How we can learn from F1's success in reducing the seriousness of car accidents

In a world that seems to be increasingly characterised by stereotypes of a "health and safety culture" you could be excused for struggling to believe that the motor sport of Formula One racing still exists. It is hard for the human brain to imagine that drivers can regularly travel at speeds in excess of 200 mph, in close proximity, jostling for supremacy, and not regularly suffer fatal car accidents.

Yet although there are still car accident deaths and injuries in Formula One, their occurrence is much more limited than any simple application of logic would suggest.

Few racing aficionados will ever forget the sight of a severely burnt Nicki Lauda being pulled by fellow drivers from the burning and twisted wreckage of his car in 1976 then spending several days in a coma only make a miraculous recovery after having a priest read him the last rites.

1994 was a particularly dark year for Formula One. Over a single weekend, the sport lost both a young and talented driver in his rookie season, Roland Ratzenburger, and one of the greatest drivers to ever grace the sport, Ayrton Senna.

While Senna was killed by piece of accident debris piercing his helmet and causing a catastrophic brain injury, Ratzenburger was killed when his neck broke at the moment of impact, having crashed into a wall at mind-boggling 195 mph.

Although since that fateful weekend there have been no further driver deaths, in 2001 two track marshals died in separate incidents, both the result of each man being tragically close to a collision.

In the years since Senna's fatal crash, there have been no further deaths. However, there has been no shortage of incident or accident. For example, the 2002 crash between Nick Heidfeld and Takuma Sato seemed to be so severe at the time that its deafening impact was immediately followed by an eerie and mournful silence. To those who were there in the flesh or witnessing the collision at home on the television, the fact that both men managed to escape any serious injury can only seem a miracle.

Yet survive they did. And while Formula One will probably always remain a inherently dangerous and high death risk sport, the mainstream road safety fraternity are beginning to cotton on to something. "If racing drivers can regularly defy death," they ponder, "in accidents that occur at ridiculously high speeds, surely we can take some of their new safety technologies and adapt them for mainstream use."

In July of last year, BMW Sauber driver Robert Kobica careered into a concrete wall at nearly 200 mph before bouncing back off it and being thrown into another. It was one of the largest impacts recorded in the history of Formula One.

Remarkably, Kobica survived with only a minor concussion. A report by the International Automobile Federation that followed the accident made for interesting reading. It said that it was only the flawless application of all the sport's recent safety measures that had saved the man's life. Proof, to many, that advances in mainstream road safety technology could make a real difference to the 1.2 million global car accident death toll.

As team Williams driver Alexander Wurz commented after the crash, "I hope what Formula One achieves in terms of safety standards will be one day translated to the street. I think an accident like Robert's today shows how much safer cars can be and what you can get away with."

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