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Injuries, Near Misses Or Scary Moments

Spike

Spike

TS Contributor
Favourite Ride
Taron
Sorry for the dark topic choice but I'm curious; have you sustained an injury, had a near miss or had any genuinely scary moments on a ride or rollercoaster? (I realised that sounds like one of those accident helpline adverts haha)

I had one injury when I was young at a Round Table fair in Blackpool when I was about 7 or 8, I was riding a Sizzler (Image below) and as the ride was coming to a halt the guy released the bars and I got out whilst it was still in motion and was dragged between the car and the moving floor, I scraped all the back of both my legs and was treated by St John's Ambulance, my Dad was pretty annoyed at me for getting out when the ride was still moving and rightly so, but in hindsight and in this day age it would have been a major breach of Health & Safety to release the bars whilst the ride was still in motion lol

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2 other scary moments I've had, shortly after PMBO crashed and had re-opened I was on it with some friends from school and was sat at the back, the ride was perfectly fine and entered the final break run after the tunnel but stopped in this break run and didn't move forward round the bend. We watched as another train left the lift hill (it was still a 3 train operation back then) and we still didn't move. Now I was fully aware of the cause of the accident at the time and what happened so a slight bit of tension was building. Anyway, the train went over the South Entrance hill and out of our sight into the MCBR which was blocked from view by the station as we were still on the first break run and hadn't moved. That was when I started to get worried as I was expecting any minute a train to come barrelling up behind us and smash into the back of us, being at the back of the ride I was nervous to say the least, but all was well and the MCBR had done it's job this time. I'll never forget that moment of panic though :eek:

Last one was Thunder Mountain at Flamingo Land - an indoor Pinfari Z40 in the dark. I was 14 and was as thin as a rake, the park was quiet and I was the only person waiting in line, they decided to send me on my own despite their hesitation and the car never made it up the last hill and valleyed leaving me stuck in the pitch black. I heard another car ascending the lift and they shut it off when they realised I hadn't returned to the station. They put on the maintenance lights and pushed me up the last hill :D

Not a scary moment but I was on Valhalla a few years back and after the first drop turn before the 2nd lift the boat got wedged and stuck underneath the walkway and water cascaded into the boat, we exited the boat only to be shouted at to stay in the boat, we all ignored him as the boat was flooding lol Service lights on, evac and re-ride, but most people will have been evac'd from Valeria at some point in there lives lol. :rolleyes:

Any gruesome or scary moments you've had?
 
My restraint moved a click out on Kraken mid ride in 2014. They closed my row off for a few cycles and inspection afterwards.

Nothing dangerous but it was quite the shock when it happened :p
 
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Spike said:
my Dad was pretty annoyed at me for getting out when the ride was still moving and rightly so,
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See, these days it would be "doesn't matter if my child intentionally stuck his head in the combine harvister, while tresspassing on your farm, which had locked gates and warning signs, it's still YOUR fault and I will sue!"
 
Nothing too drastic on my part, but number 1 was fairly scary.
  • Unspecified boat ride that tends to have a fairly iffy reputation.... boat was fairly flooded when we got in and with eight adults boarded, it brought it fairly low in the water, which meant that when water typically came over the side at certain points in small amounts, a lot(!) did and the boat eventually tipped to one side and began filling. Luckily, we were able to get out onto an access platform (no restraints) and since then the depth of the trough has been reduced in that area.
  • Aged around 10, a Trabant was started before our restraint was lowered/locked. I 'waved' the open restraint at the hungover operator and he swore, before e-stopping the ride. The restraint had to be locked shut and unlocked so I couldn't close it.
  • Not me - but a member of staff on a wood coaster with manual brakes. Staff member left the brake gear (presumably planning to be absent momentarily) and began arguing with a member of the public whilst stood in between the rails of the track, in the station. As the train was approaching the operator appeared unaware until I and another guest shouted and she quickly returned to the brake and stopped the train rather abruptly.
Perhaps there are others, but I don't recall at the minute. Nothing major, anyway.
 
Rick said:
  • Unspecified boat ride that tends to have a fairly iffy reputation.... boat was fairly flooded when we got in and with eight adults boarded, it brought it fairly low in the water, which meant that when water typically came over the side at certain points in small amounts, a lot(!) did and the boat eventually tipped to one side and began filling. Luckily, we were able to get out onto an access platform (no restraints) and since then the depth of the trough has been reduced in that area.
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This seems scarily similar to my Valhalla incident, were you in our boat on that day? ;)
 
Rick said:
Nothing too drastic on my part, but number 1 was fairly scary.
  • Unspecified boat ride that tends to have a fairly iffy reputation.... boat was fairly flooded when we got in and with eight adults boarded, it brought it fairly low in the water, which meant that when water typically came over the side at certain points in small amounts, a lot(!) did and the boat eventually tipped to one side and began filling. Luckily, we were able to get out onto an access platform (no restraints) and since then the depth of the trough has been reduced in that area.
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Assuming we're on the same page/in the same caves, I believe this also happened on one of the maiden voyages on this Unspecified Boat Ride, with the editor of a national newspaper up front, and another boat of notables behind. Have always enjoyed the ride, but the system has always blown hot and cold.
 
I was at Ai Pioppi last Saturday and one of their self operated coasters involves you pushing the car to the top of the hill and then getting in and attaching your restraint and pulling the lever to go. I pushed the restraint down but not down enough and it didn't fully lock into place. I pulled the lever on my car to go and when I went over the airtime hill my restraint flung open and I nearly flew out of the car. Luckily I quickly grabbed the handles on the side of the car and held on for dear life. Here's a picture of the car and the track

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After that I made sure I translated all the on ride instructions for the other coasters!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
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I'm surprised that's in Italy where they're even more anal at charging land owners for murder of patrons when they die in accidents than anywhere else, I'd expect to see that somewhere like Mexico, but Italy.... LOL
 
My naughtiest tale...
While "playing dead" at Hallow'een on the Big One at Blackpoo, I flopped over the side of the train on the back right seat, arms flopping right over the side, (I'm 6 foot 4) and I slid my fingers down the blue girder steel support structure.
Scared the hell out of me, and I won't be doing it again.
But just so you know, it can be done!

One more point with the Big One, you can easily reach out from the left hand seats and touch the main track support post on the way out of the helix, and pick the leaves out of the trees before the photo point.
 
@rob666 you reminded me a good decade ago that I rode the grand national at Blackpool, I was sat at the back and I decided to ride with my hands in the air. Going down the first dip and over the first hump, I was thrown forward and hit my nose smack onto the seat in front, not only did it really hurt, but made my eyes water. I never did that again.

Going back to when I first met my wife, before we really knew the in's and our of her medical condition and before the hospital had harsh words with me. Jess and I went to Oakwood and I took Jess on the more gentler rides. Jess thought that the two man toboggan would be fun to try. It was raining and the track was wet. Jess sat in front of me, so she had control of the hand brake. There were announcements that due to the rain, don't go too fast. Jess being Jess, put the brake handle as far forward as she could so we went down full pelt. As we went around a corner, I could feel the wheels slipping sideways, toboggan slipped up the bank sideways and then it tipped on it side towards the grass. Within a split second, my reaction was to put my hand/arm out and some how without stopping, my hand/arm was just enough to tip us back onto the track to continue down the track.

It didn't stop there, we got to the section where you had the signs saying "brake ahead slow down". I called out to Jess slow down, I tried to grab the hand brake, but it was just out of my reach and Jess being Jess slapped my hand and said "no, I'm enjoying this." Jess was oblivious to the signs and brake run ahead. Next thing I remember, we slammed into the back of the woman in front who wasn't happy with us. The ride ops were laughing and ask if we wanted to go again. I said no thanks and ensured that we both got off. I needlessness say that Jess was begging me for another go.
 
A few years ago on the Chatham toboggan run: I'd had a few goes and reckoned I knew the course pretty well (not helped by one run stuck behind some old granny and a toddler who were going so slow I actually had to stop and yell behind me to warn the others).
On my final go, I'd made sure I had a clear run ahead of me, and went for it. Even on the final turn with the warning signs, I knew I'd still be able to stop in time just after it on the home straight. What I hadn't accounted for was the huge lateral Gs that would result from such speed. I was flung out to the left, towards the metal of the banked slide. Instinctively my left hand reached out to grab the metal and steady myself.

MISTAKE!

Scuffed my arm and wrist up, not seriously but it hurt. Also wrote of my watch.

****

I don't seem to have much luck sliding down things. In the Phantasialand fun house, I almost broke my leg on a slide when the heel of my trainer caught on it, and I watched in slow motion as my leg twisted under me at a very unnatural sideways angle. Was limping for the rest of the holiday, and it was months before my knee could bend normally.

****

Last year in Sandcastle in Blackpool, going down that terrifying "head first on a matt" slide, I can only assume I was propped up too far on my elbows and my centre of gravity was too high. (Impossible to adjust once you are in motion). Was thrown sideways, and somehow - and I know this sounds impossible, but bear with me - I barrel rolled! By which I mean I rolled over on to my back with the matt above me, all the way round and back to the right way up, not that I was clinging to the roof of the tube. ;)
Somehow in the process something in my shoulder went crunch. Got worried for a bit as I'd only just recovered from a cracked rib, but it wasn't that bad in the end.


I think the lesson here is that I should stay away from things you slide down. :p
 
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A while ago some travelling fair arrived in my city and of course couldn't resist but go down.

There was one of those generic waltzers, the ones where there's always a guy doing the moonwalk spinning cars while the ride is in operation.

Anyway, me and friend are on it enjoying our time when the metal bar/restraint which you hold onto just pops up out of nowhere. Of course I panic and jump forward to push it back down as quick as I can, holding it down as if my life depended on it.

I doubt I would care as much about it now, I was about 12 when this happened. Worst that could have happened is a blackeye and a scrape; you expect as much from a travelling fair.

I know its not really a near death experience or huge injury, but it did shit me up at the time.
 
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Last Summer I visited a certain Welsh Theme Park known for it's Large Wooden Coaster... Anyway, I was queuing for the Toboggan run, when I noted that some cars were slower than others, this resulted in others nearly hitting others... Then as I was about 4 goes from the front of the queue in clear view of the station, A parent and child were exiting the ride from their vehicle and as they climbed off the car was hit in the rear by another on which the breaks had failed and the people were unable to stop, Luckily everyone seemed to be okay just shaken rather badly...

At the same theme park, I went on the pedallos, but unfortunately our steering just did not work and we hit the embankment and had to be helped back by another boat.
 
We were on River Caves in Blackpool and it stopped - we had to go out onto the side and out a side door. They put down a slab of wood between the boat and the side and as I got on i slipped but didn't fall in thankfully

I was on Loggers leap with my mum and her friend and sat in the back section of the log by myself - as we went down the last drop I could feel myself falling forward. Never held onto handles so hard in my life

Last one isn't really an accident but was pretty insane - I was on a ride like the sizzler and as we were about to start 2 ride operators were looking at pills one of them had scored and he left his daughter to run the ride
 
Went around Test Track at Epcot with no seat belt on. Me and my sister sat in the front row but sat on both the end seats then a man went to jump in quickly after to the middle seat, but I had pressed the button to open the seat belt to move to the middle seat but it mustn't of opened fully. We went round the corner to where they check the seat belts and when they said pull the belts we all did but as soon as I pulled mine they continued the ride off and my seat belt latched open. The man next to me put his arm across me the whole ride but I had already been on it and knew there was nothing to worry about. My mum and dad who were sat in the back of the same car came off and told one of the hosts and they just shrugged it off. My dad moaned all day about their attitude.

Nearly felt like I was coming out of a Caribbean dancer ride at my local fair when I was younger - every time it went to go up I would fly out of the seat and my dad was holding me down. Never liked Caribbean dancers since.
 
I got clattered by Breakdance No.1, got on whilst it was spinning, fell and slashed my knee open. Got up and got on the ride. My fault so no claims ffs
 
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