amusement park ride accidents

[angel607]

yesterday there were two tragic things that happened at two amusement parks. first was six flags over texas a woman was on the texas giant roller coaster when something happened and she fell out. she was confirmed dead yesterday. next happened at cedar point ohio shoot the rapids water ride. one of the boats rolled back and flipped over with several riders trapped under. luckily some people jumped in and rescued them or they would of drowned. one was taken to the hospital and released six other were just hurt. I feel horrible for the woman in texas and her son was on the coaster in front when she fell out. people watched in horror as she fell out. the coaster has been closed while a full investigation is taking place. it really scares me because i'll be going six flags in new jersey august 4th and I never really think about what could go wrong. on Kingda Ka which I went on I found on google years ago 13 people died. I understand coasters are like cars sometimes things go wrong but what if it could of been something that could of been prevented like a employee didn't check good to see if you were strapped in. the texas giant I hear doesn't have seat belts just the restraints. falling out of a coaster on the ride should never happen.

[DragonLady]

I don't go on rides at carnivals because I wonder about their safety, but you'd think parks have their rides all under strict maintenance. I remember as a teenager hearing on the news a ride at a park here was shut down because it tipped.

[Kimm]

They are probably inspected strictly but like anything mechanical things can malfunction or break. Theres always a risk in riding rides.

[Phil]

Like Kim said even with inspections things wear and break and sometimes its even as crazy as buckles and latches aren't made properly. They work but under stress they don't hold up.

That can be a function of the steel not being hard enough, the latches not being fully set, fatigue loosening them up.

Trains can derail for the same reason.

Most people not in the railroad business are not aware of how frequent derailments are.

Most people if you were to tell them a train derailed they figure the train came off the track and crashed and burned. That is because that's what has to happen for a train derailment to make the news. What usually happens is a wheel or 2 gets knocked off kilter and isn't riding the track properly. But the car is being pulled by several cars ahead of it and behind it and the weight of the 1 car that's wheels are off kilter isn't heavy enough to tip the train over.

If it causes the next car to slide off sometimes you then get the domino effect and that's whey its a big problem.

Most times that car is just dragged by the ones ahead of it and pushed by the ones behind it. And a set of wheels needs to be replaced but that's about all.

I do not know a lot of the construction of amusement park rides but I do understand trains very well. Some of the concept is similar. For example the wheels of all cars must fit the track or it can't work. All railroad cars are 56 1/2 inches apart although the car's body can be any width the wheels used are all the same or track travel wouldn't be possible.

Tracks are often damaged by incorrect wheels or even weather. Flooding and vandals sometimes damage tracks. But usually if there's a problem its caused by fatigue or damaged wheels.

Couplings are a problem sometimes with trains and probably with amusement park cars too.

[Beangirl]

Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm have had there share of ride fatalities. Sometimes it's mechanical and sometimes its human error.

[Phil]

And for the volume of times these things operate it probably wouldn't hurt to check them more often.

[Beangirl]

They are supposed to everyday. I know with Knott's perilous plunge ride a morbidly obese woman slipped right out of her seat belt & plunging to her death in front of her family. Sometimes cables break . Sometimes someone will manage to stand up on the Matterhorn at Disney.

[Phil]

There was a legless man who fell off a coaster once not too long ago too. He had lost his legs in either Iraq or Afghanistan too. Its a crazy thing they probably could forbid such a person from riding the coaster. But he was a coherent 30 year old man who made that decision on his own. The park had no standard about riders missing limbs as far as I know. *If someone knows otherwise please comment* and the kids administrating the ride aren't professional engineers as to whether or not this is a dangerous situation. They're trained to operate some levers and switches, they're not parks engineers or machinists. So what does it come down to in that case? Probably the man's decision for his own desire to ride the ride or the park to have a law about people missing limbs not being able to ride certain rides because of danger.

[Beangirl]

I have never heard of that either. I know there is a certain height that you have to be to ride. Disneyland caters to handicapped people.They even have a special parking place in front of most rides for the wheelchairs and scooters. As far as who can ride the coasters? I would think someone who is paralyzed or missing limbs would not do to well. When my nieces worked at Disney there was a fatal accident on Tom Sawyer's Island. When the raft docked at the island the driver did not secure it properly to the pilings. The chain and the cement piling pulled loose and killed two people. At Knott's on the boomerang as the ride accelerated to 100 mph the cable broke. No one died but there were a lot of injuries when the cable flew into the faces of the riders.

[Jersey]

The Texas Coaster ejection wasn't due to mechanical failure. According to some sources, the woman who died was morbidly obese (350 pounds). Her waistline and girth most likely prevented the lap bar from completely engaging, and when the coaster rode over the first hump her legs straightened and she was flung straight up in the air, to her death below. She was screwed by physics and her own waistline.

Here's a video animation showing how this likely happened. It's a bit morbid but scientific.

youtu.be/i0KmTMf0VVQ

That said, this one falls on the staff running the ride. It's common sense material that if someone is so big that the safety equipment cannot properly engage, they can't ride. A screech fest and a defamation/discrimination you'recallingmefat lawsuit is a lot easier to deal with than this woman's death.

[Classicblast]

That's a good video Jersey I wasn't aware that a person's fat could prevent those bars from locking. Obviously I am no expert, I can tell you lots about baseball bats, but not safety bars. But I would have figured that would just crush the person's fat in til it locked. Obviously that didn't happen this time.

And there's going to be scream fests obviously I have seen height discrimination not weight specifications for rides but this precedent is probably going to start one.

[Jersey]

My definite take on that is that it can't be discrimination if the rule is meant to look out for someone's health and welfare. Especially on a ride. I'm a 6'7" tall and large man (lesser so now after a 60 pounds weight loss). I am not like most people. We live in a one size fits all society, where we try and build things and create products where most people can use them. I can't use certain makes and models of cars because I'm too long for the seat or my head is sticking out the sunroof. Do I get mad and yell and scream about it, that the car company has discriminated against people of height by making a small car? Nope, I move on and find a car that fits me properly.

Such as it should be with amusement rides. If I'm too tall, I'd rather be a bit disappointed that I couldn't ride than lose an arm. Or my head. But a lot of people don't think that way and it COULD actually be the reason why nobody had this woman get off.

[angel607]

i wonder if six flags is going to be hit with a law suit now because the woman was to big to ride. as phil said there was a man missing a leg who fell off Ride of Steel at Darien Lake. I think there might of been a story somewhere where someone was missing a limb was not allowed on a coaster at six flags and they ended up getting mad. they were denied so nothing happens to them but some might try and sue for discrimination. amusement parks have to make a hard choice saying no to someone. I agree with jersey the woman's lap bar didn't come all the way down and secure her. the coaster had no seat belt from what I herd so I don't know if maybe that could of saved her but they might want to look into getting seat belts for those rides. fair rides that they put up in a few days really scare me also. they allow people to smoke on the rides even if the ride is like musik express going backwards at like 30mph. I have been afraid of that person's cigerette flying back and hitting me. I trust amusement parks much more then fairs or carnivals.

[Classicblast]

It's probably going to be hung on Six Flags to do what they do with height only with girth. Its a terrible thing but I think that might happen.

[Phil]

There's responsibility to go around. The video Jersey posted does shed some light on things, but what I am saying is this:
While I don't totally disagree with Jersey that the ride operators are trained and need to know their job what I ask is where does the park's responsibility end and our own begin?

The guy with no legs, does he then technically not fit the height requirement? Probably since removal of his legs reduces his height by at least 2 feet. I understand he lost his limbs in service of country and I will not undervalue that.

But the man had to understand that his body might not be fully able to secure in the carriage because of this.
That woman who was extra heavy probably needed to consider that too. Granted overweight people usually wish to underestimate their weight or their degree of overweight. Most overweight people admit they are overweight but do not admit their true weight or clothing size.

Yes the ride operators are also there to check on this. Most of them from what I have seen are high school or college age kids. That's not to say people that age can't be trained to know the use and limits of the rides but they see thousands of people a day and not often is a situation this extreme.

I guess I see it a little like this. Is a bar tender responsible for you being drunk? Then driving home? Could he or she be firm about not serving you after you have had too much? Yeah they can, but is it their fault if you drive home that way?

Then again unlike the park the bartender isn't putting you in the car.

I am really struggling with this as you can see.

[Beangirl]

Yeah, this is a touchy issue. Who takes responsibility? I can relate to something similar. I was giving the drug Accutane for severe adult acne. This is a dangerous drug if you are not careful. It can cause severe birth defects if taken while pregnant. I had to take blood pregnancy tests each time I refilled. There were warning labels on the bottle. They almost pulled it from the market. Why? Women were not heading the warning and getting pregnant. I told my Dr. "You have to take some responsibility for yourself " Do we need to be lead around by our hand?"

[Phil]

That can be a problem with many drugs. Loritab and other painkillers are especially a problem. They may prescribe 1 pill every 6 hours but some people up the dosage because it makes nagging injuries not felt. But the narcotic element of it makes all you senses numb and makes you loopy if you take too many.

But in that case if you do that, its not the pharmacy's fault you took too many.

[Kimm]

How do they approach it? "sorry mam but youre much too fat for this ride."