Man Killed in Rollercoaster Accident

[SydRider]

See story here http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Northeast/05/01...h.ap/index.html

[Richard]

If this doesn't prompt Intamin to seriously review their lapbar design and guest weight/build guidelines. This is the fourth time one of these lapbars has ejected a rider, third time it's killed and third time it has been an overweight person. People on other sites who were at the park during the day and had ridden as little as an hour prior suggested that the operators were ensuring all seatbelts were very tight and stapling the lapbars etc., so there's not much of a chance that it was overly loose. It still baffles me that someone, overweight or not can slip out of a closed lapbar and a properly fastened seatbelt. For what it's worth, this is the same lapbar as seen on Tower of Terror at Dreamworld.

[mikrowave]

Yeah I've been keeping an eye on this story since it happened - I'm interested to find out if it was rider negligence, or indeed a faulty lapbar/poor design issue. Its another big blow to Intamin tho for sure.

[Slick]

You guys need to go to coasterbuzz, they have this article with videos etc.

[screammachine]

Yeah Its quite Shocking news actually! I read on RCT Depot last night. Another interesting article is one of a girl falling to her death at a Perrilous Plunge Type world In Wales Somewhere. I'l find the link to it and put it in here. Screammachine

[Slick]

Intamin Rides unsafe, as Ralph Wiggum would say, "that's umpossible!"

[Richard]

Four ejections from these lapbar restraints, three of which resulted in deaths. Doesn't exactly sound safe to me. I don't believe any other steel coaster manufacturer has ever had such a track record with regards to restraint safety. There's definitely an issue somewhere in those restraints. Clearly, based on the millions and millions of riders each of these would have carried over the years, it's not a completely, but I guess a matter of being seated in such a way and being of a precise build, that's enough to just simply throw riders out. I don't think anyone should be worried about going on their rides, but without doubt something needs to be done, because I think time has now proven that these rides will keep on ejecting riders. Of course, it'll be very rare, you probably have a greater chance of getting hit in your car on the way to the park, but unlike a car accident, this situation can be remedied and future occurrences can be prevented.

[joz]

you probably have a greater chance of getting hit in your car on the way to the park, but unlike a car accident, this situation can be remedied and future occurrences can be prevented.

Thats got to be the most intelligent usage of that phrase ever. Seriously, people say it all the time to make a point, and mostly sound pretty unintelligent. Good to see someone take it up market. I've been on many intamin rides, and never felt unsafe (well, I did on GD, but I think that's the idea). However, to have 5 people ejected from 3 of the companies ride styles is a bit worrying, and one would think there's a flaw with the restraint design. Even if there's rider misconduct, on the type of rides that use these systems, rider misconduct should as close to impossible as possible.

[mikrowave]

Let's just hope they don't start to install OTSR's on their hyper coasters.

[stdragon03]

My thoughts and prayers go out to the victim and his family. Lets hope they can get through the investigation quickly and the ride wont be out of action to long.

[rappa]

Yeah I don’t really know what my thoughts are on this one... Honestly I don't know how anyone ever falls out of these non-inverting rides. Like if I was going to fall from a coaster I'd bloody well grab something. Also having ridden many rides with this same lap bar design I have no doubts the system is very safe, there just isn't a way you 'should' be able to come out of that seat. IMO, it may sound harsh but I don't think mentally handicapped people should really be allowed to ride intense thrill rides like this one. They can just be too unpredictable in their actions, resulting in incidences like these. Just look at the person who fell out of the drop ride, and the guy on the Teacups at Disney. I don't think manufacturers should be responsible for ensuring its impossible to get out of a locked restraint, only that you cannot be forced out...

[joz]

Everyone is saying how secure they felt in the restraints, so as someone whose never ridden in them, its hard to have an informed opinion. From my uninformed viewpoint, it seems though that the restraints have too many 'loopholes' as it were. I mean, as apposed to OTSRs and other restraint systems, the Intamin restraints seem to be subject to sitting the right way and having the lap bar up against the right part of your body and being the right size. Its true that most of the accidents have been rider error/ ride op error, but there must be a reason that its mostly happening on Intamin rides. They just seem to easy to have a mistake on.

[rappa]

Yes well it would only be on Intamin as they are the only ones using this style of restraint aren't they? They do leave more room for error but they also deliver a much more superior riding experience so I guess its a tricky balance...