More media overreaction to a single death. (roller coaster death)

[Paul98]

Is it sad the person died, of course. But the media reaction and the talk of regulation, what needs to change,... is just stupid. There are almost no deaths from roller coasters per year from the ride malfunctioning or falling off. You are a hell of a lot safer on a roller coaster than you are nearly everywhere else you go. How many times do people ride roller coasters per year, how many deaths due to malfunction are there...?

 

[nehalem256]

She should have stayed in her car

 

[waggy]

She should have stayed in her car

ohh..just bad.

:awe:

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Link? I heard the story on the radio but didn't get details. What, did the thing that latches over your shoulders come un-done?

I'm the type that isn't that fond of coasters, surprisingly. They don't scare me. I'm not afraid of hights, but when I get on one I don't wave my arms up in the air going weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I just kinda sit there... and if someone wants to go again and again I can only last 2-3 before I start getting light headed and sick.

 

[hans030390]

Is it sad the person died, of course. But the media reaction and the talk of regulation, what needs to change,... is just stupid. There are almost no deaths from roller coasters per year from the ride malfunctioning or falling off. You are a hell of a lot safer on a roller coaster than you are nearly everywhere else you go. How many times do people ride roller coasters per year, how many deaths due to malfunction are there...?

Statistics don't help when you're the person dying or dead OR a family member or friend that is losing or has lost someone.

It's at least worth looking into it to see what safety measures can be better regulated and improved and what that might take/cost.

 

[Triumph]

Statistics don't help when you're the person dying or dead OR a family member or friend that is losing or has lost someone.

That's why you don't have the family members of the deceased making policy. You have unattached rational people looking at it objectively. At least that's the way it should be.

It's at least worth looking into it to see what safety measures can be better regulated and improved and what that might take/cost.

That's fine, as long as it is done objectively.

 

[Agent11]

I've operated rides, it's a pretty huge error that this happened. The restraints should be inspected every day before opening for mechanical faults and before operating the operators should be 100% sure everyone is secure.

I heard that the woman asked one of the guys to make sure she was in right, he said if it clicked you are good.. I would have grabbed the restraint and physically checked it.

 

[SheHateMe]

Six Flags has a pretty interesting record of killing some of its visitors.

I've operated rides, it's a pretty huge error that this happened. The restraints should be inspected every day before opening for mechanical faults and before operating the operators should be 100% sure everyone is secure.

I heard that the woman asked one of the guys to make sure she was in right, he said if it clicked you are good.. I would have grabbed the restraint and physically checked it.

Yea, when I worked at Cedar Point they would push down a few times on the restraint bar to make sure it was in there. Sometimes, they would actually make sure to put some weight on it to make sure it was good. Then, they would tug at it once or twice to make sure it was secure.

 

[jpeyton]

I'm surprised the restraints fit over her.

 

[BoberFett]

Yep, my daughter and I have gone to Valleyfair (Cedar's park here in MN) twice this year, and on every ride the operators come around and physically pull on every restraint. They're not shy, reach right in and grab the belt, the bar, the harness. Cedar probably has some heavy company policy about not relying on the rider to confirm safety, to avoid situations just like this.

I don't think the government needs to get involved through regulation, but the rider's family should sue for a very large amount.

 

[woolfe9998]

I don't think regulations are really called for here. Lawsuits and bad publicity are a sufficient threat to deter unsafe practices in this particular area. Where lawsuits are ineffective is when it costs a lot of money to make something safer, the company may decide it is cheaper to settle the lawsuits. In this case, it doesn't cost much money to routinely inspect equipment and make sure that restraints are holding in each car before the ride starts. The bad publicity alone, which is likely to decrease sales, is a pretty good deterrent even absent the lawsuits. It's probably why there aren't that many accidents of this type.

Who in the "media" is calling for regulations? Can we get a link?

 

[BoberFett]

Who in the "media" is calling for regulations? Can we get a link?

I can't provide a link, but someone is ALWAYS calling for more regulation. It's just how the world works.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Statistics don't help when you're the person dying or dead OR a family member or friend that is losing or has lost someone.

It's at least worth looking into it to see what safety measures can be better regulated and improved and what that might take/cost.

How about not allowing 400+ pound people onto the rides? That could have prevented this death.

 

[Smoblikat]

]Link? I heard the story on the radio but didn't get details. What, did the thing that latches over your shoulders come un-done? [/B]

I'm the type that isn't that fond of coasters, surprisingly. They don't scare me. I'm not afraid of hights, but when I get on one I don't wave my arms up in the air going weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I just kinda sit there... and if someone wants to go again and again I can only last 2-3 before I start getting light headed and sick.

Some 400lb behemoth of a woman was too fat to have the bar click down on her tight enough, so her and all her twinkies put a new crater in the earth.

Ill see you all in hell gentlemen..................:whiste:

 

[exdeath]

No new regulations required, this was a procedural failure and failure to follow existing policies.

Operator should not have been complacent and brushed off the users concern about the restraint and double checked it or relocated her until that seat was inspected and approved for use. Additionally there are height and weight limits that were probably not adhered to.

Company and operator liable for that reason alone.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Adding a lap seat belt along with the restraint bar should be enough. Should be at least one more line of defense if the bar should fail.

 

[santz]

This should get more media attention so that this gets fully investigated so that this does not happen to any one of us.

 

[Tom]

Is it sad the person died, of course. But the media reaction and the talk of regulation, what needs to change,... is just stupid. There are almost no deaths from roller coasters per year from the ride malfunctioning or falling off. You are a hell of a lot safer on a roller coaster than you are nearly everywhere else you go. How many times do people ride roller coasters per year, how many deaths due to malfunction are there...?

Then why are you talking about it ?

 

[nextJin]

I just went to Busch Gardens down in Williamsburg, VA a few weeks ago and some behemoth of a man was to my right and my wife to the left. The man had to be 400lbs or more and had skin tags out the ass with grey and black chest hair in 95 degree weather wearing a wife beater and flip flops.

He couldn't fit in his seat with the single belt harness and the young female worker (who was very cute btw) was all over him trying everything imaginable to make his lard ass fit. She looked at me and asked if I could switch since I was in a seat that had a Y type belt harness (To fit around his stomach/hips).

The ONLY reason I agreed was because I literally saw his hairs on her forearms and hands covered in disgusting sweat. She had a seriously sickening look on her face and the look was that of desperation.

*The dude kept saying that he fit in the demo seat in front of the ride, over and over*

If that young woman (who must have been in her early twenties) worked for 2 minutes, delaying the ride and making people wait had the tenacity to sit there and do all of that then there is zero excuse in this.

The Theme Park should be sued and the worker at least fired or even legally held accountable.

 

[BoberFett]

I will add, the park should be able to tell fatties that they're not allowed on rides, otherwise this will continue to happen. We can't structure society to cater to failure, which is what obesity is.

 

[bradley]

I will add, the park should be able to tell fatties that they're not allowed on rides, otherwise this will continue to happen. We can't structure society to cater to failure, which is what obesity is.

Plainly stated, I wasn't shocked to see a picture of an obese woman, a glaring factual omission in these news stories. And yeah, I agree there should be some restrictions placed on these rides. In this case, one size does not fit all.

 

[DucatiMonster696]

I will add, the park should be able to tell fatties that they're not allowed on rides, otherwise this will continue to happen. We can't structure society to cater to failure, which is what obesity is.

Well if they can do it with height requirements they should be able to do it for bulk requirements (its not always how much you way but how much space you take up).

 

[BoberFett]

Well if they can do it with height requirements they should be able to do it for bulk requirements (its not always how much you way but how much space you take up).

Unfortunately, fat seems to quickly be moving towards being a protected class, while height is not.

Too fat for the airline seat? Bleeding hearts will whine until you get two seats for the price of one.

Too fat for the roller coaster? Bleeding hearts will whine until there's a car on every ride just for the fatties.

 

[Agent11]

Large riders and small kids always deserve extra attention because if there is going to be a restraint issue it will be with them.

I have had to tell people they couldn't ride because the restraints couldn't lock, and I have had people who insisted they would fit. The trick I would always do would be to tell them to exhale then I would put all my weight on the restraint and it would lock. I would then ask them if they could breath and if they still wanted to ride.

Most of the time they would beg me to let them out. lol

I've also had kids worm their way out of their restraints and attempt to stand on their seat during a ride, never under estimate a child's capacity for stupidity.

Some rides actually have to be balanced against the seats on the other side and or have a weight limit. Have to be a stickler for the rules on those, many rotating rides do not operate safely or well when imbalanced and can be damaged by doing so.

Ever been on an imbalanced large Ferris wheel? A bit scary. Compared to a Ferris wheel operating a rollercoaster is easy, your sole reason for being there is to keep people off the tracks and to help the passengers into their seats. There is really no excuse for this incident.