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Horific Accident at the Olympic

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frostedflakes said:
Not being able to anticipate every freak accident that can occur doesn't correspond to negligence IMO.
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I wouldn't call that a freak accident. I'd say everyone's been very lucky that this hasn't happened more often. Are you really surprised that 180# moving at 90mph is able to leave the track by hitting a curve wrong?
 
Anyone have a link to the video that works from Canada? How the fuck is the video restricted to me if the Olympics are being hosted in Canada and I am from Canada?
 
Btw if there is suspicion of any fault with the track from a Canadian design flaw/cut back standpoint, it is probably true.
 
frostedflakes said:
Perhaps. I just don't know why people are so quick to call foul on the track design. I thought I read on another site that the company who designed this track had done six others before. Like I said, I don't think nearby columns had been a concern until now, which is why tracks were built like this. Not being able to anticipate every freak accident that can occur doesn't correspond to negligence IMO.
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well maybe, but the history of design is you get away with what you can get till it f*cks up. esp if no one holds you to a higher standard.
 
Just saw the video. I don't know anything about the luge but just using sheer logic it's not smart to put all those pillars there right next to the track...
 
DVad3r said:
Just saw the video. I don't know anything about the luge but just using sheer logic it's not smart to put all those pillars there right next to the track...
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it kind of looks like that area is supposed to have some 'vancouver 2010' panels or something. i don't think those metal gratings spaced out are seats. maybe they left them out for better camera angles...
 
I feel so bad for this young mans family 🙁

How excited they were for him for being in the Olympics, and than this happens :'(
 
Dominato3r said:
IOC is horrible. They wouldn't approve of female aerial jumpers for some reason. Vanoc themselves said that they would include the sport however they could into these games, but the IOC threw a blunt "No".
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That was women's ski jumping. And they didn't include it because at the time there were only something like 10 competitive women ski jumpers in the world and the had never held a world championship event. Hence, women's ski jumping is not an official olympic sport, hence no go.

In the time since that ruling they've built up the sport quite a bit, and the IOC has welcomed them to re-apply for status for the 2014 games, but unfortunately a lot of the leaders of the sport have chosen to spend time and money on lawsuits than on further building up the sport and getting more people involved in a bid for the next games.
 
I'm glad to see all the internet engineers that can build perfect luge tracks.

With this horrible event, real engineers can learn what kind of accidents can happen and make designs that mitigate the possibilities of those types of accidents happening.
 
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DVad3r said:
Just saw the video. I don't know anything about the luge but just using sheer logic it's not smart to put all those pillars there right next to the track...
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lowest bidder+minor sport+ machismo+luck= sh*t design.

is it really that hard to fathom that someone could leave the track near a turn? its pretty hard to claim such a thing is an unforeseeable event. i'm sure they can model this😛 its claimed to be the worlds fastest and most difficult after all. you put columns for awnings close together to save costs. that is all it is.
 
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Brainonska511 said:
I'm glad to see all the internet engineers build perfect luge tracks in hindsight.
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As an internet engineer I see equipment failure under high stress (lost control of his outside edge, handle broke off). Tossed him way high, bounced off the top and when he came down the inside flipped him over and out in a violent fashion.

Folks that have raced, skied or boarded know the forces you place on those edges, let alone at 90 Mph.

Tragic accident and combination of factors.

-edit-
Close your eyes like I did and go through it. Imagine going into that turn and losing your outside edge. Close your eyes and walk your mind through what would happen. You'd hit the top and get tossed violently down to the inside of the turn, at 90 Mph.

There should have been something to keep the rider on the course at this critical section. Combination of factors at work here, but safety wasn't observed.
 
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Just saw this on CBS, and people are crashing all over this course in practice, even the best of the best crashed. It's luck that he walked away.
 
Gotta love hindsight armchair quarterbacking. I'm not saying the track was safe or that there aren't any design flaws but I'm not a luge track designer nor an engineer of any type so I don't feel qualified to say. Just about none of the people on here are qualified to say either. Unless you have a model of the track, accurate measurements down to the centimetre and decades of experience with these things you aren't qualified to say if this was a death trap or not. What are the odds of that accident happening? No one here can tell you seriously that they know what the odds of that happening are. Perhaps they were good, perhaps they were 1 in a thousand? Sure in hindsight the polls should have been covered with some type of shield but again without knowing the numbers for this track it's impossible to say how likely this accident was. I'm not saying that there was no negligence in the design here, there may have been, but none of us here is qualified to say if there was or was not and just because someone died in a horrible accident that looks preventable doesn't mean there was negligence. Also as has been said these athletes know that they are putting their lives on the line every time they take to the track. Any mistake in luge could be deadly, you don't necessarily need to go off the track. There are also plenty of other examples of engineering designs that were death traps at the time of production but which in the culture of the times was not recognized as such. For example it took years for all the safety equipment now implemented in race cars to become mandatory. Sure no one would drive a race car nowadays without a roll cage but people died all the time before they were introduced and it's only in hind sight that this looks like negligence.
 
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I fail to see how padding would have helped, or enclosing the tube as he was clearly thrown from the luge into the pole, if it had been enclosed he would have still slamed into the wall of the tube at over 80mph. Even if it had padding on the poles it is doubtful that he would survived, given the speed he was going.
 
ProgressiveAthe said:
I fail to see how padding would have helped, or enclosing the tube as he was clearly thrown from the luge into the pole, if it had been enclosed he would have still slamed into the wall of the tube at over 80mph. Even if it had padding on the poles it is doubtful that he would survived, given the speed he was going.
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Padding the poles wouldn't have done squat, but I think having the tube enclosed would have helped a great deal. It wouldn't be a guarantee of safety, but people take high speed tumbles all the time, and come out more or less unscathed.
 
Locutus, I'm convinced now by my own analysis that there was an equipment failure.

I love the Luge and most spills are folks getting off line or going to high and then bouncing of the inside wall.

To put a 2.5 foot wall to keep folks that missed their line or went high and bounced off the inside, AND lining it with steel I-beams 24 inches from the track.

Anybody with common sense says this is a very bad idea. Watch luge crashes. They are ALWAYS somebody going too high and hitting the inside wall on exit.
 
Huffingpost has a lot on this, photos, slow-mo, and video from the push off.
It looks like he went into the turn and flew off the track, and was tossed to the other side into the rail.
Watching that turn in slow-mo, I dont see how he or anyone could make that turn
without flying off the track. Crazy wicked turn...
Close-ups of the med attending to him, looks like his left ear was ripped off.
That helmet wasnt much protection. Like trying to deflect a bullet with a knife blade. Wonder who makes that helmet, and how the company will react.
Wearing just a helmet, at that speed, well...
 
spidey07 said:
Locutus, I'm convinced now by my own analysis that there was an equipment failure.

I love the Luge and most spills are folks getting off line or going to high and then bouncing of the inside wall.

To put a 2.5 foot wall to keep folks that missed their line or went high and bounced off the inside, AND lining it with steel I-beams 24 inches from the track.

Anybody with common sense says this is a very bad idea. Watch luge crashes. They are ALWAYS somebody going too high and hitting the inside wall on exit.
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Well hopefully they can put up a barrier there (perhaps extend the wall higher) and continue with the event. It would be a shame for the athletes, who no doubt would kill to still compete, to actually close the event.
 
Locut0s said:
Gotta love hindsight armchair quarterbacking. I'm not saying the track was safe or that there aren't any design flaws but I'm not a luge track designer nor an engineer of any type so I don't feel qualified to say. Just about none of the people on here are qualified to say either. Unless you have a model of the track, accurate measurements down to the centimetre and decades of experience with these things you aren't qualified to say if this was a death trap or not. What are the odds of that accident happening? No one here can tell you seriously that they know what the odds of that happening are. Perhaps they were good, perhaps they were 1 in a thousand? Sure in hindsight the polls should have been covered with some type of shield but again without knowing the numbers for this track it's impossible to say how likely this accident was. I'm not saying that there was no negligence in the design here, there may have been, but none of us here is qualified to say if there was or was not and just because someone died in a horrible accident that looks preventable doesn't mean there was negligence. Also as has been said these athletes know that they are putting their lives on the line every time they take to the track. Any mistake in luge could be deadly, you don't necessarily need to go off the track. There are also plenty of other examples of engineering designs that were death traps at the time of production but which in the culture of the times was not recognized as such. For example it took years for all the safety equipment now implemented in race cars to become mandatory. Sure no one would drive a race car nowadays without a roll cage but people died all the time before they were introduced and it's only in hind sight that this looks like negligence.
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i'm sure you don't feel qualified to question putting a light pole next to a turn on a car race track as well?
 
sportage said:
Huffingpost has a lot on this, photos, slow-mo.
It looks like he went into the turn and flew off the track, and was tossed to the other side into the rail.
Watching that turn in slow-mo, I dont see how he or anyone could make that turn
without flying off the track. Crazy wicked turn...
Close-ups of the med attending to him, looks like his left ear was ripped off.
That helmet wasnt much protection. Like trying to deflect a bullet with a knife blade. Wonder who makes that helmet, and how the company will react.
Wearing just a helmet, at that speed, well...
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What else are they supposed to wear? Full body armour and it's not luge anymore really.
 
Locut0s said:
Gotta love hindsight armchair quarterbacking. I'm not saying the track was safe or that there aren't any design flaws but I'm not a luge track designer nor an engineer of any type so I don't feel qualified to say. Just about none of the people on here are qualified to say either. Unless you have a model of the track, accurate measurements down to the centimetre and decades of experience with these things you aren't qualified to say if this was a death trap or not. ... but none of us here is qualified to say if there was or was not and just because someone died in a horrible accident that looks preventable doesn't mean there was negligence. ...
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Your lack of qualification does not mean others are similarly unqualified. There are many engineers on this board and it does not take a "luge track designer" to understand velocities, trajectories, and design issues.

Even as a software engineer, I have worked through rollercoaster simulations in which velocities, trajectories, and other forces required analysis at all points along the track.
 
0roo0roo said:
i'm sure you don't feel qualified to question putting a light pole next to a turn on a car race track as well?
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Again I'm not saying there was no negligence involved here. What I am saying is that I don't know what the climate of safety is around luge tracks. Car racing is a sport that billions of people watch all the time and one that took many many deaths to become as safe as it is now. If you were racing cars back in 1918 you would see all kinds of shit that would now be considered death traps. I don't honestly know where luge is in terms of the evolution of safety innovations.
 
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