We are being kept informed of developments.

I am surprised that no one has posted any comment on this subject, surely one of the most startling and controversial incidents to strike Isle of Man racing on the Mountain Course.
Obviously, we must grieve the two fatal accidents, and we must send every best wish to Steve Mercer, and pray that he makes a full recovery.
However, when you consider that the entire Mountain Course is marshalled using ( I presume), high tech Tetra radios, it seems beyond comprehension that there should be a breakdown in communication in a way that could cause such a catastrophe.
Even allowing for the first mistake, i.e. a Marshal sending off Steve and others without the escort of a Travelling Marshal, you would think that other Marshals, and the Clerk of the Course would have cottoned on that something was amiss. I am guessing that Steve will have travelled about six miles to Ballacrye, so probably around four minutes passed from their departure before Steve arrived at Ballacrye
Furthermore, I am surprised that the driver of the car has not been named, or the police officer occupants. It always makes me think that there must be some underlying reason for this lack of information, that we are not being told.
I should point out, that I am aware there must have been certain officials in a state of shock as the news of Dan's accident filtered through, and I accept that this could have had some bearing on the chain of events in the immediate moments afterwards. 

Finally, in the event of another serious accident in the future, which causes a red flag. It seems inevitable that the road closure at the scene of an accident would remain in force for some time. I cannot think that riders will be expected to remain on the course until the road re-opens. Imagine an accident at the Verandah, or a similar spot, in evening practice. The weather closes in, it's getting dark. Meanwhile, the road remains closed for investigations to take place. What will be the procedure to get riders back if there is no travelling in the reverse direction? I cannot think that any riders will accept being stuck on the side of the Mountain until the road reopens.

Nick, I am certainly in agreement with your last paragraph, however, as for the remainder it cannot be more than speculation until (or even if) we are told the facts. For me that would be the time to make comment and pass judgments. Until then, like you, it remains beyond my comprehension as to how this may have happened. It seems likely that there is a chain of events so potentially more than one failure.

Thank you HammerHead, I hear what you say.
However, in the article by Adrian Derbyshire of IOM Today, there are three comments on the incident. One from a Marshal, one from Bernard Warden, of Health and Safety Inspectorate, and another from Derek Flint, a former road policing Inspector.
If they can make comments, surely the general public can convey their dismay, whilst being careful not to jump to any conclusions, which i did not.
Indeed, Derek Flint commented: "this incident is a potential threat to a great event".
If something takes place that is indeed such a threat, then i would expect comments to be made, that's all I'm saying.
As far as I can see, I did not add anything in my comments that were not already known. I did not speculate. I agree that that would be wrong.

The actual article on the iomtoday site is open to public comments, there were 48 when I looked just now.

I apologise if my comments implied you were speculating, no offence was intended. All I was trying to say (perhaps not very well) was that in general there is so little information known and, with respect to Adrian Derbyshire, what there is appears to be mostly just hearsay rather than cold hard fact.

Your knowledge of Mountain Course procedures is far greater than mine and you are right in as much as a significant threat to the event is certainly something worthy of comment, however, perhaps most feel like me that there isn't really too much they can comment on until they really know what happened and where the faults lie.

Nick,
I think you have summed up the points that a lot of us would have liked to put,
But were struggling to fine the right words to do so,
So Thank you for your post,

Get well soon Steve,
And Rip Dan, The fastest Manxman around the TT course on 2 wheels !

Splashdown just one comment on your point that you were surprised that other marshals did not cotton onto what was happening. I can assure you as soon as the marshals, myself included, saw bikes returning in the wrong direction the DSM radioed into control saying there was no leading TSM. What action was taken as a result of the message I cannot say.

I've been kinda stuck between the event I love and am still growing up with even past 50 and know the far far extremes of the all the emotions involved and seriously wondering just wtf happened with Steve Mercer and the course car. Derek Flint is talking on a a forum - Manx Forum which if i'm honest has some less than sensible comments on there and it only makes the way this site looks and is managed a real blessing(thanks to all involved) and if he's keen to mention car on course protocol when there's a fatality how come there was no car sent when we lost Adam in the Supersport race ? - The main part not going to say fact I simply cannot comprehend with all the comms we have(or do we ?) at an event of this magnitude is that if the car was sent from the Grandstand it must have have on the road for a much longer time than Steve was when he was heading towards it from where he stopped between Sulby Bridge and Dan's accident - the fact that nobody out there either on track or in the tower realised a mistake(they do happen by nature unfortunately) had been made is extremely worrying to say the least. If anything is too come out from this I dearly hope it's transparent honesty with how it happened. if it gets fudged or hushed in the slightest it will detract very seriously from the whole event and said management.