| If you're unfortunate enough to be one of the | | | | saying, "I think I went upside down about four |
| 200,000 Britons who suffer a whiplash injury | | | | times. It all went really quick and before I knew it |
| every year, you'll know how painful and | | | | I was in the gravel.After I walked away from the |
| distressing it can be.Even a bump in the car at | | | | crash I saw my car looked completely destroyed, |
| speeds as slow as 5mph can result in whiplash, | | | | but I haven't even got a bruise on my body. |
| often leading to visits to the doctor, time off | | | | That's how safe Formula One is nowadays."Albers' |
| work and pains in the neck, back and head. And all | | | | lack of personal injuries is indeed testament to |
| that from the tiniest of collisions - collisions often | | | | the unbelievable protection that modern racing |
| so minor that the car won't even have lost a | | | | cars offer. Formula One drivers sit in a carbon |
| bumper or a number plate.So if us normal folk are | | | | fibre cocoon-like structure that forms the basis of |
| getting hurt in road accidents at crawling speed, | | | | the car, which, constructed from hundreds of |
| how on earth do motor racing drivers manage to | | | | separate components, is designed to protect the |
| walk away from terrifying looking smashes that | | | | driver in even the most furious of impacts. |
| occur at immense speeds? Obviously there are | | | | Ensuring that the driver's head is protected is a |
| some tragic exceptions, but the majority of | | | | rigid hoop protruding several inches above his |
| racing drivers involved in high-speed accidents | | | | head, intended to hit the ground first if the car |
| climb out of their wrecked cars, dust themselves | | | | should roll over.All the safety devices in the world |
| off and trudge back to the pits with not a | | | | are no good if the driver is still going to be thrown |
| whiplash injury in sight.If you or I had just hit a | | | | around so violently in an accident that a whiplash |
| wall of tyres or bounced off another car at over | | | | injury is almost a guarantee. To protect drivers |
| 100mph, it's fair to say that whiplash would | | | | from getting whiplash, Formula One cars are now |
| probably be the last thing on our minds. But | | | | fitted with a specialist preventative system as |
| today's top-of-the-range racing cars give the | | | | standard.Designed in the United States, the Head |
| driver enormous protection, usually enabling him to | | | | And Neck Support (HANS) system features a |
| survive uninjured inside what has, in all essence, | | | | carbon fibre collar which is connected securely to |
| become a giant lump of expensive scrap | | | | the upper body, with straps attaching it to the |
| metal.Just to demonstrate the point, it's worth | | | | helmet. It is intended to prevent the head from |
| casting the mind back several weeks to the | | | | being thrown forward in an accident and, much to |
| Formula One San Marino Grand Prix at the | | | | the delight of the drivers, has proved to be a |
| infamous Imola circuit. This is the track that took | | | | resounding success in the past few years. |
| the life of Roland Ratzenberger and the legendary | | | | Whiplash injuries used to be an all too common |
| Ayrton Senna more than a decade ago, and | | | | sight in motor racing, but thanks to HANS, they |
| although the circuit has been made distinctly less | | | | are slowly but surely becoming a thing of the |
| dangerous since that fateful May afternoon, it still | | | | past.With modern technological developments |
| has some wicked bends and testing | | | | advancing at an astounding rate, it might not be |
| turns.Anyway, April 23rd 2006 witnessed a car | | | | long before a HANS-type system is seen in all |
| crash involving Christijan Albers that saw his | | | | regular cars, cutting down the hundreds of |
| MF1-Toyota spinning through the air before | | | | thousands of whiplash injuries suffered on our |
| crashing to the ground and coming to rest | | | | roads every year, and saving a lot of people a |
| face-down in the gravel. The Dutchman's car had | | | | massive pain in the, erm, neck.Editorial notes: |
| been clipped at the rear by an overeager | | | | YouClaim are the leading online personal injury |
| Japanese driver, and such a devastating accident | | | | compensation claim people with a 97% claim |
| would surely have killed someone in a regular road | | | | success rate. Call 0800 10 757 95 or visit for |
| car.The 27-year-old described the car accident, | | | | more details. |