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Ride/park accidents in 2013/2014

Screamscape said:
New Texas Giant Accident News Reports - (2/19/14) In an interesting development, Six Flags has decided to join up with the family of Rosa Esparza is suing Gerstlauer, the maker of the train used on the New Texas Giant from which she was thrown to her death. Six Flags says they followed all the maintenance procedures, inspections and instructions as supplied by Gerstlauer and now says that the train that caused the death “was a defective product that was unreasonably dangerous in design, manufacture, distribution and promotion.”

Where does blame lie for this, with Six Flags or Gerst? Probably both. Safe operations and a safe ride system form a double-lock against accidents. If Six Flags had better H&S, it would have protected the rider against Gert's bad ride system, and if the ride system had a bigger safety margin built in, it would have protected against SF's negligence.
 
Nail on the head there. I think both are at fault. You don't see many other parks saying that the manufacture was at fault. I think they are trying to point the finger to get themselves out of trouble.
 
Well any respect I had for Six Flags (which admittedly wasn't a lot anyway) has now been depleted. I find it completely abhorrent that the park is trying to shirk its portion of blame, and turning against Gerst in such a "don't hurt me!", childish tactic.

If they've done stringent, repeated tests where the outcome is that there's absolutely no chance that the park could have contributed to the death in any way, then I take back what I've said.

Otherwise, face the music like everyone else has to.
 
From the stories, it sounds like it was the way the ride was operated, constructed, and accepted by Six Flags. I don't see reason for the company to sue poor Gerstlauer, maybe the family, but definitely not the park!

The inspections should have been more frequent and the rider restrictions should have been higher, the max torso size should have been smaller. But as Six Flags agreed with the safety, they are at the same fault as Gerstlauer on that front.
 
No ride system from a proper company (B&M, Mack) allows restraints to randomly open halfway through the ride, however negligent the ride staff are and however much pressure is put on them (within reason). This forms a double-lock ensuring that accidents like that never happen on a B&M even in a park with shoddy H&S - because the computer simply won't let the train despatch unless every restraint is well within the safety margin.
 
The restraint didn't open though did it? I thought it was a case of that she was too big for the ride and the restraint simply wasn't holding her in correctly due to her body shape/size.

This video says that the park believed the restraints didn't fail, but at the same time, they also say that they did notice a fault with the rides sensors.
http://www.kvue.com/news/231359691.html
 
Sam said:
No ride system from a proper company (B&M, Mack) allows restraints to randomly open halfway through the ride, however negligent the ride staff are and however much pressure is put on them (within reason). This forms a double-lock ensuring that accidents like that never happen on a B&M even in a park with shoddy H&S - because the computer simply won't let the train despatch unless every restraint is well within the safety margin.

Actually that's not strictly speaking true, I can't think of a manufacturer other than B&M that uses traditional lap bars that has never had an incident. The issue with Lapbars over OTSR is you only have one pin point so if staff don't check the restraint you can introduce risk. OTSR have to completely fail as even if the lap isn't supported the shoulders will be.

I suppose Gersts argument is if staff don't ensure their recommendations are respected then the restraint is working outside of Spec and it's then the parks fault. It will all hinge on whether the support actually failed (released) or if the person slipped out of it. Indeed in this case the preliminary investigation showed the restraint didn't actually move.

It's why manufacturers have dimension restrictions, if you work outside of those then they won't take responsibility. The only manufacturer to have never had a system failure is B&M so labeling Gerst not a "proper" company is unfair.
 
As far as I'm aware, Mack, GCI and Gravity Group have also never hurled anyone out.

Yes, I accept that parks should work within the specs they're given. But the really high quality manufacturers build their rides so well that nothing can go wrong even if they are operated badly. Gerstlauer is not one of those companies I'm afraid.
 
Sam said:
As far as I'm aware, Mack, GCI and Gravity Group have also never hurled anyone out.

Yes, I accept that parks should work within the specs they're given. But the really high quality manufacturers build their rides so well that nothing can go wrong even if they are operated badly. Gerstlauer is not one of those companies I'm afraid.

MACK managed to cause one of their trains to split apart and then crash into itself. An incident that was proved to be no fault of the park and resulted in additional systems being added to all of their similar coasters.

The trouble with being a manufacturer is once you install your system your reputation is then in the hands of a 3rd party. So if they fiddle with the system or badly maintain it then there are issues. The report in that video suggests the system was indicating there where problems but it was ignored.

The only manufacturer to have no system failures causing injury as far as i am aware is B&M.
 
Sam said:
As far as I'm aware, Mack, GCI and Gravity Group have also never hurled anyone out.

Yes, I accept that parks should work within the specs they're given. But the really high quality manufacturers build their rides so well that nothing can go wrong even if they are operated badly. Gerstlauer is not one of those companies I'm afraid.

Agree with this. I remember seeing an animation showing how the accident happened at the time (seems to have been taken down now), and it was perfectly clear that the fault was down to the restraint design. It shouldn't be possible for someone to slip out of a locked restraint on a rollercoaster.
 
Well looks like we can rule out any Gerstlauer rides at Six Flags parks in the future!

I'm not going to comment too much on whose to blame as I know next to nothing about exactly what happened and the subsequent investigations. You do feel that both parties may be partly responsible though.

:)
 
Alastair said:
Sam said:
As far as I'm aware, Mack, GCI and Gravity Group have also never hurled anyone out.

Yes, I accept that parks should work within the specs they're given. But the really high quality manufacturers build their rides so well that nothing can go wrong even if they are operated badly. Gerstlauer is not one of those companies I'm afraid.

Agree with this. I remember seeing an animation showing how the accident happened at the time (seems to have been taken down now), and it was perfectly clear that the fault was down to the restraint design. It shouldn't be possible for someone to slip out of a locked restraint on a rollercoaster.

The fact that the restraint could hold a fully grown man upside down is suggestive.

As said there is only B&M that haven't had a ride system completely fail but on the other hand Six Flags have a lot of incidents to their name. It will be interesting to see what the courts decide as they have all the information, but based on whats been published the manufacturer have proof the restraints can hold someone in extreme circumstances, the park appear to have ignored an error on the ride system and the restraint didn't move during the incident.

So unless there are details that have not been released it's not looking all that clear.
 
Screamscape said:
New Texas Giant Accident News Reports - (2/24/14) The other shoe fell this week, as Gerstlauer has now stated that they will file a counter lawsuit claim against Six Flags over the Texas Giant accident, similar to the one that Six Flags put against Gerstlauer last week.

And here we go, time for another old fashioned legal ding-dong for the benefit of m'learned friends!
 
Whoever wins, one way or another, a huge company is going to make money out of someone elses's death.

'Murika, f*#k yeah!
 
Screamscape said:
Park News - (3/8/14) Horrible news from the Mt. Olympus Theme Park this week as a 64-year old man somehow fell out of the park’s indoor spinning OPA coaster (Zamperla Crazy Mouse) on Thursday night. The other three passengers in the same car as him stayed in the car, as the man fell approximately 15-20 feet to the ground under the ride. He was breathing but not moving when staff got to him and called 911, who transported him to a local hospital. There has been no further word about his condition since then.

Ouch! :(
 
Screamscape have today reported a new queuing and safety procedure currently being implemented at Six Flags over Texas in a continuation of the aftermath of the NTG death last year!

The ride now has a 'pre queue' outside the main entrance to the ride, at all guests must join before going on the ride. Guests are taken 15 people at a time from this queue to a briefing area, where a staff member runs through all the rules of the New Texas Giant and answers any questions. Following this, all guests are forced to try the rides test seat... Only after all this are they allowed to join the actual queue!

Reports are however stating the system is incredibly flawed (not to mention rediculous), Fastrack and disabled guests are not subject to this process and just go directly to the station. Along with this, the process is so slow half empty trains are being sent on a regular basis.

I'm sorry... But this is just getting silly now!
 
What the hell? O_O
(How long before this starts rolling out to other rides, and other parks? Bet you Merlin hear about this and think it's a good idea...)
 
Oh my lord! That is utter stupidity!! It will make zero difference to anything apart from annoying a lot of people.

:)
 
<Checks Calendar> No, it's not April 1st. Are they having a laugh?

All they needed to do was sort out some additional staff training and ensure the rider restrictions are on display in a clear place. This is honest to god the biggest load of BS I've heard in a long time, and let's seriously hope other parks don't follow suit.
 
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