Air Fences - My Views -
Whether or not it should be compulsary to have air fences is obviously a topic which has been on everyone in the speedway communitys mind recently. This is because of the number of both serious injurys and also deaths that have happened on speedway tracks this season.
I go to a track most weeks which does not have an air fence and over the last few years we have only had one major injury. This injury was the paralysis of Carlos Villar. However his paralysis was not caused by impact onto a wooden safety fence. I feel that in many cases injurys which occur at tracks which do not have air fences could also quite easily happen at tracks which do have air fences.
Safety fences are at the moment something that cannot be afforded by most Premier League speedway teams and also by Conference teams. As this is the case how can we possibley make them compulsary especially if they are not deffinitely going to make a difference to the safety at a track.
This is obviously an issue that will be being looked over again and again by teams and the BSPA but may not be something us the fans will get much choice on. I will most likely do some research into the rules and regulations and post another Air Fences topic in the future.
Until then it would be nice to see your feedback or comments.
June 30th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
I think the issue is more general than just the air fence debate. The BSPA should be looking at rider safety and making an assessment of what is the most effective method at each individual track. I regularly attend Rye House and there is little doubt that the catch fencing there is as effective if not better than an air fence. If you look at other tracks like Mildenhall and Kings Lynn there is little doubt an air fence would improve things. What also needs looking at is the ridiculous dual standards in track conditions used to suit the FIM and Sky TV. We recently staged a World Under 21 event at Rye House which went ahead despite the track being virtually under water. A fairly high ranking official who shall remain nameless for obvious reasons said “they’ll run this even if they have to swim round.” Obviously not much thought for rider safety there. Anyone who witnessed the recent Premier League match between Birmingham and Sheffield will have seen the same attitude because the cameras were present. Its no good sorting the fences out if the authorities have such a hypocritical attitude to rider safetywhen it comes to track conditions.
September 3rd, 2007 at 11:44 am
Speedway has been running for over seventy years with a variety of fences from: Steel, Railway sleepers, flat wooden boards and the conventional wire sprung fence and now in recent years the air fence. All these fences had their faults and some positives but in general were fairly successful. In my opinion the most injuries are not caused by hitting the fence but by the rider being forced/bounced back on to the track and being hit by a following rider/s. More often than not a rider who comes off and does not get hit generally walks away with minor injuries. Wolverhampton used to have a catch fencing that collected and went with the rider away from the track. This type of fencing should be further investigated.
November 29th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
It would be interesting to investigate fatalities and crippling injuries throughout the history of speedway and see just how many were the result of hitting a conventional safety fence. Many of the deaths and paralysing injuries I have read about seem to have been caused by riders hitting lamp standards or posts with their heads, or having been hit by following riders.
On the other hand, from watching the Grand Prix and World Cup on television I have formed the impression that the presence of the air fence gives many riders a sense of safety they may not have with a conventional fence. The result is they throw out all caution because they don’t fear the fence. There seem to be many more fence collisions during air fence-equipped meetings than there were historically. Many of these collisions result in the rider and his machine being bounced back onto the track where they become projectiles launched toward other riders.