NEAR FATAL ACCIDENT at Drift Fury

[HighKnob]

Eveyone, please keep AP Photographer, Matt Campbell in your prayers.

AS MANY HAVE ALREADY POSTED MATT AS STRUCK BY A VEHICLE. HE WAS SHOOTING ONE VEHICLE WITH HIS BACK TURNED AND ANOTHER VEHICLE STRUCK HIM. HE IS AT GRADY. PLEASE KEEP HIM AND HIS FAMILY IN YOUR THOUGHTS.

THANK YOU.

both legs are broken, 1 broken rib and a broken finger, he is going in surgery now..............THANKFULLY there is no skull or brain trauma, they are stapling up his head and cleaning up his face, please keep him and his family in your thoughts.

Source: ImportAtlanta.com

original thread:
http://forums.importatlanta.com/showthread.php?t=91588

thread containing injury/hospital updates:
http://forums.importatlanta.com/showthread.php?t=91603

[Motdyn-Ls1fd]

Prayers go out to him from the shock drifting crew.

[Slapshotnerd]

heard about this yesterday... not good. Our thoughts are with him...

if anyone has hospitol information, we would like to send a get well soon card.

[MonkeySlide]

How was this able to happen? Were there no barriers around the photography areas on the track?

Did he run out of the saftey area when the track was still hot?

anyone know?

I hope he recovers alright

[Slapshotnerd]

How was this able to happen? Were there no barriers around the photography areas on the track?

Did he run out of the saftey area when the track was still hot?

anyone know?

I hope he recovers alright

he was in a designated photo area, car was out of control. No barriers (there rarely are at events outside of Formula D). wasn't really anyone's fault, it was a fluke.

[Motdyn-Ls1fd]

Thoughts go out to the driver as well. It was an accident, and i hope he is dealing with this ok.

[Ghost of Duluth]

I agree, a fluke.

I have heard many variations on what happened. He wasn't supposed to be where he was, he was supposed to be there, he had a photographers pass, he didn't have a photographers pass. Who knows. There were no barriers and I didn't see the need for barriers due to the size of the lot, the speed at which the sliding was done and past events that had no need for them. Drift Fury has a good reputation for strict, controlled events and that has never been tested until now. The facts are still working themselves out and when they do, a cleare picture of what happened can be put together.

Someone has commented on the lack of EMT's at the event on our forums, I do not know if this is true or not. Luckily Grady Hospital was right down the street and they showed up between 5 and 10 minutes after the accident according to sources.

Unfortunately, this accident will more than likely halt events at Turner Field and cause stricter sanctions to be set in place on future events in the Atlanta area. This is a good and bad thing in the fact that it will keep spectators, out of car drivers, photographers and cone workers safer but will up the cost of events significantly. Amatuer Drifting in this region will be set back as a result unfortunatly. Accidents like this are tragic for all parties involved.

[HighKnob]

he was in a designated photo area, car was out of control. No barriers (there rarely are at events outside of Formula D). wasn't really anyone's fault, it was a fluke.

true, but that photo area was obviously an impact zone.

[kidynomite]

If anyone got hit then it is at fault. Whoever is running the event needs to better protect their camera men. If you cant do barriers or walls then dont have a camera man in the middle of all this. Who gives a *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored* if the pictures don't come out as good, think about others before thinking about yourself.

As someone who runs events it is nice to say that there have been no major injuries in drifting, now I can't really say that. I hope they don't use the same insurance as the rest. Don't ruin this for everyone else. I see a lot of stupid *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored* at these Drift Fury events, a lot of lack of care just so the show is "cooler". I hope you guys don't find this as a fluke, because if you do it won't keep them or anyone from changing. Think safety first, safety for driver, for fans, for specatators, announcers, camera men, staff, everyone.

A lot of camera men don't know how cars react, and don't know those spots that are dangerous compared to most drivers. You have to be strict about where they can go, I like how FD ran their events, they are ridiculously picky about media and staff and I commend them on that. I have yet to see any of this NOPI Drift Fury stuff to think about everyone, I hear too many stories of people crashing during demos, or people almost getting hit, and now people getting hit.

I know I am coming off a bit harsh to Drift Fury, but this is still new, if I was an insurance company and was looking to insure drifting and saw cars flying at announcers, or heard stories of photographers being hit, I would raise the hell out of the rates.

[swifty949]

If this guy is an AP (Associated Press) photographer, I'm sure he is a professional and knows to not run out on the track.

Another thing to consider is, if he is AP, what consequences will this have on the drifting community on the whole.

Glad to see that he will make it out alright.

[Ghost of Duluth]

Well at our events, we have photographers off the track. The only people that are on track are coarse workers who are drivers so I would hope they give it the proper respect.

So Kidynomite, no matter how safe you set up your layout, no matter how far you put your photographers away, Drifting as a whole to the outsider will always look dangerous. The reason why is because every single driver, every person that operates a motor vehicle has an ingrained fear of losing control. so when they see a driver kick the rear end out, they equate that with losing control. So in their eyes car will ALWAYS be flying at announcers and people because they cannot differentiate the 2 no matter how you package it.

I'm also not understanding you here. Help me out. Here you say

I see a lot of stupid *Censored**Censored**Censored**Censored* at these Drift Fury events, a lot of lack of care just so the show is "cooler".

But then in the same post you say:

I have yet to see any of this NOPI Drift Fury stuff to think about everyone, I hear too many stories of people crashing during demos, or people almost getting hit, and now people getting hit.

So which is it? Have you seen them or not seen them? Because i've seen them, been to them and helped my friends participate in them and they are not run recklessly. Matter of fact, this is one of the first Drift Fury competitions to be backed by NOPI. There have been Demo
s at Nopi prior to this and there have been Drift Fury events (Whick were flawless) before this event.

If you are the event coordinator that you claim, then you should know that it is impossible to keep your eyes on every single person at every minute that an event goes on. N ot a slam on y ou but think before you harshly criticize an event that it's pretty safe to say you were not at and have never attended one of this promoters events.

[MonkeySlide]

There were no barriers and I didn't see the need for barriers due to the size of the lot

We'll aparantly there was a need for barriers since someone got hit!

At the very least they should have had spotters in the photo areas to look out for the photographers. Drift Day does that when they dont put up barriers and I can attest to the fact that spotters do work because at a Drift Day at Cali Speedway a spotter saved my a$$.

And if this was a NOPI backed event how isn't that NOPI didn't give them money to rent and place barriers?

This incident is clearly something that could have been avoided if there was a barrier in place.

I know that the drifting community is tight knit and people like to watch each other's backs.

But I think the people who are quick to defend the organizers of this event need to look past that and really analyize how this happend.

It would be a huge dis-service to the drifting community and disrespectful to the photographer (Mike) who was injured by simply treating this as a fluke and nothing more without any investigation or analyzing of the situation to prevent this from happening again.

[kidynomite]

The second comment you quoted, I don't know myself what I was getting at, I was in a rush. But first I think I might be mixing some things up and it seems that I should be placing the blame on NOPI, rather than Drift Fury. The pics and stuff that I have seen are of NOPI demos. I know there videos on the internet of the announcer basically pretending to be a matador with the cars. And in one video it looks like he got tapped.

On top of that a few friends went and helped do a demo at a NOPI event and they were suprised to see how unsafe it was considering the level and skill of some of the people doing demos. Not to knock anyone doing the demo, but it takes some very skilled drivers to do safe and fun demos.

And in terms of people getting scared, thats part of the fun of it, go ahead and scare them, but never put them in harms way. Someone who is knew to drifting will be scared even with a big k-rail in front of them, and a fence. You don't have to remove any and all protection just so the fans can get thier monies worth.

As you said it looks dangerous enough, and for a coordinator it is hard to convince them otherwise. That is where the "no accidents have happened in the past years of drifting" comment helps.

It is impossible to keep track of everyone, but you have a lot of eyes in your staff. Spectators are aware of their areas, never had a problem with a spectator running across the track. You should have a good amount of staff to keep them in their areas. They should be able to tell spectators to back up if need be, or stay away.

Regardless this wasn't a spectator it was staff, nobody should be granted any track access without knowing restricted areas. You should not need to sit an babysit your staff, if they break the rules then get them off the track and revoke their access, simple as that. I doubt this photographer stepped a few feet from his "area" and suddenly was struck the minute he got there. I saw some pics from the event, there were a lot of staff members all over the track next to the photographers.

Swifty - just because you are part of the AP doesn't mean you will understand anything. It means you can probably give a general statement as to what is going on, but unless you actually drive you probably won't know where a car will more than likely end up. It is up to whoever assigns their positioning to know the foul-up points of a track and to keep people away from it and a good amount of "maybe" space.

And in terms of what will it do to the rest of us, it might not do a thing. Or it could do a lot. Part of it depends on the victim and his family, they could sue if they really wanted to, a good lawyer can tear that waiver form apart.

It could mean rise in insurance, for the same reason your rates go up when you are in an accident, rates for drifting can go up. It can also steer new venues away from it. I am hoping it only affects the party at fault and not all the other organizations out there.

[Ghost of Duluth]

We'll aparantly there was a need for barriers since someone got hit!

At the very least they should have had spotters in the photo areas to look out for the photographers. Drift Day does that when they dont put up barriers and I can attest to the fact that spotters do work because at a Drift Day at Cali Speedway a spotter saved my a$$.

And if this was a NOPI backed event how isn't that NOPI didn't give them money to rent and place barriers?

This incident is clearly something that could have been avoided if there was a barrier in place.

I know that the drifting community is tight knit and people like to watch each other's backs.

But I think the people who are quick to defend the organizers of this event need to look past that and really analyize how this happend.

It would be a huge dis-service to the drifting community and disrespectful to the photographer (Mike) who was injured by simply treating this as a fluke and nothing more without any investigation or analyzing of the situation to prevent this from happening again.

Apparantly so, but before this event there had never been a problem and there have been hundreds of events at that very same lot between Drifting, Auto-X and Ride n Drives from major manufactureres. The only problem that I had seen before was a bum walking into the middle of the course during a Lexus ride n drive event. I happened to be in the car when we had to swerve and stop to get him out of the course. It happens, photographers are no different. Sometimes the desire for a shot can override common sense. Maybe that happened here, maybe it didn't, But nobody will know except the photographer and unless he tells someone, all anyone can do is speculate.

So yes, I feel it was a fluke. Mike was in a bad spot at the wrong time without a spotter. Someone lost control and hit him. Does that mean that it will not be investigated? No it does not. My organization wasn't involved in any way with it and we are reviewing it to make sure our events are safer in the future. That is how the sport grows safely, from tradgedy comes innovation.

[Nemesis Digital]

Just to clear up some errors.

Mike isnt his name, its Matt Cambell.

AP is short for Atlanta Performance Photography, which is his private company. Not Associated Press.


Just to be completely fair as Im staying out of this whole thing for the most part and placing facts out there when need be, but Ive shot all the Drift Fury events with the exception of the past two and we were allowed to stand almost anywhere we had wished with the obvious exceptions (on the track, etc).