With the recent discussion of young ride ops being dangerous, let's talk for a moment (at least) about how accidents happen at parks.

Accidents involving guests are only *sometimes* the result of ride ops being inexperienced or not paying attention. Other times accidents, even small ones, are directly the result of your actions or those of other guests.

Examples I'm searching for are small (most likely) accidents that you were personally involved in or witnessed. This is NOT a place to discuss news or deaths or anything else unless you were there.

My examples:
1. I was eight. My dad was on the bumper cars with me, and we were in seperate cars. He decided to be *cool* and go clear to the other side of the bumper car rink and speed towards me and hit me. He hit me, I hit the wall behind me, and my head hit the steering wheel and I split my lip (this was at cedar point by the way). My mom was really really angry and didn't blame the park, but we did go to first aid (I was a statistic, yay!) I met all the requirements for the ride, but the actions of my own father made it not so safe. Consequently we never went to parks as a family again--my mom thought my dad didn't know how to be mature about it. Given that this is the same man that turned on closed kiddy rides at other parks (they didn't have keys or any other security) and took me to canada to ride rollercoasters because I was tall enough for their height requirements but not US parks I'm not entirely sure she was wrong.

2. I was on Mean Streak. The guy next to me showed me how he had somehow kept his lapbar up about half way to his lap. WTF???!!!! I did what any younger sillier freaked out about heights and such girl would do (at the time anyway) and slammed that sucker right back down into his lap, stapling him pretty darned well. Having witnessed other people pull this off in other parks afterward, I'm pretty sure it was purposeful. And no, nobody was hurt, but they could have been. And I bet that guy was *mad.* hehehe.

3. My ex's dad went into a restricted section under raptor to retrieve his shoe at some point or another. The man thinks he knows what he is doing because he's an engineer and a VP of a big company and so on, and he's hardly alone. I doubt that higher fences would have kept him out either, since he's into climbing and hiking and stuff like that.

So what have you done/seen/witnessed?

~me.

Most of you are probably familiar with how the old Intamin drop towers, (the ones were you end up on your back at the end) and how they work. Well, last year at SFOG I was on Free Fall when an accident happened.

When you stop on your back at the end you go down into that slot and it turns you up-right and returns you to back to the station. We were stopped just before entering the station and started talking about how it looked like the car in front of us was going to hit us. The car smashed right into us and nearly knocked me out it hit so hard! When I got off I tried to tell a ride op and he said "You have to exit out of the station when you get off." I dont know if the same thing happened later that day.

My cusion and I were on Scorpoin at BGT and were leaving the station and all of a sudden the lap bars sprang up. The train stopped immediatly, but it was still pretty freaky. Im assuming a ride op pushed the wrong button.

This wasn't a ride related accident, but it was still pretty amazing. I saw some idiot kid get up on the queue rails and start skipping from the top of the rails to other rails, unfortunately he missed the last one and fell flat on his face, and had to have first aid come and assist him. You really wonder about the mentality of some people.

[QUOTE=Jill Anne]

3. My ex's dad went into a restricted section under raptor to retrieve his shoe at some point or another. The man thinks he knows what he is doing because he's an engineer and a VP of a big company and so on, and he's hardly alone. I doubt that higher fences would have kept him out either, since he's into climbing and hiking and stuff like that.

So what have you done/seen/witnessed?

~me.[/QUOTE]

No offense, but I DESPISE guests like your dad, and usually give them as few chances as possible. LOL

[I]Moderator Note: Please Use The Edit Button, rather than double posting![/I]

How stupid can people be by going into a low zone. I mean, don't they see that the ride is going and there is a chance of getting hurt. Geez.

[QUOTE=MaGnUmKeLly]How stupid can people be by going into a low zone. I mean, don't they see that the ride is going and there is a chance of getting hurt. Geez.[/QUOTE]

That's what closed access gates and signs that say KEEP OUT are for. Would work if half of the nation could actually READ.

Well here you have a very intelligent person *assuming* their intelligence will keep them out of trouble and that they are above the general public. And if you look at other accident reports were people were actually hurt? I'd bet they aren't half as stupid as we'd all like to think.
Likewise, it's the really smart people who look for coaster train/car patents to find release switches for lapbars, or discovered the use of lanyards, or browse the internet to find really high res pictures of trains to find ways to keep restraints up higher. *sigh*
So, making warnings more obvious and stupider probably isn't the answer. In some cases having a basic warning with a more graphic example might be appropriate (Please keep out is a pretty standard warning. Describing what might happen if you don't? Ah the joy of fear....)
~me.

Very good point. I think a sign that said "Walking in this area could potentially cause decapitation" may get their attention. LOL

Wow! SFOGFreak.....now, you have a history of lying out your holiest of holy places....but are you serious?

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[QUOTE=slipknot8527]Wow! SFOGFreak.....now, you have a history of lying out your holiest of holy places....but are you serious?[/QUOTE]

Am I serious about the Free Fall accident? Yeah, I am.
What is so hard to believe?

Last yeat at CP something happened to me on Gemini. On one of the turns I stuck my hand out to touch everyones hands. This one guy grabbed my hand and diddnt let go, he wouldnt let me go. I felt like I was going to break my arm.

^ Because if a train hits the back of your car on a ride, you would not leave until you talked to someone incharge and you would make a complaint about the ride and try and get free stuff.

[QUOTE=SFOG Freak]Am I serious about the Free Fall accident? Yeah, I am.
What is so hard to believe?

Last yeat at CP something happened to me on Gemini. On one of the turns I stuck my hand out to touch everyones hands. This one guy grabbed my hand and diddnt let go, he wouldnt let me go. I felt like I was going to break my arm.[/QUOTE]
Well I hope you learn your lesson. Don't try to give out high fives while riding somthing like that.
Also after everyone you have said to us that never sounded true, no one wants to belive you anymore.

This isn't an accident, its really just a malfunction, but I was at SFGAm in front of Deja Vu when it stopped on the tower and was stuck there for a few hours. I wouldn't really count that as an accident.

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oh for goodness sake, can't any of you boys get along? *gets the stern mom face*
Starting fights in parks? Don't we know better than that? Don't people even get throw out of six flags parks for that, or carnivals?
Now get back on topic and I'll buy you a cookie.

Take it elsewhere then.

Back on topic before this closes.

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