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Incident on The Smiler 02/06/2015

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Leah said:
Not sure if I want it to be human error or not. if it isn't, the ride will take longer to open. If it is, then I'd hate to be the person at "fault".

You know what is making me really angry right now...

"Her leg has been amputated, her life is ruined" :mad:
No. Her life is not "ruined". Dramatically changed, yes. Vastly impacted, yes. Ruined, no. Ruined means to go into a state of disrepair. Yes, she probably can't continue as a dancer, but no doubt merlin will pay her enough to help her do whatever it is she will do. In terms of buildings, a ruin is one that is beyond restoration, Will never be functional again. And Leah wants a career as a teacher, which is not really affected. Tabloids/people should stop using the word ruined.
Guess what Alton towers have done since the crash. Hosted their annual children with cancer day, did this make headlines? No.
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Obviously, I don't know how good a dancer this girl was. But if she was pretty good, then this might increase her potential compensation payment. In determining compensation, an assessment is made of how much the disability might impact a person's ability to earn money - for most people, losing a leg below the knee wouldn't make too much of a difference in terms of earning potential (especially for office based jobs for example). But if she has had a dancing career curtailed, she might be able to argue that her earning potential has been significantly reduced more than an average person. (Although that may be difficult to argue - my little sister was a professional dancer and singer, and she only started earning a decent wage when she gave it up to go into banking!)

She may actually find it helps her to get work - companies would be willing to take her on to show how they are employing disabled people. She would help them fill their quota, whilst still being capable of doing a wide variety of jobs where the disability would have no impact at all.

This is why payouts for amputations are not as high as people might think - in terms of pure monetary impact, they are not as constraining as you might think. Brain injury payments, on the other hand, tend to be much higher, as it impacts the ability to have a decent career much more.
 
Also (not so much aimed at her), but say she wasn't a great dancer, she could use the compensation to learn a better paid job that also doesn't require physical ability. That may be one good thing about this crash, even if it is overshadowed by the actual injures. Hope it is a mix of human and technical error, so you can't really blame one person, but will be fixed soon. Still hoping for the start of next season.
 
Thank you Spark! She has said as much on Twitter, as has one of her friends. She does dance (like many of us do) but is not actually a dancer. It's one of those things the media picked up on to sensationalise the story even more, just like stating it was the other couples first date (it wasn't, they'd been together a little while and it was their first time outside of Yorkshire together).

:)
 
LordOfDarkness said:
Saw has been testing a lot recently, talk is that they're trying to recreate the stalled scenario as to what happened on The Smiler and see how the coaster reacts, ie. the cars e-stopping.
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Gets hopes up that it will reopen by the 13th of July, then remembers why it was closed:disappointed:, sad to hear that another person has lost their leg but their lift isn't ruined.
 
So, imagine that you are one of the people who has had their legs amputated. So far you have been TOLD by the media that:
  • Your life is ruined
  • You have weeks of painful surgery ahead of you
  • You are a professional dancer
  • You are on your first date, having been together months
  • You will never walk again
  • You boyfriend's knees/face have been smashed
  • You will receive millions in compensation (by which I mean more than they will get)
  • It is disgraceful how Alton towers responded (even after you have praised them)
And shown pictures and videos of you basically losing your leg and in intense pain.
 
For reference, the Associated Press release, and Lawyers statements:

SMILER CRASH VICTIM'S LEG AMPUTATED
By Press Association (00.17 27th June)

A victim of the Alton Towers rollercoaster crash has had her right leg amputated below the knee, her lawyer said.
Vicky Balch, 20, from Lancashire, was one of five people seriously injured when the Smiler ride collided with an empty carriage on June 2.
Her lawyer Paul Paxton said Miss Balch's bravery in fighting to keep her leg "has not been rewarded" and her leg was amputated yesterday.
Mr Paxton, head of personal injury at Stewarts Law, said: "My client, Vicky Balch, has had her right leg amputated below the knee.
"Vicky has had a long and incredibly painful fight to retain her leg.
Regrettably, her bravery has not been rewarded. The step was taken to remove the leg following seven bouts of surgery. Further surgery will be required in the immediate future, which may involve a more acute amputation.
"The family continue to be grateful for all well-wishers, though they do seek privacy during this difficult period of rehabilitation."
Miss Balch and her family thanked medical staff for their care and support. Miss Balch has previously said that she "just wanted to die" as she waited hours to be rescued from the ride.
Fellow victim Leah Washington, 17, had her leg amputated above the knee.
Miss Balch was sitting in the front seats alongside Miss Washington, Miss Washington's boyfriend Joe Pugh, 18, who shattered his knee, and Daniel Thorpe, 27, a hotel assistant-manager from Buxton in Derbyshire who was treated for a
collapsed lung and fractured leg.
Chandaben Chauhan, 49, of Wednesbury, West Midlands, also suffered injuries.
Miss Balch, who had a four-and-a-half hour wait for rescue, has previously told the BBC: "It felt like slow motion. We banged into the car in front. I felt the bars go into my knees; we moved backwards and the car went into us again.
"I passed out. I was awoken by Dan shouting my name. Everyone was screaming and I was in excruciating pain. I looked down and I could see blood all over.
"The bars were in my right knee.
"The only thought that was going through my mind for the hours and hours that we were stuck was that we were going to die. If I was going to survive I would never walk again, that was certain.
"I thought it was never going to end. I just wanted to die."

---

Update on Vicky Balch, victim of Alton Towers crash
(received 21.44 on 26th June, embargoed until 22.00)

Vicky Balch undergoes surgery to amputate her right leg
Following the incident at Alton Towers on Tuesday 2 June, Paul Paxton, Head of Personal Injury at Stewarts Law, has confirmed on the request of the family:-
"This morning, my client, Vicky Balch, has had her right leg amputated below the knee. Vicky has had a long and incredibly painful fight to retain her leg. Regrettably, her bravery has not been rewarded. The step was taken to remove the leg following seven bouts of surgery. Further surgery will be required in the immediate future, which may involve a more acute amputation.
The family continue to be grateful for all well-wishers, though they do seek privacy during this difficult period of rehabilitation. In particular, Vicky and the family would like to thank the staff at the University Hospital for their care and support."

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Vicky Balch is NOT a dancer by career - she's studying a degree in international spa management (originally it was misreported as a sports performance qualification) at the university of Derby.
But there's no reason she can't continue to do these things, despite her injuries, if she wants to.
 
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Spark said:
She's not a dancer!!!!
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Don't pretty much all young ladies dance in some form or another? I often hear the teenage girls next door singing loudly. Doesn't make them singers though.
 
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Sad sad news, I hope things get much better for all the victims soon. I did see a picture somewhere of the damaged car and you could see the front was v'ed in at the middle, i guess the impact somehow pulled the middle in and cause the 2 ladies said in the middle seats to have such horrific injuries.
 
So, at the moment, all the tabloids have got right is that the smiler crashed and the names of those involved.

Also, just to clarify, the most injured were on there for hours? I thought it would be 30 minutes(ish)
 
A lot of people seem to be discussing the front railing on the vehicles and that things might have been different if it wasn't there, like a floorless train. I agree that things would have been different but I think they would have been worse, not better. The rail didn't magically move into them, if the rail wasn't there then their legs would have gone directly into the stalled car so there wouldn't be any significant change to the injuries. If anything, from the photos of the crash, the railing and the vehicle floor will have acted like a 'crumple zone' and absorbed a little bit of the impact force before it reached the passengers.
 
Putting in a floorless style train would make even fewer people go on the ride. Think of it like the GP would do, if there is less in front of you then you are more likely to have worse injuries if it crashed again. At the end of the day, rollercoasters are not designed to crash, ever. They don't need to change the cars out so it would protect people in the occurrence of another crash, but stop it from happening again. Even if it just looked stronger at the front I'm sure people would think it was safer, even if the actual reason for improved safety was just procedure and ride program changes. Point is, removing any bar that could crush your legs would make people think that their legs will be the crumple zone. Like someone already said, the car most likely took a lot of the energy away on impact. So yeah, floorless/fewer parts at the front is frankly a ridiculous idea and they don't really need to change the train design, just how it appears?

At the end of the day it should be impossible for 2 trains to be in the same block and the cause for that is IMO the only thing that needs to be fixed.
 
Don't take my word but I think it was at least 2 or 3 hours until they started getting people off.

It was reported they were treated while on the train though, due to the injuries, so they weren't left up there without anything for hours in end.
 
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