Indoor karting speeds are very slow, much slower than contemporary outdoor kart racing. The all enveloping 'dodgem car' style bumpers are designed to accomodate the worst type of accident which would be a kart at full speed t-boning a stationery one. In other words 'moral hazzard' has been removed and that's very important where you have inexperienced people at a one-off event.
The speeds involved in contemporary kart racing are such that moral hazzard can't be removed. A kart travelling at 80mph into the side of a stationery one will likely result in the death of one or both of the drivers with or without the indoor style all enveloping bumpers. It is extremely dangerous. If the addition of those bumpers led to just one such accident above, then they would not just be a nuisance, they would be lethal. I think the day something like that's introduced will be the day I turn my back on karting forever... and I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one.
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