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who was behind the wheel, but insisted
the driver was “an internationally
famous racing champ” and the crash last
September was not his fault.
He added: “A magazine was doing an
appraisal of the car for an article and
it was being driven by a professional.
There’s no way I’d have given the keys
of my car to anyone who wasn’t qualified
to handle it.
“We were travelling at speed. He was
driving the car in such fine balance that he
never once triggered the traction control.
It was the state of the road that caused
the crash. We hit mud, which is constantly
being dragged on to the main roads by
Race driver causes largest UK Insurance Payout for Private Car
Trying to prevent sports
injuries to the head
State University of New York (SUNY)
Youth Sports declared March “Brain
Injury Awareness Month”.
During March the university raised
awareness amongst parents of the fact
that helmet use is far more prevalent in
the games of spring, summer and
autumn thus reducing head,
neck, facial, mouth and eye
injuries. While helmets do
not prevent all traumatic head
injuries they can reduce the risk
of concussion and more serious
head trauma.
Ten percent of all contact sport
athletes sustain concussions
annually. Parents, the primary
guardian of children often do
not take these
concussions
seriously.
According to the U.S. Consumer
Product Safety Commission
(CPSC), “using head protection
might well prevent or reduce the
severity of head injuries by over
50% in youngsters under the
age of 15.”
Liverpool Appoints Sport Scientist to Lessen Risk
English Premier League club, Liverpool, has moved to ensure the chronic
injury crisis which cost them the services of Fernando Torres and Steven
Gerrard for much of the campaign is not repeated next year by appointing
one of the world’s leading sports scientists.
Dr Peter Brukner, currently team doctor for the Australian national team,
will take up the position at Liverpool’s Melwood training base after the
World Cup as the club
seeks to put an end
to the injuries which
have plagued Torres, in
particular, over the last
two years.
The Spanish striker and
Gerrard have missed
22 games this season
between them.
Everyone knows that viewing sporting events can send the blood pressure of
devoted fans through the roof. The reality is this can cause heart attacks in
vulnerable spectators. A new study published in the European Heart Journal
indicates that many sports arenas in Europe lack both procedures and the
correct equipment to save the lives of heart attack victims.
The researchers from Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK
investigated 187 top sports arenas used by 190 leading football clubs in ten European countries
during the 2005/06 season.
They distributed a 12-point questionnaire focusing on, among other things, the average
numbers of spectators in the arenas during a full season, the availability of automated external
defibrillators (AEDs), the number of emergency personnel present, and the average distance in
time and kilometres to the nearest hospital.
They found that over 25 percent of arenas studied had neither AEDs onsite nor medical action
plans. Furthermore, they discovered that some of the arenas do not have basic or advanced
cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training programmes in place.
According to the researchers, while no players or officials suffered a heart attack during the
period investigated, 77 spectators did. The researchers estimated the incidence of such events
at about 1 in 589,000 spectators. The problem must be addressed, they said, adding that
urgent action is needed.
Sports Areas Lack Vital Emergency Care
Gareth Jones, the owner of a Pagani
Zonda S supercar has revealed that a
professional racing driver was behind the
wheel when it crashed on a country road,
causing £300,000 worth of damage.
The accident in Aberdeenshire has
resulted in one of the biggest motor
insurance pay-outs in Britain, but Mr
Jones, 58, the multi-millionaire owner
of the vehicle, is philosophical about the
expensive accident.
He said that hitting an electricity pole was
an “appropriately humbling” experience
for the driver, but the damage was “of no
consequence”.
Jones, retired oil tycoon, refuses to say
tractors coming out of the fields.”
“There are far worse things happening in
the world today and it’s only a car. It’s of
no consequence.”
He bought the Zonda for £400,000 a few
years ago, but they are so rare that they
appreciate in value. The businessman is
understood to have made more than £30
million when he sold the Aberdeen-based
firm, Dominion Gas, in 2007.
A spokesman for the insurer Aviva said:
‘’This is the biggest insurance pay-out we
have had for repairs to a private car in
the UK. This is out of the ordinary for an
insurer.”