Le Mans has seen a number of fatal accidents, due in part to the very high speed nature of all variants of the track throughout history. The largest one was in 1955, when 83 spectators and driver Pierre Levegh were killed. In the wake of the disaster, many races were cancelled, including the Grand Prix races in Germany, Spain, and Switzerland (the latter as a part of a blanket ban on motorsport round-track races that was maintained until 2018). The accident led to safety regulations in all motorsports for both driver and spectator protection.