the sheer awe of the place, I think it could well be more than your average sensory system can cope with to make the "right call" about what to do when you come upon an accident.

Case in point. Robin and I came upon a bike crash on one of my first laps of the Ring. We were barely a couple of minutes in, and watched a biker lose it and the accident unfold in front of us. The track was not blocked in any way (the bike and rider were in the trees, although thankfully we could see that they'd arrived there at a relatively low terminal speed, thank goodness). On Robin's instructions (a more experienced Ringer than me, clearly) we pulled up on the grass, he headed off to check the guys out (others had stopped too, I think) and he sent me back up the track to wave my helmet (ooer) and slow people down.

Now, under my own devices, I do NOT know whether I'd have stopped or not. The trackday briefings I'd had elsewhere would have encouraged me to keep going - "the marshalls will take care of it"...but the B-road driver in me would of course have said "stop and do what you sensibly and safely can".

I suppose had it been the middle of nowhere, with no obvious prospect of other help turning up, I'd have stopped without question. But that "there's another potentially more experienced person along in a minute" thing would also have been in my head...so I dunno, really!!!

And so, after some short research, here is a well-respected Ringer's guide...

http://www.nurburgring.org.uk/accidentproc.html

[robin]

Exactly so, Campbell. On the ring you do stop, but if you're sane you follow the guidelines in that link, and you'll adapt to the circumstances you find.

It's hard to overemphasize how much more dangerous a public day on the ring is than a normal track day. The mix of speeds, vehicle types, driver skills and attitudes is vast; your own safety comes first (after all, you didn't crash, they did). Taking silly risks is rarely required or useful, no matter how much you think it's the "right thing to do". Whilst the occupants might be injured it's unlikely that any first aid you can provide will increase their chances of survival substantially. Slightly different in a bike accident, but even so, it's still only a small probability that you will be able to increase their chances of survival substantially. Meanwhile the risk of you being hit is significant if you are anywhere other than behind the barriers.

In the <3 minutes between the crash happening and the track marshals arriving (the circuit is covered by CCTV, they have marshals at the start and the half way point and there are circulating marshals in cars and on bikes - they are never far away), you can either add to the chaos by becoming a second casualty (ironically, this will reduce the chances of survival of those you were trying to help) or you can reduce the chaos by flagging down traffic.

It doesn't compare to a crash you stumble across on the B road ... here the risk/benefit ratio is quite different. You are very unlikely to be hit on a public road because (most) people are driving well within the limits of the available grip (simply because the speed limit is so low) and usually are driving to stay on their side of the road, prepared for unseen obstacles, etc. On the flip side the time you'll wait for an ambulance can be 30+ minutes in remote areas, so first aid in the form is likely to improve the victim's chance of survival significantly.

So yes, the VX should have stopped, but only to flag down traffic. In fact the 2-11 had come to rest at the edge of the track and was well sighted, so was itself not likely to be hit by a second car.

The car that caused the biggest danger was the BMW that stopped; the driver rubber necked on the circuit, almost stopping neck and neck with the 2-11, thus totally blocking the track and causing a tail back towards the corner; if there had been 2-3 more cars in the snake following him, the last one would have been very surprised and wouldn't have had many options to avoid the snake.

In fact the BMW should have proceeded straight past the accident and pulled over, stopping where he eventually did, but crucially a few seconds earlier.

The 2-11 driver and occupant having released themselves from the car should have jumped over the barriers.

The marshal arrived within 1 minute of the accident and his first reaction was to pull out a yellow flag and march off down the track.

Cheers,
Robin

[Fluoxetine]

I understand that this particular 2-11 is one of the rental cars - Expensive accident for the hirer.

[campbell]

Well this thread is very timely reading for all the hordes heading across in Nov, at the very least

[whaleys]

Just to add my 2p (I usually stay quiet though)...

Becuase it's a public track day, its regarded as a public road and I am fairly sure that German law states that if you witness an accident or are the first on the scene you have to stop. You can only leave the scene when the police allow you to. Now granted it's a track and there are the dangers associated with stopping and it's not entirely clear what you should do track/public road. However if the police decided they wanted to prosecute the driver for not stopping I think they would be able to.

I don't want to comment on what people morally feel should be done, I'm not brave enough for that .

I'm no lawyer or anything its just something I read when looking into "what to do's" when I visited the ring.

G

EDIT: Just went to the link that Campbell posted, that "kind of" says only stop if its safe to do so. It does seem some what of a huge grey area.

[robin]

I'm sure the law in Germany about stopping for an accident will include some wording around stopping when/where it is safe to do so ...

Cheers,
Robin

[tut]

In the end it boils down to common sense.

tut

[campbell]

In the end it boils down to common sense.

tut

Which of course, us lot have in spades