I've been wondering about the effects of aging on the ability to recover from a track incident. I invite comment here, particularly from those with medical background.
I was recently in a traffic accident (see pictures below). My SO and I were driving through an intersection when a driver ran a red light and drove straight into the passenger door of our Integra at a pretty good clip. Our injuries weren't serious - no broken bones, for example - but we both have quite a bit of pain, three weeks after the accident. (We were both belted in, and the air bags did not go off due to the nature of the side impact.)
I recall hearing a statistic quoted at the track some years ago. I don't recall it exactly but it was something like "your body has only half as much resiliency at age 50 that it did at age 20". Now, I know the chances of having an incident on the racetrack are fairly low, and the chances of incurring an injury in one are even lower. But now that I'm 58 years old, I'm wondering what the consequences would be if I were involved in an incident, as an instructor or a driver. I know people who were in serious incidents, hard hits, at a younger age, and they've said they had bruises (particularly where they were strapped in by belts/harnesses) for several days afterwards. Now I'm wondering whether a similar incident might result in bruises and pain which persist for weeks or even months for those 50-60 or older. This could have an effect on whether I continue to drive and/or instruct (although I had already been planning to cut back anyway, due to less interest than in the past).
Obviously each of us will make his/her own decision on whether or not to drive on the track, but I'd be interested in hearing from those knowledgeable about how the consequences may change as we get older. I look forward to reading replies and comments here.
I was recently in a traffic accident (see pictures below). My SO and I were driving through an intersection when a driver ran a red light and drove straight into the passenger door of our Integra at a pretty good clip. Our injuries weren't serious - no broken bones, for example - but we both have quite a bit of pain, three weeks after the accident. (We were both belted in, and the air bags did not go off due to the nature of the side impact.)
I recall hearing a statistic quoted at the track some years ago. I don't recall it exactly but it was something like "your body has only half as much resiliency at age 50 that it did at age 20". Now, I know the chances of having an incident on the racetrack are fairly low, and the chances of incurring an injury in one are even lower. But now that I'm 58 years old, I'm wondering what the consequences would be if I were involved in an incident, as an instructor or a driver. I know people who were in serious incidents, hard hits, at a younger age, and they've said they had bruises (particularly where they were strapped in by belts/harnesses) for several days afterwards. Now I'm wondering whether a similar incident might result in bruises and pain which persist for weeks or even months for those 50-60 or older. This could have an effect on whether I continue to drive and/or instruct (although I had already been planning to cut back anyway, due to less interest than in the past).
Obviously each of us will make his/her own decision on whether or not to drive on the track, but I'd be interested in hearing from those knowledgeable about how the consequences may change as we get older. I look forward to reading replies and comments here.