FIA to develop rally safety action plan following recent accidents
The FIA will develop a rally safety action plan and establish an expert task force in response to recent fatal accidents
Six spectators were killed when a car left the road on Spain's Rally of La Coruna last weekend, while there had also been spectator fatalities on domestic events in Australia and Estonia earlier in the year.
French driver Frederic Comte also died last weekend in a crash on Rally Monte Blanc.
Those incidents prompted FIA president Jean Todt to call an extraordinary meeting in Geneva on Wednesday, where attendees included closed road commissioner Ari Vatanen, World Rally Championship commission chief Carlos Barbosa, WRC manager Michele Mouton and Spanish federation chief Carlos Gracia Fuertes.
An FIA statement said an action plan had been agreed to focus on the following points:
"1. Reinforcement to all authorities responsible for the organisation of rallies of the heightened danger in running rallies outside of the basic framework of the FIA guidelines for spectator and vehicle safety.
"2. In conjunction with National Sport Authorities (ASNs) and rally organisers, introduce measures seeking to increase the reach and impact of educational programmes for spectator safety.
"3. The creation of a dedicated task force of FIA experts, which will be available to support ASNs and rally organisers and assist them in the implementation of the preferred safety guidelines.
"The aim of the action plan is to have a positive influence in rally safety around the world, from local grass roots events through to the pinnacle of the sport at World Rally Championship level."
While most of the accidents that prompted the FIA action took place on national events this year, spectator safety has also been a concern in the WRC, where six spectators where hurt in an accident involving Hayden Paddon's Hyundai on Rally Argentina.
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