Post here all non technical related topics about Formula One. This includes race results, discussions, testing analysis etc. TV coverage and other personal questions should be in Off topic chat.
Here's a graph of all racing related fatalities. Eventually, it will graph out and filter down to show all F1 related fatalities and injures. This graph and list will matching up to any safety innovations and inventions. This is to see if any trends occur. The overall stats so far are mind blowing. The risk are real, at any era.
If you would like to assist, please post any relevant information and I'll add it to the list. All information has been sourced via publicly accessible online sources. Errors and omissions accepted.
Edit: updated Graph pic
Last edited by Cam on 17 Aug 2012, 02:20, edited 4 times in total.
To make it more rigorous it would be better to do it per hundred thousand competitors or similar. If there were 1000 competitors in 1920 and a million in 2010 then it puts a different spin on the numbers.
If you are including marshall deaths, the F1 only graph is missing the marshall killed by Villeneuve's wheel at Australia in 2001 and the marshall killed by flying debris at Monza in 2000.
If you are only listing F1 drivers then it should be relatively simple to list fatalities per start, ie the number of fatalities in a year divided by the total number of grid places in the year. That should even out variation in big and small grids, as well as long and short seasons.
I'd also include the marshall deaths, they were still fatal accidents.
When studying info on drivers fatalities and statistics for other years I stumbled upon interesting thing. It seems like during 60s there were a lot more fatalities among rookie drivers than during 70s. It might be useful to correlate the overall driver's experience in number of races he participated with risk.
First round of information is completed. Interesting to see that once F1 had stabilised with the number of races per year and the number of laps per year, the fatalities also dropped. Perhaps the early years of travelling everywhere caused fatigued and that played a significant part?
Not sure if it's relevant, but the point at which the number of races stabilised is also coincidental with the point at which the carbonfibre chassis was introduced (the beginning of the 1980s). It may be that it was the reason fatalities fell at that point rather than any other reason e.g. reduced driver fatigue.
Another thought about why the fatalities reduced as race numbers stabilized is that it coincides with implementation of proper safety standards at F1 races. In early years, safety was very mixed. Think about Williamson's death in '73 at Zandvoort. A lack of suitably trained and equppied marshalls meant that even though he survived the accident that trapped him in the car, he died in the subsequent fire. Improvements in car safety reduce the likelihood of a fire and properly trained and equipped marshalls reduce the likelihood that a fire will become a fatal incident. Also, along with better training etc., better on-site medical facilities mean that an injured driver gets much better care much earlier after the accident.
Just some thoughts on why the data is showing the trends it is.
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.
Cam wrote:First round of information is completed. Interesting to see that once F1 had stabilised with the number of races per year and the number of laps per year, the fatalities also dropped. Perhaps the early years of travelling everywhere caused fatigued and that played a significant part?
It is too easy to suspect a causation here. This can be simply the result of overall maturity of the sport, improving the car and track safety.
