Ride/Park Accidents

[Secret Weapon]

The Stardust Racers incident is a bit of a mystery to me; the official reason for his head injury is that his disability prevented him from sitting upright, but if this is the case then could the same injury theoretically happen to an able-bodied person who passed out after the dispatch and slumped in their seat?

Would an OTSR have saved his life? (and/or prevented his leg injury)

Could Hyperia and Icon cause similar injuries, given that they use similar restraints - or are the forces less intense on these rides?

The only comparable ride I can think of is Stealth (and possibly Rita), where riders are specifically told to keep their heads back prior to launch.

 

[RicketyCricket]

The Stardust Racers incident is a bit of a mystery to me; the official reason for his head injury is that his disability prevented him from sitting upright, but if this is the case then could the same injury theoretically happen to an able-bodied person who passed out after the dispatch and slumped in their seat?

Would an OTSR have saved his life? (and/or prevented his leg injury)

Could Hyperia and Icon cause similar injuries, given that they use similar restraints - or are the forces less intense on these rides?

The only comparable ride I can think of is Stealth (and possibly Rita), where riders are specifically told to keep their heads back prior to launch.

He broke his femur, meaning his body rose above the restraint as it was unable to secure his thighs. His existing condition limited control of his upper body, and he likely passed out from the pain/shock so had no way to support himself from the head injuries.

If both his femurs had broken, he could even have been ejected from the ride.

An OTSR would almost certainly have saved him but he shouldn't have been riding it in the first place as he had a history of brittle bones. Incredibly sad as he seemed to be a theme park/attractions fan and thought he would be OK.

In theory it *could* happen to anyone on a ride with similar restraints but femurs are the strongest bone in your body, and negative G force on a rollercoaster wouldn't be strong enough to break them unless there is a pre existing condition.

 

[Secret Weapon]

I remember that Hyperia (also a Mack Rides coaster) had its disability procedures changed as a result of the Stardust Racers incident, and have now placed further restrictions on who can ride.

I'm not sure if Blackpool made any changes for Icon (also a Mack Rides coaster with similar restraints), but maybe not as this ride is perhaps less intense anyway.

P.S. If Stardust Racers had used OTSRs instead of lap restraints then I wonder if his ribs might have cracked rather than his femurs? Although at least it may have prevented the whiplash injuries to his head and neck

P.P.S. From a liability standpoint, I'm not sure whether the blame falls on the park, the ride operator, the manufacturer, or the passenger himself? If he had been a child rather than an adult then would his parents have also been partly to blame? I think the park warns or advises people not to ride if they have medical issues, but I am not sure

 

[DiogoJ42]

There has to be a certain level of personal responsibility. You couldn't blame a waiter for serving you chicken satay, if you never told them you had a peanut allergy.

 

[Secret Weapon]

There has to be a certain level of personal responsibility. You couldn't blame a waiter for serving you chicken satay, if you never told them you had a peanut allergy.

That's true. I once rode Saw with a strained back* (I'd hurt it the day before), but I fully accepted that the discomfort** was my fault and not the park's.

(*I had unfortunately already booked the tickets a few days earlier)

(**For what it's worth, none of the other rides that I rode that day were especially painful or uncomfortable, except for the sudden drops on Saw; The Swarm in particular was very smooth, and the most painful part of the ride was bending down to pick up my bag afterwards rather than the ride itself!)

 

[The_bup]

There has to be a certain level of personal responsibility. You couldn't blame a waiter for serving you chicken satay, if you never told them you had a peanut allergy.

Or, could the restaurant be blamed if they never asked for allergies and didn’t advertise the dish had peanuts in it.

From what I can gather, the victims conditions struck a boderline between “can ride” and “can’t ride”, and Universal’s teams need to post clear warnings and train them to know which side of the border everyone sits on.

I didn’t know the victim broke his femur on the ride - that is horrible.

From an attendants point of view, I can imagine telling a disabled guest they can’t ride must feel all sorts of scummy.

 

[Secret Weapon]

From an attendants point of view, I can imagine telling a disabled guest they can’t ride must feel all sorts of scummy.

The problem is that his brittle bones would have been an invisible condition

If I saw a guy in a wheelchair then I would just have assumed that he couldn't walk properly - not that he had a bone condition - and so I would have instinctively helped him onto the ride

P.S. I remember seeing a girl literally hop onto The Smiler in 2024 (via the RAP queue), and she was allowed to ride (I can confirm that she made it through the ride OK)

It sticks in my memory because I was in the single-rider queue but yet it was the only time that I sat on the right side rather than the left, as I had to get on first in order to prevent her from having to hop across 3 seats