August 14, 201510 yr comment_215019 Yes this guy made a stupid decision but please remember this guy has a family and friends who have just had a huge hole punched into their lives. I know nobody here would climb a fence at a theme park, but we all take risks assuming it'll work out for us! Crossing a road when the lights are red etc. Please try and have a little bit of respect. If your best friend or mother did this, you wouldn't be calling anyone an idiot. tl;dr... Stay in school and learn to read signs, but have some respect even though you don't know/judge the guy. I doubt very much that his friends or family will be on this forum; sad for them, horrible for those affected by it at the park, he was an idiot. If you don't feel you could call him that, then you must be lonely on your planet.
August 14, 201510 yr comment_215020 I find it hard to have sympathy, and I doubt what I think has any bearing on his family. Staying in school and learning to read has nothing to do with using common sense, he worked in a school after all...
August 14, 201510 yr comment_215022 You can be extremely clever academic wise but lack common sense... Schools don't seem to teach life skills enough!
August 14, 201510 yr comment_215023 I find it hard to have sympathy, and I doubt what I think has any bearing on his family. Yes but screaming "He's an idiot he ruins it for everyone" about a dead person makes you look the fool if you're not careful, no matter if the family can see this. I too lack sympathy for him, and what he did was incredibly dangerous and stupid, but have some respect that's all I'll say. You can make the point you're trying to make without being quite as insensitive.
August 14, 201510 yr comment_215025 We gotta be careful to be a little too insensitive, as of course it is sad news, but it's people with a lack of BASIC common sense like this that make H&S go stupid and add tonnes more signs and make fences even higher, and in reality with a nicely themed park ruin the themed experience of the rides. But they look lovely...
August 14, 201510 yr comment_215027 Yes but screaming "He's an idiot he ruins it for everyone" about a dead person makes you look the fool if you're not careful, no matter if the family can see this. I too lack sympathy for him, and what he did was incredibly dangerous and stupid, but have some respect that's all I'll say. You can make the point you're trying to make without being quite as insensitive. Perhaps you should follow your own advise as that comment was made in reference to Marc's experiences on Fury (but yes I did call this guy an idiot, because he is one for entering a ride area, bite me as they say if you don't like it). Perhaps if more people were told they were being idiots instead of egg'd on or just ignored, crap like this wouldn't happen.
August 14, 201510 yr comment_215029 No, things like this happen simply down to the fact that humans evaluate risks and take them. This decision happened to be a very stupid decision, but that doesn't change the fact calling a dead person a complete idiot makes you look a bit of one too (which has been my point from the start). I feel most for the family but also the people on the ride as well. I'd hate to witness something like that especially from so close.
August 14, 201510 yr comment_215030 No, things like this happen simply down to the fact that humans evaluate risks and take them. This decision happened to be a very stupid decision, but that doesn't change the fact calling a dead person a complete idiot makes you look a bit of one too (which has been my point from the start). I feel most for the family but also the people on the ride as well. I'd hate to witness something like that especially from so close. Thats where my sympathies lie, not with the man who died I'm afraid. If high fences and danger signs all round aren't enough of a deterrent and you think an item is worth more then your own life then unfortunately this is nearly always the outcome.
August 14, 201510 yr comment_215031 Oh I completely agree, that's where my sympathy lies too! I'm not the most politically correct person, but I do wish a few people would be a tad more respectful that's all, even if what he did was selfish
August 14, 201510 yr Author comment_215032 It's unfortunate he's dead, but I'll quite happily call him an idiot. A selfish one too. He's put himself in lethal danger, on top of that he's endangered those on the ride, those that had to rescue him from the location, he's probably left deep scars on those who saw it happen first hand and those who had to come to his aide and physically pick up the pieces from the public, the staff and the emergency services, and no doubt he has devastated his own family too. And then there's the following over zealous things that have to be put in place because of people like him in general. I don't get why there should be this fake respect for someone simply because they are dead. If I'd seen him doing what he was doing I'd have called him a lot worse than an idiot, the inevitable outcome of his stupidity doesn't change that.
August 14, 201510 yr comment_215033 It's not fake respect, well at least it's not for some people. I've said all along what this guy did was completely idiotic. Maybe respect is the wrong word, insensitive might be better. Typing things like "Less queues for us then" or things like that is insensitive as this is a death after all, even if it was 100% his fault. That's all I have to say really, I don't know how many more times I can repeat the same thing...
August 14, 201510 yr Author comment_215034 It's not fake respect, well at least it's not for some people. I've said all along what this guy did was completely idiotic. Maybe respect is the wrong word, insensitive might be better. Typing things like "Less queues for us then" or things like that is insensitive as this is a death after all, even if it was 100% his fault. That's all I have to say really, I don't know how many more times I can repeat the same thing... This doesn't need to get into pedantry, but it was calling him an idiot you seemed to have a problem with (by seemed to be, I mean that's exactly what you said) and unless I've missed something no one has said anything crass like your example. So I'm not sure what you are saying really. Anyway... In a sensible move, the ride has reopened today presumably with no changes deemed necessary and with no reported sightings of Kay Burley.
August 14, 201510 yr comment_215042 It's not fake respect, well at least it's not for some people. I've said all along what this guy did was completely idiotic. Maybe respect is the wrong word, insensitive might be better. Typing things like "Less queues for us then" or things like that is insensitive as this is a death after all, even if it was 100% his fault. That's all I have to say really, I don't know how many more times I can repeat the same thing... Where did that come from ? "Typing things like "Less queues for us then" or things like that is insensitive as this is a death after all"
August 14, 201510 yr comment_215047 That must be horrific for the people on the train. That feeling of knowing you've 'hit' something and there being literally nothing you can do about it must be a very scary experience. Thoughts go out to those people in particular, as well as the guy's friends/families, but this is an unfortunate case of someone doing the wrong thing and having the most dire of consequences.
August 14, 201510 yr comment_215078 Is this ride similar to Nemesis? (Track/train/seating-wise). Yes, it's a B&M Invert
September 4, 20159 yr comment_216628 If he did that and survived we would happily call him an idiot all day long. Unfortunately he has died and has no doubt left a lot of sadness and trauma for a lot of people, but just because he has died does not change the fact that he WAS and idiot. Dead or alive does not change this status I'm afraid. Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
September 13, 20159 yr comment_217410 I know I'm slightly late but whoever said these things only happen in America is wrong. These things do happen over here, for example the other week someone went into the Vampire ride area to get a hat, but the difference is over here the operator stops the ride, whereas in America they clearly don't. Unless he jumped the fence after the train left the lift hill, in which case there's nothing they could have done. Out of interest, does the ride slow down when something like this happens I.e. if this happened just before a loop, would the train make it up the loop?
September 13, 20159 yr comment_217413 The train does not have power nor does it have its own brakes. Once the ride has left the lift hill there is no stopping it until the next brake run. The momentum of the train is massive. They weigh close to 10 tons each and when travelling at a high velocity colliding with an 80kg person will give a small overall change to the velocity of the train. So while the train will slow down it will slow down very little and likely have no impact on the train completing the circuit.
September 13, 20159 yr comment_217417 I know I'm slightly late but whoever said these things only happen in America is wrong. These things do happen over here, for example the other week someone went into the Vampire ride area to get a hat, but the difference is over here the operator stops the ride, whereas in America they clearly don't. Unless he jumped the fence after the train left the lift hill, in which case there's nothing they could have done. Out of interest, does the ride slow down when something like this happens I.e. if this happened just before a loop, would the train make it up the loop? Very uneducated post here. If there is a problem, at all, in the ride area, it's the operators duty to stop. Certain parks are more relaxed about things, but just about everywhere, if someones in the ride area and the operator/attendants see a problem, the ride will immediately be stopped. Most ride systems do not have built in brakes on the train, so no, if the ride is past a lift hill or brake run it won't stop until the next block section because it just runs on gravity. With incidents like the batman decapitation the ride operator had no control of what happened if the guy jumped the fence after the carriage left the lift hill. The rides run on momentum and has nothing to stop its trains. But there are blind spots on rides and if people are dumb enough to enter the ride area in the first place, it's their problem. They are literally putting their life on the line, and if the operator can't have the power to stop the ride, it's their own fault.
September 13, 20159 yr comment_217434 I just thought, these people are jumping over a fence to get such a little, inexpensive item of clothing. I wouldn't wear a hat on most coasters anyway, but if mine did fly off into a restricted area, I'd probably just let it go if the staff couldn't get it until after I leave the park. A few quid wasted but I'm safe! I can see why people take the risk but it's very silly :L
September 14, 20159 yr comment_217522 I did say unless the ride had already left the lift hill, and tbh there have been much worse posts on this topic alone.
October 10, 20159 yr Author comment_220311 Not done a little round up of things for a while, been a couple of nasty incidents around the world... Tulsa, USA - One man dies falling from Skyride. Maintenance worker falls from working platform sustaining fatal injuries. Seems the working platrom broke away from under him, it can just be seen dangling in the picture on the link. Gaza, Israel - 42 injured, 10 critically as ride collapses. Appears the seating rig from what looks like some sort of knock of pendulum ride has completely fallen from the arm. What the hell even was this? New York, USA - 2 children receive minor injuries when travelling coaster trains collide. It's deemed operator error and everyone seems fine with that, opening it back up the next day. New Hampshire, USE - Adult and child receive minor injuries as they are thrown from a zipper which started unexpectedly while they were loading. It seems the rides brakes failed. Seems to be a few incidents on Zippers, I want to try one so bad though. Update on last years fatality when the girl was thrown from the AirMaxx to her death; the case is being considered for prosecution, and the family are frustrated at the cause of the incident being withheld from them by investigators. Update from the fairly minor incident where a child was injured back in 2013 at a UK fair, HSE have successfully prosecuted the rides operator as the incident was preventable. More to come...
October 11, 20159 yr Author comment_220446 ... Canada - Minor injuries to female thrown from a Rok'n'Rol. From the pic it looks like her single seat strap simply came undone. These things invert, I'm amazed that's all that keeps you in. I went on one once at Barry Island, I can't remember what the restraints were. It was really great fun though, there should be more of them about! Skegness - child suffers 'extreme burns'. Reported that the lad fell from the ride, but I'm not to sure it's possible to fall from a ghost train without having done something pretty dumb first. Brean - Woman crushes finger as ghost train derails. Ouch. Pakistan - Child killed by collapsing ride. Horrible horrible incident. But look at it! Who the hell in their right mind would but their child on a contraption that looks like this pile of junk in the background? Mt Olympus, USA - No injuries when slingshot able snaps moments before launch. After the one in France a short time ago, this does show a bit of a problem with this ride type. Imagine where that ball would end up if that failure occurred a moment later at the launch. Kentucky, USA - Several children receive minor injuries when swing ride falls over. another one. These things seem about as stable as a game of Jenga. Update on last years Holiday Park fatality on the Drunken Barrels (breakdance). The deceased was the daughter of a an American military family from the local barracks. The accident happened because staff started the ride with people on the platform, the staff involved are facing criminal prosecution.
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