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Ride Accidents


pluk

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I do love how pluk pretty much owns this thread ;)

I've always found it interesting to read up on ride accidents - not because I'm morbid (although that is open to speculation :P), but for some reason I just find it interesting. I much prefer reading about accidents that had no fatalities. Generally I'm not very interested in the mechanics of a ride, but when they go wrong I found myself wanting to know why and such.

So thanks pluk for continuously posting in this thread! It means lazy people like me don't have very far to look.

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Haha, no problem! I'm looking this stuff up anyway, so I might as well share it, nice to know someone actually reads it!

I just find it interesting too. I don't like that it happens but I like to know why it has when it has, that is the bit it is hardest to get info on a lot of the time though.

The Ramesis incident yesterday reminded me of a (Fabri) Topspin accident in 2000 where the gondola snapped off and fell into the queue line(!) which I looked up again and found an interesting article on the cause.

Collapsed Spin Dragon operator found guilty on 40 charges
(Friday, August 15, 2003) - Wittingslow Entertainment Services has been found guilty of 40 charges of failing to protect the public and its workers in connection with the September, 2000 collapse of its Spin Dragon ride at Australia's Royal Adelaide Show which injured 37 people. Investigators found that 44 of the 48 bolts which held the ride's carriage to its two lifting arms had either failed, loosened, or had been undone completely. The bolts sheered off from the ride, causing the passenger platform to break free from its mountings and crash to the ground.
Industrial Relations Court Magistrate Richard Hardy said that the collapse would not have happened had the ride been properly maintained and inspected.
"Had appropriate attention been devoted to the security of the bolts in question at the interval recommended by the manufacturer... the accident on September 2, 2000 would not have occurred."
The ride is manufactured by the Fabbri Group of Italy.
Hardy found the company guilty of 33 counts of failing to take adequate steps to avoid risk to members of the public; four counts of failing to protect the safety of employees; two counts of failing to comply with the maintenance recommendations of the ride's manufacturer; and one count of failing to ensure that the ride was maintained in a safe condition.
Hardy found the company liable to pay $20,000 to each victim and $147,500 in other penalties, however he declined to order the company to pay, as it is now insolvent. Lawyers who have begun class action suits say the decision will not affect their cases because the company was insured.
Wittingslow Entertainment Services, once one of Australia's biggest amusement operators, is now doing business as Entertainment Services International.

As usual a major factor seems to have been poor maintenance that should happen to check for fatigue but didn't. At least with Chessington it seems all safety systems held up avoiding injury, I do wonder if that is partially luck though; if it had jammed in the same immovable way but upside down things could have been worse.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A slightly unusual one, Alpine Coasters are something I really want to try one day and they do seem pretty safe. Vid of ride involved, not of accident.

As usual an accident by someone doing something stupid, entering a ride area to stand on the track and take a photo. Genius.

http://austrianindependent.com/news/General_News/2013-07-09/14276/Hiker_killed_by_summer_sledge_incident

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I think the riders come through incredibly infrequently due to the no automatic brake setup. I presume one can only go once the previous person is off the bottom so there is no chance of high speed coming togethers, so to someone watching it for a while they might think it isn't running. Still mental to get on the track though.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Blimey.

TX_Giant_G_trains2.jpg

Single lap bar restraints. There's not many options for what has happened here. Either the rider was outside height restrictions, had managed to leave the station without the lap bar fully engaged either by accident or on purpose, or the thing simply failed.

Made by Gerstlauer, those.

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I read on a news channel (fox 4 news I think) that the woman did actually complain that her restraint wasn't tight enough and seemed too loose. As to whether the ops and hosts did anything to rectify this is a mystery to me. But shouldn't this indicate that the woman was under the minimum height if the restraint wouldn't lower all the way down to her lap. It'll be interesting when they find out where on the track the restraint came up (assuming that the restraint theory is true of course) or where she fell out...

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Taken from Ride-Accidents.com

Minor injuries reported after Cedar Point Park ride accident

(July 19, 2013) - At Cedar Point Park theme park in Sandusky, Ohio, seven people were treated for minor injuries after an accident on the park's Shoot the Rapids ride. Witnesses said that the accident happened as the boat was heading up the first lift hill. It somehow rolled backward to the bottom of the hill, then turned over on its side. Bystanders rushed into the water to help riders escape.

The ride has been shut down pending an investigation.

Cedar Point Park statement:
On Friday, July 19 at 6:42 p.m., ride operators stopped the Shoot the Rapids ride after a boat rolled back down the lift hill. Cedar Point Police, EMS staff, ride operators and several park guests immediately responded and helped passengers exit the boat. All seven guests on the boat were transported to Cedar Point’s First Aid Station. Six of the guests were evaluated and treated by Cedar Point EMS Staff and released. One guest was transported to Firelands Regional Medical Center in Sandusky, Ohio, for additional evaluation. The safety of our guests is our number one priority.
Cedar Point officials are currently investigating the incident and have reported it to state of Ohio officials. Shoot the Rapids will remain closed until park officials and inspectors from the state of Ohio complete their review. No further information is available at this time.

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My gosh, today has been a terrible day for themepark accidents. First the death on the New Texas Giant and now this boat overturning on the log ride at Cedar Point.

I just hope those involved on the overturning boat are all fine and make a swift recovery as the death on the giant is already bad enough news for accidents. I feel sorry for the woman's children as they are now without a mother, I just hope they're grown up.

In terms of how the boat overturned, I have no idea how it happened but maybe the chain snapped and pushed the boat back down. I do remember visiting a park in Spain a few years back and the belt apparently snapping and the boat crashing in to the next boat below. It could've well been bad friction instead.

As for the giant, I can only see this being the cause of either a faulty restraint or poor safety checks unless the woman breached the safety warnings. I don't know what they could do to the ride to improve safety as there doesn't seem to be anywhere where they could place OTR and the only other thing I can see them do is add seat belts or stronger shoulder restraints.

Not a good day for ride news and I hope it can all be sorted.

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Hmm, I don't know what clasification of ride Shoot the Rapids technically but it's not really a log flume, the lifts are like coaster lifts and the boats are like floating coaster trains, seating two wide in lapbared seats.

Cedar-Point-5-24-2012-Shoot-The-Rapids-8

From a POV I guess the chain would have to snap and the anti rollback device on the boat would have to fail at the same time, which would be unfortunate. Odd. Maybe there is a way for it not to engage with the track properly but still catch the chain, so going up without the rollback device lined up or engaged? Just before the first lift the trough takes a sharp left so if it came back down at any speed I suppose it would roll over as it hit that bend far quicker than it ever should.

Engages with lift at 02.09, can hear the anti rollback gently clicking as it does up.

http://youtu.be/shCyUzTqdto

Local news reports suggest none of the injured are serious, the one who went to hospital having been released.

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I read on a news channel (fox 4 news I think) that the woman did actually complain that her restraint wasn't tight enough and seemed too loose. As to whether the ops and hosts did anything to rectify this is a mystery to me. But shouldn't this indicate that the woman was under the minimum height if the restraint wouldn't lower all the way down to her lap. It'll be interesting when they find out where on the track the restraint came up (assuming that the restraint theory is true of course) or where she fell out...

On that link there's a pic of the lady and no offence to her but she doesn't look too small for the restraint, if anything maybe too big, so the lap bar may have not locked in place correctly, or if it had then excess weight may've broken the ratchet possibly? Weird one.

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Allegedly the rider who sadly died,

picture_2_10.png

If correct it is hard to think that her weight has not contributed to this when taken with this eye witness report (again if true, I'm always sceptical)

"She goes up like this. Then when it drops to come down, that's when it (the safety bar) released and she just tumbled," Brown, of Arlington, told the newspaper. "They didn't secure her right. One of the employees from the park - one of the ladies - she asked her to click her more than once, and they were like, 'As long you heard it click, you're OK.' Everybody else is like, 'Click, click, click.'

"Hers only clicked once. Hers was the only one that went down once, and she didn't feel safe, but they let her still get on the ride," Brown said.

I don't know if Gerst lap bars have sensors to confirm they are engaged properly or if it just down to the operator?

EDIT: Read it back, I don't mean it's her fault that she died because she's fat, I mean she might have been outside the tolerance of the restraint due to either size or weight. In that case it is clearly the fault of the operator checking or ride itself for the green light that she was allowed to ride. If someone outside the tolerance there should be something in place to stop them riding, in the same way the height restriction works.

On the Cedar Point here's a clip of the emergency call (apparently, I can't listen at the mo)

http://azstarnet.com/news/national/tx-coaster-accident-she-didn-t-feel-safe/article_2165aaaa-5373-52e0-a550-eae20b30489a.html

Edited by pluk
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Intamin clearly jealous that other ride manufacturers were stealing their murder thunder... [/tasteless joke]

Regarding Texas, if the Superman incidents are anything to go by, size might mean the difference... Though staff not checking physically is another thing to consider (especially at Six Flags where it's all visual because in reality, it's all you really need)...

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