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

[jjenny]

The child was 10 years old. This liability waiver-how could it even be legal if 10 year old signs it?

 

[jjenny]

No, he is a minor and can't provide consent. His parents would have needed to sign the waiver for it to be binding.

There are three states where waivers are void--Lousiana, Montana, and Virginia. Some states are questionable and others are restricted or have special use voids. Kansas is not in any of these categories. If the family signed a waiver, it may hold.

A waiver would be upheld if the risks are stated----which is why we often see known and unknown risks in waivers----and done in accordance with the state's laws. .

He was there at the ride with his 12 year old brother. Brother rode in a different boat. From what has been reported, 12 year old had to go tell his mother that his brother was dead. So mother didn't see it happen and wasn't at the ride when the ride ended. So were the parents ever present near the ride to even sign this waiver?

 

[IBsleuthin]

View attachment 99728

A photo of Caleb and his family. Caleb is standing behind his dad. (I hope its ok to post the photo from the article below. I'm sure this is how Caleb's family want him to be remembered as a happy smiling young man than for this terrible tragedy)

"The brother of the ten-year-old boy who was killed on the world's tallest water slide was supposed to go on the thrill ride with his sibling, but ended up watching him die instead.

Nate Schwab, 12, was planning on riding the Verrückt waterslide at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City with his younger brother, ten-year-old Caleb, on Sunday, but they were told they didn't weigh enough to go together."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...not-meet-400-pound-minimum.html#ixzz4H9P8Onz5

Thanks for posting this, it's very nice to see something positive amidst all of this horror.

 

[IBsleuthin]

The child was 10 years old. This liability waiver-how could it even be legal if 10 year old signs it?

Absolutely not.

 

[Embley]

I pretty much stick to Disney parks. I am surprised to see that the government doesn't inspect Disney World in Florida.

Honestly though, when my husband and I visited Disney World, it really did seem like they take great care of their rides. I do feel that where government regulation fails, Disney makes up for. IMO.

Unfortunately though, that can't be expected of all amusement /theme parks.

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[GeeEm]

August 11, 2016

According to the report the two women riding with Caleb Schwab, were sisters

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/sisters-injured-in-fatal-water-slide-ride-742298179508

If this has been posted please ignore, I didn't read of it before.

Thanks ~

 

[SophieRose]

This blog poster said she did not sign a waiver back in 2014, just a verbal acknowledgment about the risks of the ride.

http://www.nextdoortonormal.com/201...ding-verruckt-the-worlds-tallest-water-slide/

Surprisingly, there were no waivers to sign. Instead, a ride staffer read aloud a warning about all that could happen to us on the ride, including “mental damage,” and we had to verbally acknowledge that we understood the risks. We then stood on a scale to determine if our group of three riders fell within the 400 and 550 pound range. We did, so we were given wrist bands and a handwritten No. 1 to represent the first raft of the day.

snip

The staff calls a Code 528 (264 steps up + 264 steps down) if a rider chickens out and chooses to walk. Our group decided to follow-through and were asked to step once more on a scale. Both scales we stepped on do not show a weight, just a red or green light.

 

[AmyPond]

Honestly though, when my husband and I visited Disney World, it really did seem like they take great care of their rides. I do feel that where government regulation fails, Disney makes up for. IMO.

Unfortunately though, that can't be expected of all amusement /theme parks.

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I agree that Disney does take good care of their rides. Of course accidents can (and do) happen anywhere. But it seems like Schlitterbahn (and many other parks) are just.....bad news. In my life, I've gone to a local permanent park in Iowa many, many times. But now...I feel a little more leery of it.

 

[MsFacetious]

Maybe the waiver is signed when you enter the park, if one is actually signed at all.

 

[AmyPond]

Don't some places put that sort of thing on that actual ticket?

 

[Betty P]

Maybe the waiver is signed when you enter the park, if one is actually signed at all.

Waiver or no, what's so hard about running a safe, well-maintained amusement park? Nothing. The idea that a park owner would make customers sign their life away before entering the park is just 100 kinds of wrong. Run the park safely or don't run one at all, period.

 

[KaaBoom]

Honestly though, when my husband and I visited Disney World, it really did seem like they take great care of their rides. I do feel that where government regulation fails, Disney makes up for. IMO.

Unfortunately though, that can't be expected of all amusement /theme parks.

I agree that Disney does a good job with safety. I believe that in 65 years Disneyland has had about nine deaths and most of them have been the fault of the guest. Things like guests defeating safety equipment or trespassing where they weren’t supposed to be. It’s just about impossible to get killed on a ride at Disneyland. Disney World has about the same number of deaths. Most of the deaths there are results of guests suffering medical issues or being attacked by wildlife. Tokyo Disneyland is even better. In 25 years they have never had a death, and I believe they have had exactly one ride related injury.

Deaths and injuries at amusement parks should never happen. There is no excuse for this type of thing.

 

[neesaki]

This blog poster said she did not sign a waiver back in 2014, just a verbal acknowledgment about the risks of the ride.

http://www.nextdoortonormal.com/201...ding-verruckt-the-worlds-tallest-water-slide/

Surprisingly, there were no waivers to sign. Instead, a ride staffer read aloud a warning about all that could happen to us on the ride, including “mental damage,” and we had to verbally acknowledge that we understood the risks. We then stood on a scale to determine if our group of three riders fell within the 400 and 550 pound range. We did, so we were given wrist bands and a handwritten No. 1 to represent the first raft of the day.

snip

The staff calls a Code 528 (264 steps up + 264 steps down) if a rider chickens out and chooses to walk. Our group decided to follow-through and were asked to step once more on a scale. Both scales we stepped on do not show a weight, just a red or green light.

They call a Code 528 if a rider "chickens out" ? Hopefully the staff don't use those terms, and hopefully they don't make a big deal of it if someone "chickens out", but it's hard to tell from the article.

Personally, I don't think children should be allowed to go on rides this extreme, at least no younger than 14, and only with parental permission. But then a water ride this extreme and dangerous shouldn't even be in existence, so I guess it's a moot point, at least as far as I'm concerned. JMO

 

[JohnPaul]

Don't some places put that sort of thing on that actual ticket?

that's what i have been thinking also,

it would be good to hear from somebody who has a ticket stub from this park, im sure if you read the fine print on it, it would basically say "use rides at your own risk" but in more legal terms

 

[Madeleine74]

Waiver or no, what's so hard about running a safe, well-maintained amusement park? Nothing. The idea that a park owner would make customers sign their life away before entering the park is just 100 kinds of wrong. Run the park safely or don't run one at all, period.

There are people who are clumsy enough they'll trip over their own feet just walking from the parking lot to the first ride and sue the park. Parks have to protect themselves legally -- even Disney protects itself aggressively. Disney does so without people thinking too much about it, plus their rides are tame.

But it sounds like this one ride is the unsafe one in KS; I haven't heard anything about the other rides there or any problems with the other rides. We live in a litigious society and legal liability necessitates all kinds of warnings and waivers. That doesn't excuse anyone from making sure the rides are safe and fully within regulations though.

 

[JohnPaul]

Waiver or no, what's so hard about running a safe, well-maintained amusement park? Nothing. The idea that a park owner would make customers sign their life away before entering the park is just 100 kinds of wrong. Run the park safely or don't run one at all, period.

its not wrong at all, they need to protect themselves,

people ABUSE the legal system, that's the problem, and thats why waivers are nesessary,

if im the owner of an amusement park i am definitely having an "enter at your own risk" policy, that would be stated on the ticket (in more legal terms), and if you don't like it, do not enter, its simple

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

'He held me, that was Caleb': Father pays emotional tribute at funeral for son who was killed on the world's fastest water slide

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...world-s-tallest-waterslide.html#ixzz4HDRjNxxN

 

[Wyle_E_Coyote]

And a bit more from the Smithsonian article...

BBM

So how does one go about building the world's tallest water slide—and more importantly, ensuring it's safe? Amazingly, it's little more than trial and error.


Henry has over a dozen waterpark-related patents to his name, like the Master Blaster, an uphill water coaster technology that uses water canons to propel riders up slopes. Schooley is a designer with a degree in biology and a background building yachts, and when Henry asked him for help designing the Master Blaster, Schooley found moving from yachts to water slides an easy transition. But when Henry decided to build the world's tallest water slide, the pair realized their ride might have more in common with roller coasters than with the traditional water park slide.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/trave...est-waterslide-180952069/#LlXfHp1rsRe5Ryll.99


These yahoos were completely unqualified and had no business building something like this.

Real engineers do not design through trial and error.

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Apologies for quoting myself, but I found more on Jeff Henry's engineering training, or lack thereof...

Henry never finished high school and never formally learned to draw. All his knowledge came from his work along the river.

http://grantland.com/features/the-wet-stuff-verruckt-waterslide-schlitterbahn/

Long, but interesting article on the origins of the water park .

And more..

Incentive packages like the one offered by Corpus help keep the company’s costs down, as does the fact that all the design work is done in-house by Gary’s younger brother, Jeff, a self-taught savant of water park design who learned the business as a teenager by building rides with his father.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/lucrative-when-wet/

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[jjenny]

Obviously there is a lack thereof. Maybe these people should have gotten themselves a trained engineer instead of a "self-taught savant."

 

[Hatfield]

He thought it was safe? People are being held by velcro, which at least several riders claim come undone during the ride. Netting might protect someone from flying off the ride, but obviously isn't going to save them, since the boy flew into netting, hit his head and was decapitated.

The TV special I saw on the Travel Channel awhile back when they made this ride had me very concerned. The builders just came across as wanting to make the opening date deadline no matter what. They realized they had a problem with the first design and had to tear some of it apart which really set them back on their deadline and they really rushed getting it finished.

The testing of it seemed to be simply sending down an empty raft with weights and if it flew off then add more weight.
If too much weight it would not go over the next hill so they would increase the thrust of the water jets or take off some weight.

Definitely did not appear to be any rocket scientists on their crew. It seems more like a trial and error approach to the whole thing.

And I agree with others that the stupid netting above the chute is just sheer stupidity. It served no purpose except to stop the raft and its occupants from being thrown over the side and crashing to the ground. It sure would not stop serious injuries from happening if anyone hits that netting.

I couldn't get the link below to work for me but it is related to the special I saw around the time it was built.
I do enjoy the Travel channel specials of exciting rides and exciting coasters. But they need to be safe. This one obviously is not safe in its current design.


http://www.travelchannel.com/shows/xtreme-waterparks/video/filming-an-extreme-slide-ride