Roller Coaster Crash at Alton Towers

[razza1987]

If anyone wants to voluntarily boil their blood or cause a big hole to appear in the middle of their monitor, I recommend watching this interview. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kke3h2UeH3I&user=skynews

Wow what a nasty piece of work this excuse for an interviewer is. I'm only two minutes in and already cringing. She wouldn't know what professionalism was if it came up to bite her in the butt 

[troll under the coaster]

Sad news....

One more person from the crash has had their leg amputated.

After 7 surgeries to save her leg, they have had to amputate.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3141125/Dancer-Alton-Towers-roller-coaster-crash-second-person-leg-amputated-seven-surgeries-limb.html

 

 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Very sad news, but I really dislike media portraying this:

Lawyer for Balch said last week that The Smiler ride may never reopen 

So the lawyer for the person injured obviously has a great insight inside the mind of Alton's management, engineers and the accident investigators... no - of course not. he only said 'may never'. I'll say it too - Smiler 'may never' have another accident ever and will be forever known as worlds greatest and safest coaster....

At least nobody died - then they'd have to close it like they did with Big Thunder... #ohwait...

 

[Theme Park Girl]

I'll say it too - Smiler 'may never' have another accident ever and will be forever known as worlds greatest and safest coaster....

 

Exactly!!! It happened with the Mindbender, and that thing originally killed 3 people Now it has held a perfect safety record for 30 years...

[themagician]

http://metro.co.uk/2015/07/02/alton-towers-air-breaks-down-leaving-guests-stranded-upside-down-5275895/

Another coaster has broken down at Alton Towers. The Air stopped upside down for 2hrs, I'd probably say it was due to the heat.

[Gazza]

The Air stopped upside down for 2hrs, I'd probably say it was due to the heat.

"The Air".....lol.

In other news, read the article properly please in future. Thanks.

People were left hanging for around 20 minutes after the park’s Air coaster broke down.

 

[themagician]

^Oh, sorry about that error

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Standard ride breakdown makes headline news. Reports suggest Gold Coast Bulletin "Journalists" now working for UK Rag.

In other news, Sky News UK keen to interview CEO over latest unsafe ride

[pazzap]

apparently sonic spinball collided also. The truth is and i believe alton on this, that two carriages "nudged" each other in the station, but the media and well, idiots, are doing everything they can to dramatise every single possible thing they can regarding the poor park. I mean really, those people should be ashamed of themselves. I have done theme park tours and gotten stuck all the time, it's to be expected. I have had air gates failed so 3 hours delayed, stuck at end of brake run for an hour, valleyed, failed launch, you name it.. big deal.. such drama.

Regarding the other girl losing her leg too, that indeed is horrifying though. Very sad.

 

[Theme Park Girl]

New article from 12/9 in regards to the Smiler incident... the firefighters involved in the rescue have had an awards ceremony held in their honour, with the 4 victims attending. There's a group photo where their post injuries (ie. leg amputations) are visual. Poor girls. But nice to see they are smiling again despite the obvious trauma they have endured.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/11/alton-towers-smiler-ride-victims-meet-amazing-rescuers-at-ceremony

Oh, and also there is also speculation within another article saying that, despite the accident, the Smiler will be re-opening right in time for Halloween. Apparently "dedicated UK coaster forum fans" (Pommy versions of us? Hahaha ) openly believe so. Although it does mention that an Alton Towers source is denying the rumour and claiming that it's just further investigation testing: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/464144/Alton-Towers-Smiler-ride-re-opened-Halloween-new-tests

ETA: Yet ANOTHER recent article (seems we were a bit behind on Smiler news/updates, hahaha) about the investigation into the incident... it's looking very likely to be due to human error. Two ride operators are under criminal investigation. There's also an interesting diagram which breaks down exactly what happened:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3207431/Two-workers-quizzed-human-error-Alton-Towers-horror-Engineer-turned-automatic-safety-lock-operator-let-truck-slam-stalled-carriage.html

[Wil_i_am_not]

Wow! It will be interesting to see the outcome of this investigation.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Paraphrasing because i can't be bothered reopening it to copy paste:

 

"the engineer should never have overridden the safety lock with people on the track"...

Operator should be cleared of any wrongdoing and all fault should lie with the engineer. Guarantee engineer overrode locks and then told operator it was good to go.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

mnews.com has mentioned this article from the mirror this morning:

The young woman who lost her leg in a horror accident on a rollercoaster at the Alton Towers resort in the UK says she’s “insulted” by news the theme park is reopening the attraction.

Vicky Balch, 20, was left devastated and without the lower half of her right leg after ‘The Smiler’ crashed in June.

Alton Towers checked on her at her home, according to The Mirror, but they also told her the ride would be reopened.

“They said they are not making as much money as they used to,” Balch said. “I feel upset and insulted.

“This has happened to me on their ride so why would they want to reopen it so quickly? It has changed my future. My independence has completely gone and I cry all the time.”

Four people were injuried when their rollercoaster car crashed into an empty carriage. Ms Balch and 17-year-old Leah Washington each had a leg amputated.

Full article here at The Mirror UK

[Theme Park Girl]

Yeah... I posted my 2c on it about how the accident was due to human error (ie. Not a manufacturing fault or failure) and how I agree with the park's decision to reopen it, and I'm immediately labeled as heartless. Go figure. 

Edited September 28, 2015 by OceanGirl

[webslave]

Listening to the victim of anything always leads to the most logical and reasonable outcome.  Victims are known for their logic and reasoning skills.

[djmcbell]

The Smiler incident is indeed tragic, and there were very nearly deaths. Apparently the people who rescued them are being honoured in a "Pride Of Britain" award.

Yet I think that the media are still making far too much of the issue. Is it the worst roller coaster accident yet? I honestly don't know, I don't keep up on them. I know there have been others in the UK which have resulted in fatalities (Twister at Lightwater Valley, Black Hole at Blackpool Pleasure Beach) but this has affected a lot more people quite seriously (due to the carriage design).

Yet barely anyone remembers those incidents today with the same fervour.

It surprises me though that Alton Towers is willing to reopen it without stating what happened (presumably they know by now), if only to reassure guests. Needless to say, this will stay at the forefront of the Daily Mail's anti-theme-park agenda (they pretty much have an anti-everything agenda).

Edited September 29, 2015 by djmcbell

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I'm pretty certain they have stated what happened - the engineer and operator manually over-rode the safety locks preventing the train from entering an occupied block, which resulted in two trains in the same block and the collision that occurred...?

As for people barely remembering fatality incidents - crass as it is to say it - is because the media can't put a corpse on TV weeks and months after the event reliving the terror... apart from this story posted yesterday, and the one before it posted 2 weeks ago, we had nothing on this story since early July.

There will be one final 'trot out' of the victims for the cameras to tell of their grief in seeing the ride reopen again, and then the ride will run a few cycles, everyone will realise it's not a death trap, and people will move on.

[Theme Park Girl]

Is it the worst roller coaster accident yet? I honestly don't know, I don't keep up on them. I know there have been others in the UK which have resulted in fatalities (Twister at Lightwater Valley, Black Hole at Blackpool Pleasure Beach) but this has affected a lot more people quite seriously (due to the carriage design).

Yet barely anyone remembers those incidents today with the same fervour.

It surprises me though that Alton Towers is willing to reopen it without stating what happened (presumably they know by now), if only to reassure guests. Needless to say, this will stay at the forefront of the Daily Mail's anti-theme-park agenda (they pretty much have an anti-everything agenda).

There has indeed been a few worse cases, google the infamous 1986 Mindbender accident. That was also due to human error (wheels was not being maintained in accordance to its poorly translated german manual) and, after some restraint modifications and extra daily maintenance sessions scheduled, it was subsequently reopened. And that was after 3 fatalities! And guess what... perfect safety record for 30 years. 

I expect it to be a similar conclusion for the Smiler, AND the Green Lantern, which going by MW's recent activity on it also appears to be getting reopened sometime soon. Thank goodness theme parks run on logic, even if it is mainly driven by profit.

I can understand concern if a ride caused an accident or death due to a design flaw or major fault, but it just doesn't seem logical to remove a coaster when it is due to mishandling during human safety protocols. The ride did everything correctly that it was programmed to do at the time.

As I said in my FB opinion, cars are responsible for daily accidents and deaths and yet we don't stop using them. Life would be pretty boring if we overzealously got rid of every thing that caused an accident or death, especially if they were mishandled to begin with.

Happy to report that a lot of people agreed with me in the end and the chick that unfoundedly labelled me "heartless" copped a lot of criticism and she ended up deleting her posts. Thank goodness some people can see common sense beyond their emotions.

Edited September 29, 2015 by OceanGirl

[Zanstabar]

There has indeed been a few worse cases, google the infamous 1986 Mindbender accident. That was also due to human error (wheels was not being maintained in accordance to its poorly translated german manual) and, after some restraint modifications and extra daily maintenance sessions scheduled, it was subsequently reopened. And that was after 3 fatalities! And guess what... perfect safety record for 30 years. 

I expect it to be a similar conclusion for the Smiler, AND the Green Lantern, which going by MW's recent activity on it also appears to be getting reopened sometime soon. Thank goodness theme parks run on logic, even if it is mainly driven by profit.

I can understand concern if a ride caused an accident or death due to a design flaw or major fault, but it just doesn't seem logical to remove a coaster when it is due to mishandling during human safety protocols. The ride did everything correctly that it was programmed to do at the time.

As I said in my FB opinion, cars are responsible for daily accidents and deaths and yet we don't stop using them. Life would be pretty boring if we overzealously got rid of every thing that caused an accident or death, especially if they were mishandled to begin with.

Happy to report that a lot of people agreed with me in the end and the chick that unfoundedly labelled me "heartless" copped a lot of criticism and she ended up deleting her posts. Thank goodness some people can see common sense beyond their emotions.

It's great to hear that common sense is starting to prevail. I guess people are started to actually read up on an incident before they comment.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

^Disagree.

 

i'm betting fluke, or full moon.

[Zanstabar]

^Disagree.

 

i'm betting fluke, or full moon.

Well we did have a full moon just only the other day...

[pushbutton]

Wow what a nasty piece of work this excuse for an interviewer is. I'm only two minutes in and already cringing. She wouldn't know what professionalism was if it came up to bite her in the butt 

I just saw that interview. What a bitch!

 

[djmcbell]

If anyone wants to voluntarily boil their blood or cause a big hole to appear in the middle of their monitor, I recommend watching this interview. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kke3h2UeH3I&user=skynews

Just watched that in it's entirety (God I'm a glutton for punishment). Seems she goaded him into saying that the safety checks weren't adequate to prevent such an incident and then harped on about them not being good enough.

Unfortunately the media seem to be using similar tactics all the time, picking up on a single thing someone said and beating them over the head with it.

I think the Smiler incident will have been unforeseeable, so whilst Merlin may well have the best safety checks in the industry, this wasn't prevented because, let's face it, nobody thought about it. It could have happened at any park.

[rappa]

It could happen tomorrow anywhere! If employees don't follow the established safety procedures then accidents can and will happen. 

The park can't do anything to FORCE it's employees to do the right thing anymore than an airline can FORCE pilots not to intentionally crash planes. 

[Theme Park Girl]

Wow... another prime example of fine journalism... *cough* *cough*

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/470792/we-crash-test-dummies-sickos-rush-test-infamous-Smiler-ride

The comments at the bottom of the article speak for themselves. I totally agree with them :/