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In a major safety drive CAMS will make it compulsory for competitors in all international and national circuit races, road events and off road events to wear HANS or Frontal Head Restraints from July 1.
It will also follow from January 1 next year that the head and neck safety devices will be mandatory for all state circuit races, road events and off road events in Australia.
Long implemented as part of the mandatory safety gear in Formula 1 and V8 Supercars, the devices have proven to greatly reduce the risk of head and neck injuries in major impacts.
The technology and development of the safety gear accelerated following the death of Dale Earnhardt during the Daytona 500 in 2001.
CAMS chief executive Eugene Arocca says it was high time the devices became compulsory across the broad spectrum of categories.
“We have a responsibility to continually review safety in motorsport and we felt it was an opportune time to review mandatory use of Frontal Head Restraints,” Arocca said.
“Safety is paramount in this sport. Ultimately the industry will embrace Frontal Head restraints at all levels and we are very comfortable making this decision as part of our responsibility in regulating motor sport in this country.
“The facts and the information supporting FHRs is overwhelming.
“Use a Frontal Head Restraint and your chances of surviving a significant motorsport incident are far better than without.”
The devices stop the head from whipping forward in a crash while not restricting the movement of the neck with the apparatus maintaining the relative position of the head to the body.
Former full-time V8 Supercar driver and CAMS Driver Development manager Karl Reindler strongly endorses the restraints following his colossal startline shunt at Barbagallo which erupted into a fireball in 2011.
“With the accident I had in Perth in 2011, it saved my life,” Reindler said.
“ I walked away from that accident with some burns but had I not had my Frontal Head Restraint on, who knows what the result could have been”?
*Speedcafe.com will have all the latest news on the Rolex Australian F1 grand prix from our team on the ground in Melbourne all week
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