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The Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) Barrier, sometimes generically referred to as a soft wall, is a technology found primarily on oval automobile race tracks intended to absorb and reduce kinetic energy during the impact of an accident, and thus, lessen injuries sustained to drivers. It was designed by a team of engineers led by Dr Dean Sicking at the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It was developed from 1998-2002, and first installed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 2002. The SAFER barrier consists of structural steel tubes welded together in a flush mounting, strapped in place to the existing concrete retaining wall. Behind these tubes are bundles of closed-cell polystyrene foam, placed between the barrier and wall. The theory behind the design is that the barrier absorbs a portion of the kinetic energy released when a race car makes contact with the wall. This energy is dissipated along a longer portion of the wall. The impact energy to the car and driver are reduced, and the car is likewise not propelled back into traffic on the racing surface. The SAFER barrier also lessens damage to the car itself, thereby reducing repair costs. After its introduction in 2002, nearly every oval track on the IndyCar and NASCAR circuits had the device installed by 2005. The SAFER Barrier and its developers have won several awards within the racing and engineering community, including the Louis Schwitzer Award, Pocono Raceway Bill France, Sr. Award of Excellence, NASCAR Bill France, Jr. Award of Excellence, R&D 100 Award, SEMA Motorsports Engineering Award, GM Racing Pioneer Award, Autosport Pioneering and Innovation Award. Dr. Dean Sicking also received the National Science and Technology Medal from President George W. Bush, in part due to his work on the SAFER Barrier and on other roadside safety devices.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Jayski's® NASCAR Silly Season Site - Safety: Soft Walls/SAFER )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Jayski's® NASCAR Silly Season Site - Safety: Past Soft Walls/SAFER )〕 ==History== Throughout the decades of organized professional automobile racing, track owners and sanctioning bodies were constantly developing and attempting to utilize various devices to protect drivers and spectators in the event of a crash. Tire barriers, water and sand barrels, Styrofoam blocks, gravel traps, guardrails, earth embankments, and other various low-cost devices were implemented, with a varying level of success and usefulness. In most cases, the devices were practical for road and street courses, but impractical, or particularly inappropriate for oval tracks. Oval tracks typically were constructed with reinforced concrete walls around the entire perimeter of the track (and along parts of all of the inside perimeters). The high speeds of oval track racing required strong walls to prevent cars from leaving the racing surface and protect spectators alike, primarily due to centrifugal force. Early years saw metal guardrails on the outside perimeters at some oval tracks, but their limitations and troublesome results saw them completely phased out by the late 1980s. The concrete walls generally showed favorable protection for spectators, and even against large NASCAR stock cars, routinely held up nearly unscathed during crashes. However, the hard surface and unforgiving nature of the walls were prone to cause injury to the drivers in a crash. In the later years of the 20th century, sharply increasing speeds and several high-profile fatal accidents accelerated the need and public outcry for safety improvements at the track level.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=All News Releases Distributed by PR Newswire )〕 The undesirable results or outright failures of existing safety devices required the need for a full-scale research and development of a new device. Throughout the 1970s–1990s, Indycar constructors, for instance, had attempted to address the issue of impact dissipation through car design. Pieces of the car (wheel assemblies, wings, bodywork, etc.) were designed to breakaway after impact, absorbing kinetic energy. Crumple zones were also created. While it typically yielded positive results, it also had drawbacks. The debris field created new hazards for cars approaching the crash scene, and if cars hit pieces of the debris, it could be propelled into the spectator areas. In two high-profile incidents multiple spectators were fatally injured when sheared off wheel assemblies were punted into the grandstands. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「SAFER barrier」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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