Soap Box Peril

This is a friend competing in the local soap box derby. Taking the term soap box almost literally (it's a converted bath on wheels), he did surprisingly well. The winner is the driver of the cart that having raced down a hill and negotiated a sharp bend manages to travel furthest up the hill the other side. The event has been going for many years, but was recently reinstated after a long lay-off due to insurance difficulties.

It's great fun and a very well supported, family, country event. It's based at a pub and is run on public roads (closed for the event). It is however, frighteningly dangerous. It's one of those events that if all those concerned were asked if it is safe they would probably answer 'no', but therein lies the attraction. The picture shows how close the spectators are to the racing. At this point (at the bottom of the hill), the winner reckons his cart has been clocked at 50mph! Further up the hill, and on the bend in particular, the crowd is dense. These are home-made carts, some of which literally fall apart during the descent.

This year, what some people said was the inevitable, happened. One of the final carts to race left the road and careered into the spectators. It was an utterly catastrophic and disturbing scene. Eyes that minutes before had been fixed on the road were now looking to the verges and the sky as the two air ambulances arrived. The details are sketchy but several young children were very seriously hurt.

Yet, everyone there could see the danger before it happened. Everyone who stood by the roadside, many with children by their side, would have known that if one of these machines came towards them, they'd have little chance of escaping. I remember hearing years ago one of the great motor racing drivers, commenting on race spectators, that nobody wants race cars to crash, but if one does they want to see it. It's part of the excitement.

If the event had been cancelled (the conditions were very wet), there would have been comments about the 'nanny state', and 'health and safety police'. We cannot go through life wrapping ourselves and our loved ones in cotton-wool. But, at what point does risk become too great and how capable are we of knowing when it has been reached?