Safety in Formula One Motor Racing from 1950 continued:

A Summary of Conclusions and Thoughts

In these pages about safety in F1 I have tried to provide a summarized version of the research I carried out during my studies. I would now like to provide a summary of some of my conclusions and thoughts.

The automobile was invented at a time of immense social change. The processes that fostered the Industrial Revolution affected the lifestyles of people in all social classes. One aspect of these changes was the decreasing time available for leisure pursuits for the majority of people, the decreasing opportunity for spontaneous behaviour and the increasing monotony of life. Sport is one way to generate feelings of pleasurable tension-excitement and participating in motor sport, whether as a spectator or competitor, is one way to generate such feelings.

From the late nineteenth century, motorsport can be seen to develop from a leisure pursuit to a sport as a number of civilizing processes can be identified

- the formation of national motoring associations with specialized sporting sub-divisions.

- the formation of a central international motoring governing body with a specialized sporting commission.

- the formation of written rules (technical and sporting) with penalties imposed for rule infringements.

- the introduction of safety measures aimed at reducing accidents involving spectators and competitors

We can see from looking at the history of motor racing that safety has always been an issue but initially it was the safety of spectators that was paramount as competitors were deemed to know and accept the risks of racing for which they may even be celebrated. This prompted the introduction of purpose built circuits which lowered the number of spectator deaths and injuries. This in turn led to attention shifting to the safety of competitors who were still regularly injured or killed.

During the 1950s drivers became increasingly professional and formed the Grand Prix Drivers' Association to represent the majority's view, this included their concerns for safety. As members of society, drivers' were as open to anyone else to the continuing lowering of people's threshold of repugnance and this is one factor which may have influenced their increasing safety concerns. Also, as professionals their livelihoods now depended on their racing and prolonging their career. However, their increasing professionalization has led to increased time constraints which may be a factor in their decreasing involvement in safety campaigning through the GPDA.

As F1 has become more commercialized with the sanctioning of sponsorship it would appear sponsors have pushed for further safety initiatives as they deem serious and fatal accidents may prove damaging to their marketing aims and they wish to stress the 'positive' association of racing as exciting and glamorous with their products. But we can also see that commercialization has had the unintended consequence of, what some may perceive, as undermining safety - for example, the continuation of races at tracks many participants deem unsafe due partly to the races commercial significance. There is also the realization that minor accidents or 'escapes' from accidents may benefit sponsors marketing aims.

The 'FISA-FOCA War' highlights the power struggles within relationships and it has not been possible to go into great detail here but with reference to safety it can be seen that the safety issue was not used as a political tool during this time. Indeed when FOCA brought in Professor Watkins to study medical and safety procedures FISA representatives accepted his report and aided his changes culminating in the formation of the FISA Medical and Safety Commissions. Safety was an area of co-operation in a time much unrest. The official backing of FISA ensured a shift in the power balance away from the circuit owners towards the safety officials, who when working as the voluntary Grand Prix Medical Service were often boycotted.

Drivers acceptance of risk and injury has been shown to be grounded in the socially constructed norms of masculinity. Drivers are regularly described in terms of masculine identity and drivers may use such terms of masculinity in their self-concept to normalize the risks they take. Drivers may equate feelings of fear and apprehension in terms of diminished masculinity and believe their competence is directly linked by themselves and others with their masculine status.

Analysis of media reporting has shown a move to more sensationalist styles of reporting, notably by the use of graphic 'crash photography' and increasing broadcast coverage of accidents which are often repeated - therefore can we assume producers deem such footage as vital to reporting and not causing a level of distress to warrant not using it?

I would equate the growing concern for safety with Elias' theory of civilizing processes. As people's threshold of repugnance lowers and they become increasingly sensitive to witnessing violent acts concern has grown for the safety of all participants. How does correlate with the increasingly sensationalist media reporting? The civilizing process is neither unidirectional nor absolute, it is in a constant state of flux. I would suggest consideration of sensationalist media reporting of F1 and other sports will provide an interesting forum for the consideration of people's changing threshold of repugnance. The increasing safety measures taken have lessened many of the risks of racing and lowered the frequency of accidents, especially serious accidents. This in turn has had the unintended consequence of heightening the significance of accidents and fatalities when they do occur. This significance is therefore reflected and reinforced by sensationalist media reporting. I would suggest the fact deaths are 'accidents', unintentional tragedies this reinforces the idea of sporting incidents as a known risk.

Further Research Ideas:

• studying the safety issue in relation to American Racing, especially Oval racing.
• studying other forms of motorized sport such as rallying and motorbike racing.
• analysing other countries media reporting of safety and racing fatalities.
• analysing media reporting of other sporting fatalities and the formats used.

Back: The Media and the Safety Issue.

(c)RH PR 2007