Slide fatality

[Whitewolf]

I keep reading about this incident. Here's some more background that many of you have possibly already seen.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...ecapitated.html
One, no two, of the things that amaze me is that some sort of idiot actually recommended/approved the use of a lap and diagonal belt for that application in the first place and that another 'safety inspector' idiot apparantly subsequently approved it!

 

[HTSS_TR]

Quote:
'We had many issues on the engineering side,' Verrückt creator and Schlitterbahn co-owner, Jeff Henry, told USA Today.

'A lot of our math was based on roller coasters at first, and that didn't translate to a water slide like this. No one had ever done anything like this before.'

Henry tested out the ride himself and described it 'like jumping off the Empire State Building. It's the scariest thing I've done.'

 

[Rand]

so what about the part concerning it not being a family ride and
riders must be 14years old and a certain size.

but kid was 10?

 

[JC1]

That was a terrible accident. Has the slide been shutdown pending the investigation?

I was at Canada's wonderland yesterday waiting to ride the behemoth. A guy in front of us in line had a prosthetic leg and he started speaking to us. He said that he contacted the park and they would have to use a special extra harness for him to safely use the ride.

He waited more than 30,minutes but the had him rigged up with and additional harness that had 4 additional belts secured to other parts on the back of his seat.

Looks like they had also filling out paperwork before allowing him to ride.

I think that was due to the double amputee that was ejected from a coaster in upstate New York a few years back.

 

[Rick in PA]

Originally Posted By: Whitewolf
I keep reading about this incident. Here's some more background that many of you have possibly already seen.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...ecapitated.html
One, no two, of the things that amaze me is that some sort of idiot actually recommended/approved the use of a lap and diagonal belt for that application in the first place and that another 'safety inspector' idiot apparantly subsequently approved it!


Three, using velcro to secure the belts.

 

[Whitewolf]

Velcro! Oh, I missed that. even more moronic than I thought.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

The ride has been shut down for the rest of the season, per the local newspapers. The park re-opened today. There is a height requirement (54"). When the slide opened in 2014, apparently there was an age 14 or older requirement, but the Schlitterbahn web site removed it at some point.

If this is the "scariest waterslide in the world" and is supposedly for thrill junkies, one would wonder about not having an age minimum.

 

[Fsharp]

Using Velcro to secure the straps seems sketchy, but the slide looks super fun. I wonder what exactly it was that caused the decapitation.

 

[Rick in PA]

Originally Posted By: Fsharp
Using Velcro to secure the straps seems sketchy, but the slide looks super fun. I wonder what exactly it was that caused the decapitation.


I would speculate one of the hoops securing the safety netting.

The best reporting of this incident I've read was the British Dailymail link posted.

 

[01rangerxl]

With it being two women and a 10 year old boy in the raft, I could see it possibly being below the 400 lb. minimum weight for the occupants.

Also, the park owner and slide designer stated that they designed the slide based on roller coasters, but it has nothing close to roller coaster restraints. Velcro straps on something like this open to the general public is just stupid.

It's also stupid that this ride was apparently never inspected by the state, though that may not have prevented this either.

Poor kid. I hope it was instant.

 

[JennyHemi]

Just awful. That poor boy. And I cannot imagine the horror experienced by the two women who were behind him on the ride. It's frightening to think of how they received "facial injuries". That ride should be torn down.

 

[Shannow]

Story from my past.

Sister is paraplegic, due to Spina Bifida, and we were at a (now closed) theme park, with a pirate ship ride. Over the shoulder clamp down restraints, age limit which my sister exceeded by quite a few years.

Fortunately my brother and I were on either side of her, and as the ship started to become semi inverted at the point where you were full weight against the clamp down chest harness, a couple of rocks into it, and she started to slide out under the harness, and was hanging on for dear life for position , with my brother and I held her full weight for the upside down inversion part and the following slowing swings. We were hugely sore for days after, she had bad bruising, but clearly wasn't dropped.

Had completely forgotten about it until I read this one, now feel ill for what could have been for our family, and was for the family in this case.

 

[Nate1979]

Hopefully some people go to jail over this.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: Fsharp
Using Velcro to secure the straps seems sketchy, but the slide looks super fun. I wonder what exactly it was that caused the decapitation.

Yeah, that was the part that blew me away. Everyone knows velco loses its strength a little each time it is pulled apart. I can't believe someone would use it for a safety device that has to be secured possibly hundreds of times a day.

 

[chiefsfan1]

The local TV stations here have NOT reported the decapitation. I think they are being discrete.
I sent info to one. It was a report from their sister station.
Its horrible what happened. When they said velcro was the holder I cringed.
Somebody is getting sued.

 

[SeaJay]

Originally Posted By: Nate1979
Hopefully some people go to jail over this.


I doubt seriously that this will happen.

 

[xfactor9]

What a cheap and dumb design. The kid went airborne at the end of the hump, either because the strap failed or it became undone or he slipped through it. He flew into the metal bar above.

The designer went cheap with their design. Instead of using enclosed tubing, they went with metal bars and safety netting which is utterly stupid when you're dealing with a 65MPH untracked (free-floating) roller coaster. And riders are secured with velcro straps. Why not stick bubble gum on their behinds, it probably works as well.

This ride will be redesigned with a tube or it will be shut down permanently

 

[KGMtech]

Horrible event, the poor family, the others at the park who witnessed this will be traumatized for years.