If you are racing long enough you're going to see something that ain't safe in some manner or another.
Example, you saw a fender on the course. I ran past a cow at over 200 standing in the middle of other lane at the finish line ( late 70's ). A friend of mine on a bike went down on the salt and had another bike run right past him on the course (early 90's). I could sit here and make list as long as my arm but, point is it's racing and "things" happen.
How these things are handled makes the big difference. Safety is not just up to somebody else, racing ain't some cradle to grave government program, everyone involved has to take responsibility for keeping things safe.
When people start thinking safety is someone else's problem, then the whole concept of safety fails. So if you see something that is not safe, it is up to you to take whatever action necessary to fix the problem, and if you don't, the safety issue is your fault, not someone else.
Rouse