General Chat / Man Dies on Superman at SFNE

Adix, of course the rider could have done something stupid in any accident. But we ought to work on restraints so that even someone trying to do something stupid will stay safe. We can't just go along with this "It's his fault" policy and leave it at that. Right now it seems to be, as long as you are a smart rider, you're fine, but if you're a dumb rider, you're in great danger. Why not extend complete safety to all riders? Why not make it so that the rider can't do something stupid because he's held in by the restraints, or is still relatively safe if he tries to do something dumb?

You'll never get a perfect restraint. If the restraint makes it so that no one can get out, loading times would shoot through the roof, comfort would be great diminished, and coasters would lose that addictive illusion of danger. What if a train stalled and had to be evacuated? If people couldn't get out of it at all, that would totally suck.

Restraints as they are today are fine. It's people's lack of responsibility that hurts it. Would you rather be on a ride that you couldn't escape from no matter what until you got to the station, or a ride that will keep you in it as long as you follow the rules?

Anyway, report's coming out at the end of the week, so we'll see what happened. Hopefully, they don't go off the deep end and call for reprofiling the ride.

On a mostly irrelevant note, tonight's CSI is all about a roller coaster crash! Nice timing, if I do say so myself. They found semen in the train, and Grissom said something about increased adrenaline in riding a roller coaster causes greater ejaculation, or something. It would have to be an awesome roller coaster for me to cream myself over, but whatever makes for good television.

"Albert, dead men don't ride roller coasters" - My new favorite Grissomism.

^ LOL! Actually, they say that the euphoric high caused by a roller coaster is similar to that of sexual intercourse (some scientific study), so it's not that far-fetched!

On a mostly irrelevant note, tonight's CSI is all about a roller coaster crash! Nice timing, if I do say so myself. They found semen in the train, and Grissom said something about increased adrenaline in riding a roller coaster causes greater ejaculation, or something. It would have to be an awesome roller coaster for me to cream myself over, but whatever makes for good television.

"Albert, dead men don't ride roller coasters" - My new favorite Grissomism.

Perfect illustration how low that show has gone.

On a mostly irrelevant note, tonight's CSI is all about a roller coaster crash! Nice timing, if I do say so myself. They found semen in the train, and Grissom said something about increased adrenaline in riding a roller coaster causes greater ejaculation, or something. It would have to be an awesome roller coaster for me to cream myself over, but whatever makes for good television.

"Albert, dead men don't ride roller coasters" - My new favorite Grissomism.

Perfect illustration how low that show has gone.

Would you rather have watched Friends?

http://www.wfsb.com/...84&nav=1VGlMtn6

That seems to confirm my suspicions of the restraints not being properly lowered and check, not the restraints failing, being the cause of the death.

EDIT:

More articles on the story:
http://news.bostonhe...articleid=21996

Six Flags will be modifying the train restraints on their three S:RoS coasters:
http://www.prnewswir...02169562&EDATE=

The official accident report has been released:
http://www.state.ma....gs_Superman.pdf

The blame is placed on the rider's girth (he was 5'2", 230 lbs), which caused the restraint to fit improperly. The T-Bar did not go down to his thighs like it should have. Ride ops should have checked properly to make sure his restraint was on properly. The varying seat belt sizes also enabled people who might not otherwise fit the T-bar to ride, thinking that they're secure. Also, they say the patron should have disclosed that he had cerebral palsy, but that's sort of a stupid suggestion.

Bottom Line: INTAMIN'S ACTUAL T-BAR RESTRAINTS DID NOT FAIL AND WERE NOT AT FAULT! It was not the fault of Intamin that a person who could fit into their restraints was riding in the first place and was allowed access.

And before you start saying that maybe Intamin should start making restraints that fit large people, remember that coasters are designed for the average person. If you don't fit, chances are that you're too fat because you're lazy and don't exercise in the first place (kinda like half of all ACErs out there).