Under no circumstance, should your body physically come off the track, there definitly should be some raised surface around the entire track, there is no raised barrier along the straightaway because no one has ever anticipated someone to come off on a straightaway. It wouldn't make a difference if those pillars were padded, sudden decelleration from 150km/h will kill you, if you wipe out, the decellation has to be gradual, like all he other luge accidenets i've seen where you just slide down the track and lose speed, imagine if there was plexiglass on that track, the luger would hit the plexiglass and slide down the track, minimal injuries. how you can have steel gurders running along there is crazy, yes it is not likely that someone could come off the track, just like in nascar, it is not likely a car could get airborne enough the hit above the concrete barrier but they have a fence on top of the barrier, so why isn't this safety measure put in for luge? I think this is shoddily put together, not thought through enough, but there sure is lots of money put into it, i wonder where that is going
here's what happens in nascar if you come off the track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcwbE3KxmfI
