Accident on Melbourne's Mad Mouse

[Richard]

Just a few hours ago four cars collided on the Melbourne Royal Show's Mad Mouse, five children were taken to hospital (one in a critical but stable condition). Link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s954543.htm Let's just hope that nothing happens to the ride, as it is a classic - one of very few remaining (I count five around the world - three of which are in Australia) wooden mice. Other links: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/26/...4083180956.html http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/...4083182328.html http://news.ninemsn.com.au/National/story_51985.asp

[inTIMidated]

Some people were also injured on the classic flat ride " the Zipper" hopefully this ride wont be closed as a result.

[Richard]

Don't quote me on this - I'm hardly a traveling ride enthusiast - but I believe that this is the Zipper which was involved. Add of course the incident they had on the chairlift the other day. Hasn't been a good show so far by the sounds of things. From what they showed on the news, it appeared that the car came to a halt on the first bunny hill (see Aussie World's Wild Mouse. The first car stopped near the peak, with two others slamming on the "up" side of the hill (caught by the anti-rollbacks they have on the bunny hills) and the forth hitting the back of the one in front and valleying. I wouldn't want to have been in the fourth car, and I hope everyone injured has a speedy recovery.

[joz]

Damm, hasn't been a good week in general for Australia: (Sunday, September 21, 2003) - At Australia's Royal Melbourne Show, a mini bungee-trampoline ride for children blew over under heavy winds and fell onto some power lines. The accident happened before the fair opened for the day, and no one was injured. A spokesman for the show told reporters that the mishap "is just one of those things that happen." And in NSW (Sunday, September 21, 2003) - Two children were injured when a gust of wind tipped over an inflatable castle they were jumping in. The accident happened in the Southern Highlands, New South Wales, Australia. One of the victims, a 7-year-old boy, suffered a bloody nose and the other victim, the boy's 4-year-old sister, suffered an injured shoulder. The gust of wind reportedly lifted all of the ride's stability pegs out of the ground, then tipped it over. Several other children who were on the ride were not injured. The children were given first aid on the scene by workers who had been setting up a display on how to stay safe in wind and thunder storms. The display was part of "Storm Safe Week." (Both articles from http://members.aol.com/rides911/accidents.htm ) That's 4 major incidents in a few days. 3 of which were at the same place.... Whats going on?

[reubot]

I think the current Melbourne show must be cursed. :?

[DJKostya]

I dont kniow about all of you guys but to be honest show rides really scary me. Think about it they're dismantled and rebuilt every few days so the ppl doing it must get pretty sick of doing it. And some of the ppl running some of the rides look a bit dodgy to me. Not all of them just some. They also make so really loud and unusual noises which send chills down my spine. To be honest the only show ride I feel truly safe on is the jumping castle because its nice and soft . At least in a theme park the rides are perminent and have maintinence crews looking after them constantly. I mean look at the BB they must be doing some major maintinence on it for it to be out for this long.

[Richard]

Some say that because the rides are dismantled regularly, they're safer than fixed rides, simply because there's apparently less of a chance that problems with parts will go unseen. I have to disagree with that idea though. They people who own them, from my perspective seem pretty shadey. The company that owns the Mad Mouse have had a string of incidents in the past few months/years, where the cause is 100% operator. How the three cars got past the block that is right before the bunny hill is totally beyond me. The only way that can happen is if the block brake system has been modified, making for an unsafe (and presumably illegal) ride. The fact that there were 12 people on the ride at the time, which means six cars, speaks enough for me - I've worked it out, and there's no way you can fit six cars safely onto the course of the Mad Mouse. I don't think these people should be allowed to operate another ride ever again as far as I'm concerned.

[HussRainbow]

about the Zipper, it is that model, owned by Short's, a bolt sheered off it, I dont know exactly what happened, but its fine now, and is operating, im glad the rainbow wasnt there to get into any trouble, even though its maintained perfectly