KS - Caleb Schwab, 10, dies on 17-story Schlitterbahn waterpark slide, Aug 2016

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AmyPond said:
Anyone blaming or even implying that the family or this boy is at fault.....GRRRRR. Yeah. I highly recommend the forum's ignore feature. Makes for much more pleasant scrolling. And then it's easier to resist the urge to engage in pointless "arguments."

I hate to say but I think if we hear any news on this...it's going to be a long time from now. I will be very curious to see if the ride reopens for the Spring/Summer 2017 season. Personally, I don't think it should unless it's totally redesigned by actual engineers and people who know what they are doing in designing and testing rides like this.
Click to expand...

Agree.

I too am curious about if the ride will ever re-open in some fashion. I found it interesting that one of the articles with the engineer talked about not at least having a rub rail system. That was the type of thing we had talked about many posts ago where they really needed some sort of rail that would go on each side of the raft and have the raft attached to it somehow so that if it did try to go airborn then the rail would hold it down.

It would take some modifications and money but it seems very doable to keep the ride safe. Below is a picture of a rub-rail and if there was a slot in the rail and then have the raft attached to the rail on each side with a sliding cable that could scoot down the slotted rail, it would be the lifeline to keep the raft down on the chute where it belongs.

They could even give the cabling some play to still give riders an amazing ride and even get slightly airborn just a little bit before the cabling would prevent the raft from going any further up off the chute.

Its very doable improvement for this ride so long as a qualified engineer and some money is invested.
It will be interesting to see what the owners do with this ride.

One thing for sure is that unless major modifications like that are instituted then I would never get on this ride. And even then I am not sure I would. The park owners may find that the public will never have an appetite to chance this ride ever again. The owners may be forced to close it even if they improve it and make it totally safe.

http://www.piersupply.com/Category/rub_rail_inserts
 
Hatfield said:
This law firm below is "Robert J Reeves P.C. Injury Criminal Family Law"

""So the next time you are presented with a “waiver” or “release,” you can rest assured the only risk you are taking are those that naturally result from the activity itself. Any injury caused by the negligence of a business or other individual is still subject only to “contributory” or “comparative negligence” rules of the State where the injury occurs""

http://rjrlaw.com/practice-areas/sc-accident/sc-personal-injury-liability-waivers/
Click to expand...


the terms and conditions are not a "waiver" or a "release"....two completely different things,

you also have to take into consideration that law firms are trying to get business (your money)....a law firm/lawyer will never come out and tell you there is absolutely no possibility of a judgement in your favor (even if they already know it) lawyers want your money, any which way they can get it,
 
Hatfield said:
Agree.

I too am curious about if the ride will ever re-open in some fashion.
Click to expand...

of course it will re-open

I found it interesting that one of the articles with the engineer talked about not at least having a rub rail system. That was the type of thing we had talked about many posts ago where they really needed some sort of rail that would go on each side of the raft and have the raft attached to it somehow so that if it did try to go airborn then the rail would hold it down.

It would take some modifications and money but it seems very doable to keep the ride safe. Below is a picture of a rub-rail and if there was a slot in the rail and then have the raft attached to the rail on each side with a sliding cable that could scoot down the slotted rail, it would be the lifeline to keep the raft down on the chute where it belongs.

They could even give the cabling some play to still give riders an amazing ride and even get slightly airborn just a little bit before the cabling would prevent the raft from going any further up off the chute.
Click to expand...

why are you assuming the raft went air born?
 
AmyPond said:
Anyone blaming or even implying that the family or this boy is at fault.....GRRRRR. Yeah. I highly recommend the forum's ignore feature. Makes for much more pleasant scrolling. And then it's easier to resist the urge to engage in pointless "arguments."

I hate to say but I think if we hear any news on this...it's going to be a long time from now. I will be very curious to see if the ride reopens for the Spring/Summer 2017 season. Personally, I don't think it should unless it's totally redesigned by actual engineers and people who know what they are doing in designing and testing rides like this.
Click to expand...

Omg, that ignore feature is the bomb!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
JohnPaul said:
of course it will re-open

why are you assuming the raft went air born?
Click to expand...

You are right that I am assuming at least the front end of the raft went air born due to the light weight boy being up-front and heavier passengers in back.
Its either that or his Velcro straps came undone and he flew out of his seat. Or both could have happened as we previously discussed.
Something sure happened that caused him to get high enough to hit the roof netting.

But you are also making assumptions like that the ride is going to be reopened.
I am not so sure of that.
The cost to improve this ride to make it more safe may be too costly for the owners.
Or the public may not ever want to ride the thing again which could cause the owners to shut it down permanently.
I suppose we just have to wait and see.

We can agree to disagree on things.
 
Hatfield said:
You are right that I am assuming at least the front end of the raft went air born due to the light weight boy being up-front and heavier passengers in back.
Click to expand...

with all due respect to your opinion,

why assume this though?

out of all of the thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of rafts that have gone down successfully, surely this raft can not be the ONLY ONE that ever had an "uneven weight distribution"

there must have been at LEAST one other raft on this ride with similar weights and proportions to the raft in question that rode down successfully, which is why i am not buying into this "uneven weight distribution" theory,

this is why i do not believe the raft ever left the slide (or went air born)

this could not be the first raft ever having a small child in the front, no way, no how,

this would be easy to prove anyway, make up 3 crash test dummies with the same weights and proportions, send the raft down, and see what the heck happens, if the raft arrives at the bottom without incident, then the "uneven weight distribution" theory is out the window,


Its either that or his Velcro straps came undone and he flew out of his seat.
Click to expand...

this is a heck of a lot more likely IMO

But you are also making assumptions like that the ride is going to be reopened.
I am not so sure of that.
Click to expand...

there are many injuries and deaths at amusement parks,

i don't know of any ride that was permanently closed due to an injury or death, most open within days of the accident, some have been re-named after an accident, but none ever closed.....that i know of....if you find one let me know



.
 
Hatfield said:
Agree.

I too am curious about if the ride will ever re-open in some fashion. I found it interesting that one of the articles with the engineer talked about not at least having a rub rail system. That was the type of thing we had talked about many posts ago where they really needed some sort of rail that would go on each side of the raft and have the raft attached to it somehow so that if it did try to go airborn then the rail would hold it down.

It would take some modifications and money but it seems very doable to keep the ride safe. Below is a picture of a rub-rail and if there was a slot in the rail and then have the raft attached to the rail on each side with a sliding cable that could scoot down the slotted rail, it would be the lifeline to keep the raft down on the chute where it belongs.

They could even give the cabling some play to still give riders an amazing ride and even get slightly airborn just a little bit before the cabling would prevent the raft from going any further up off the chute.

Its very doable improvement for this ride so long as a qualified engineer and some money is invested.
It will be interesting to see what the owners do with this ride.

One thing for sure is that unless major modifications like that are instituted then I would never get on this ride. And even then I am not sure I would. The park owners may find that the public will never have an appetite to chance this ride ever again. The owners may be forced to close it even if they improve it and make it totally safe.

http://www.piersupply.com/Category/rub_rail_inserts
Click to expand...

I agree with the above. I also think there needs to be a better restraint system for the riders.
 
Wyle_E_Coyote said:
http://www.nbc15.com/news/headlines...r-Coaster-at-Mt-Olympus-Resort-248918561.html

Mount Olympus is permanently removing a ride from the park after an accident last month.

63-year-old Anthony Theisen fell nearly 17 feet from the Opa Roller Coaster, onto the concrete floor below.




Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

okay so one out of hundreds or maybe thousands?

i still can not see them removing this ride, many people go to the park just for this one ride,

you would be surprised at how quickly people forget,

if this thing opened up tomorrow i am sure there would be a lineup for it all day long,
 
JohnPaul said:
with all due respect to your opinion,

why assume this though?

out of all of the thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of rafts that have gone down successfully, surely this raft can not be the ONLY ONE that ever had an "uneven weight distribution"

there must have been at LEAST one other raft on this ride with similar weights and proportions to the raft in question that rode down successfully, which is why i am not buying into this "uneven weight distribution" theory,

this is why i do not believe the raft ever left the slide (or went air born)

this could not be the first raft ever having a small child in the front, no way, no how,

this would be easy to prove anyway, make up 3 crash test dummies with the same weights and proportions, send the raft down, and see what the heck happens, if the raft arrives at the bottom without incident, then the "uneven weight distribution" theory is out the window,




this is a heck of a lot more likely IMO



there are many injuries and deaths at amusement parks,

i don't know of any ride that was permanently closed due to an injury or death, most open within days of the accident, some have been re-named after an accident, but none ever closed.....that i know of....if you find one let me know



.
Click to expand...

We've already seen proof that other riders straps have failed though. So why didn't those riders die?
 
MsFacetious said:
We've already seen proof that other riders straps have failed though. So why didn't those riders die?
Click to expand...

because those riders were adults and had enough strength to hold themselves in the raft,

if this raft went air born to the point where it hit the mesh then the other 2 riders would have similar injuries to the child, the other two riders were adults, much taller then the child, so they probably would have hit the mesh first
 
A child was decapitated on this ride. I'm no structural engineer, but common sense tells me there is something wrong with this ride.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
Hoosgirl said:
A child was decapitated on this ride. I'm no structural engineer, but common sense tells me there is something wrong with this ride.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

uuummm.....no

One accident does not mean there "is something wrong with this ride"

It only means something "went" wrong with this ride, in this one particular moment,

big difference between the two,

was there "something wrong with this ride" when the other hundreds of thousands of rafts went down successfully without incident?
 
Decapitation of a 10 year old boy is far more than just a statistical "anomaly".

Statistically, decapitation should be a "never" event on an amusement ride. No matter how many thousands of safe rides occurred, there is simply no rate of decapitations that is acceptable.

One doesn't just plan and build an amusement ride, and say, "well, we expect X number of fatalities per 100,000 rides, and of those fatalities, we expect Y decapitations." The incidence of fatal complications on an amusement ride that is functioning properly, with no sabotage or mechanical failure, should be "ZERO." This isn't major surgery, with a certain rate of expected complications.

We don't know yet if it was an "accident", human error, sabotage, mechanical failure, engineering defect, or a combination of events. The public has a right to know "what kind" of incident occurred, and why. That's the usual state of investigations for major fatal incidents.

So no matter if Caleb is "the only" fatality this ride has ever had, it's one too many for the level of risk of the activity.

I think it's imperative that the public keep the heat on the industry and legislators, to ensure some kind of cohesive and competent oversight begins to be discussed, as well as pressure to release the cause of Caleb's accident to the public. The release of the cause should be the minimum.
 
K_Z said:
The incidence of fatal complications on an amusement ride that is functioning properly, with no sabotage or mechanical failure, should be "ZERO."
Click to expand...

<modsnip>


i could say there should be "ZERO" car or airplane accidents in the world, but like the statement above, that would be unrealistic, irrational and simply not logical,

so lets all face reality here, and use some common sense, accidents have happened in the past, they happen today, and always will happen in the future,

We don't know yet if it was an "accident", human error, sabotage, mechanical failure, engineering defect, or a combination of events
Click to expand...

this is an excellent point, an accident does not automatically mean something is wrong with the ride,

that's like saying if you caused a car accident, something must be wrong with your car,



What if this child's safety strap was never fastened properly right from the beginning?

that would be human error that caused this accident, and there wouldn't be anything wrong with the ride at all,

people are just jumping to the conclusion of mechanical failure, or engineer design flaw, without any proof or facts to back it up,

keep an open mind, and both your eyes open, at this point anything is possible,
 
Hoosgirl said:
A child was decapitated on this ride. I'm no structural engineer, but common sense tells me there is something wrong with this ride.
Click to expand...

the injury itself does not automatically conclude something was wrong, or went wrong with the ride,

what if an animal like a deer or a turkey jumped onto the track, and struck the child in the head?......go on you tube, it has happened before on roller coasters, but im too lazy to look it up for you,

what if the child's safety belt was never fastened properly right from the beginning?

you can't just assume something is wrong with the ride from the injury itself,

if this raft went air born and hit the mesh above, the other passengers in the raft would have suffered similar, or the same injuries as the child did....however, they only suffered minor injuries,

the other passengers were adults, and a lot taller then the child, their heads would have hit the mesh above also, maybe even first because they were taller,

another thing to consider.....the two other occupants (and the raft) arrived at the pool below before the child's body, the child's body was behind the raft at the end, although he was the first occupant in the raft,

the child started out in front of the other two occupants, but ended up as the last person down,

so here is what happened,

the child was ejected from the raft and hit the mesh above, the child's body caused the injuries to the other passengers striking them in the head after he was ejected,

sorry to be so graphic,

how or why the child was ejected is what needs to be determined, it could still be human error, straps not fastened properly to begin with?.....strap came undone?.....lets keep an open mind
 
LAKE DELTON, Wis. &#8212;An indoor roller coaster at a Wisconsin Dells-area resort had a faulty lap bar that opened during a ride, throwing a 63-year-old man to the concrete floor and putting him in a coma, according to a state report.

The state ordered the ride closed until corrective action could be taken, but Mt. Olympus Resort said in a statement that officials will permanently remove it.

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/wisn.relaymedia.com/amp/news/mt-olympus-roller-coaster-order-will-be-removed-after-accident/25277294
 
JohnPaul said:
the injury itself does not automatically conclude something was wrong, or went wrong with the ride,

what if an animal like a deer or a turkey jumped onto the track, and struck the child in the head?......go on you tube, it has happened before on roller coasters, but im too lazy to look it up for you,

what if the child's safety belt was never fastened properly right from the beginning?

you can't just assume something is wrong with the ride from the injury itself,

if this raft went air born and hit the mesh above, the other passengers in the raft would have suffered similar, or the same injuries as the child did....however, they only suffered minor injuries,

the other passengers were adults, and a lot taller then the child, their heads would have hit the mesh above also, maybe even first because they were taller,

another thing to consider.....the two other occupants (and the raft) arrived at the pool below before the child's body, the child's body was behind the raft at the end, although he was the first occupant in the raft,

the child started out in front of the other two occupants, but ended up as the last person down,

so here is what happened,

the child was ejected from the raft and hit the mesh above, the child's body caused the injuries to the other passengers striking them in the head after he was ejected,

sorry to be so graphic,

how or why the child was ejected is what needs to be determined, it could still be human error, straps not fastened properly to begin with?.....strap came undone?.....lets keep an open mind
Click to expand...

BBM. No matter what happened it is clear that Velcro straps should have never been used in the first place. The Velcro company even came out and said the only time Velcro is used in cars or airplanes is to hold carpet or fabric in place. That alone shows that this ride had a major design flaw.
 
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