How does someone fall from a rollercoaster?

[Sarahfromtheblock]

Another tragic fall by a child, age 6 or 7 (papers differ) from a rollercoaster in Lightwater Valley. I have never been and never been on any roller coaster.

Are these children too small and the seatbelts or whatever they have not fitting them correctly? Does the machinery beak down? How does it happen?

Went on magic carpet at Chessington with DD in 90s.got stuck at top for

Couple of minutes before young girl pressed button.span round several times and a lot of people had whiplash🤔

I went on one years ago at flamingo land
It was like two long tubes with seats that swung upside down really slowly
I clearly remember having to put my hand on the roof to stop myself sliding out
No safety belts-nothing
An hour after getting off it a lady was rushed to hospital after cracking her head open
The staff could not have been less interested until the lady hurt herself then they panicked
I honestly think health and safety goes over the heads of staff who are underpaid and overworked it’s only when something happens that the owners take notice

We were at light water valley the day before this happened. During the day one thing both DH and I commented on was how very young lots of the staff manning the riders were. There were some more senior memeners of staff around - different uniform- but ride staff were all young. However, having said that, everyride we visited or queued for, all staff with out fail checked heights of chn going on and checked safety belts. On the day we visited they were visibly strict about heights of riders.
DH and our two DDs went on the twister, I opted out. It looked terrifying! They had to use the lap belt and then the safety bar was dropped and checked by the member of staff.

I’m so sad this has happened but I’m not surprised at all. Single bars which go over multiple of different heights, shapes and weights should be BANNED. I think they will be eventually, only after a few more deaths though.

when DS2 was about 8 or 9 we went on the pirate ship at Drayton manor I think t was. He was over the height restriction but skinny and much shorter than the largest woman in the row. The bar came down and I remember thinking that it was only just tight enough for me never mind DS so we’d better lift it up again and bring it lower but it was locked and I couldn’t move it and thena second later the ride started.

Gradually, DS kept slipping down the seat next to me, he just couldnt keep upright from the momentum. He was terrified and I was trying to pull him up and he was sliding more and more under the bar. He couldn’t seem to use his feet to push himself back into position either.

DH and DS1 were behind us and I was turning to them saying “DS2 is sliding, he is going to slide under the bar and fall out” and bloody DH LAUGHED at me and paid no attention and was just enjoying himself with DS1 . He just didn’t believe that the safety bar wouldn’t be anything other than unsafe.

The ride attendant must have been paying no attention as they should have seen me trying to drag him back upright in the seat. But the ride went on.

Finally it stopped before DS had slipped right under the bar. We got off, legs like jelly. I was in complete shock. I had had images of him falling out into the lake next to the ride. Awful. I nearly vomited wirh shock and fear and just wanted to get away from the ride so didn’t even think to tell the (young) attendant what had nearly happened. We just tried to forget about it for the rest of the day.

The problem with those bars is that once it locks at the height it locks at, you’ve had it, you can’t change it, unless you attract the attention of the attendant. And with the noise and excitement of others on the ride, they just don’t notice, see that the safety bars are all down (no matter how it fits people in the row) so assume all is ok and then start the ride.

I really hope this didn’t happen here, it is a major design fault of these rides not to take into consideration that the safety bar will need to be at different heights depending on people’a stomachs and thighs.

@SmarmyMrMime

How? Hex is a simulator that moves around twelve inches forwards very slowly.

I've been on that ride with DD7 and DN10 at the time (plus DH). They insisted kids were in the middle and had the lap belts on.

I'll be interested to see what an inquiry finds.

The stuff of nightmares.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incidents_at_European_amusement_parks

I didn't go looking for that, I promise! It just so happens I was on a thread this morning talking about Camelot being closed down and so I wikied that and it led me to the link above (the pleasure beach at Blackpool was an ongoing thread so I ended up reading through).
It might be rare but enough to put you off for life especially when you realize how many rides are sold onto other parks when that park has closed down - I had no idea that happened so often or that some rides could pass hands twice and be fairly old/just renamed (not saying that they are not maintained just that I hadn't realized that's what happened to fairground attractions).
I do remember praying when my DD was on a wave swing and looked like she was a goner. I did learn from that one and always went on with her after that (although have also been on one when I had an adjacent swing and literally grabbed onto hers as the bar looked so wobbly). I don't do rides with my youngest at all as he is too imulsive and I couldn't trust him not to stand up or jump out if he panicked. Also avoid dodgems entirely due to whiplash risk.

impulsive sausage fingers

I stopped going to theme parks after the death at oakwood. I knew the person very well who failed to check the restraint. How people still go on that ride I have no idea

@watching what happened to the attendant in oakwood?

Nothing at all even though it showed she didn't check the restraints earlier in the day too. They claimed they didn't give the go signal. The poor girl's family I always think of her. You can see the ride from the outside slide in bluestone and it turns my stomach.

And this is why I'm a neurotic parent and theme parks aren't on our agenda.

@BiBiBirdie I had an accident at Chessington around the same time as you, I was taken to hospital by ambulance and I overheard the doctor say “FGS which ride this time?” Apparently they’d had someone come in injured the day before after an accident on the Magic Carpet 😱
I was told by the park not to return. My eldest is now loves theme parks, I’m quietly terrified!

Although not as serious as others, I also had a terrifying experience on the Magic Carpet at Chessington. School trip there in early 1990s when I was 14 or 15. I was on the end of a row, and there were so many people squeezed into the row that the lap bar didn't fully cover my lap. I was so so scared that I would fall off the side and plummet down.

I hate the long row bars. I nearly slipped out of a swinging pirate ship when I was 16yo. Slim and sat on the end, the bar was no where near my legs and I wasn't restrained at all really.

I must say that I'm quite cautious on rides and will only let the kids go on rides that I think are suitable, not just for their size and weight but also factoring in what they might do if scared. We're off to Legoland soon and we won't be doing the log flume or rapids with DS who's 4yo. They just aren't rides that are currently suitable for him, despite him probably being tall enough. That's the trouble really, he's tall for his age.

I remember having a similar experience on a pirate ship ride as a child. I was at the end of the row and basically held on for dear life. My hips were out of the side of the ride, my feet on the floor and my hands pulling the rail. My dd wanted to go on years later so I made sure I went on the outside to guard her, but would you believe it I was still too slim and it happened again! Terrifying!

Poor little lad. I was,surprised to see this on the main news, regional I can understand as its near Ripon in North Yorkshire. I think he is still Critical but stable unless anything has changed in last few hours.

The reports I have read say the child stood up. That is exactly what happened to the poor child on a school trip at Drayton Manor who was killed after she stood up on the Rapids to let her friend sit down. There should be restraints to make standing up impossible.

I hope the boy pulls through. And I can't imagine what the poor girl's parents at Drayton Manor have gone through - imagine sending your dc on a school trip that they never returned from? Just horrific.

i’m with you OP on wishing these rides would be banned

All rides or just certain types with lap bars?

‘Mark Charnley, 46, who was visiting from his home in Cumbria with his wife Clare, 42, and two daughters, said the boy was hanging out of the back of the ride.

He said: 'Me and my eldest daughter were in the queue for the Twister ride, which is like a rollercoaster but with individual spinning carriages.

'We were about ten minutes from the front of the queue when we saw the little lad hanging out of the back of his carriage.

'His head was well behind the back of it and he was out of his restraints. He was in the carriage with his mum, who was screaming hysterically.’

And

‘A police officer who visited Lightwater Valley theme park yesterday said his 10-year-old son was 'given the option' of whether to put a safety belt on when riding the Twister rollercoaster.

Jimmy Cowan, 43, said there was a bar that came down over him, his son and his son's friend when they sat on the ride - but the seatbelts were 'optional'.

The father from Manchester said: 'I went to Lightwater Valley with my son and his friend yesterday. On the Twister ride there was a bar that came down over us and also something like a car seat belt to go around us.

'The attendant there told us the belts were optional, so we didn't have to put them around us if we didn't want to. Obviously I clipped my son in and if I hadn't he'd have been sliding all over the cart. I find it really odd they have belts there but still give people the option to wear them, why not make it compulsory?'

There is no way it should be possible to stand up. There should be compulsory bars and seatbelts and attendants should be trained to organise people into appropriate wagons or whatever. A beanpole of a teenager or a small child shouldn't be in the same row as an obese person.

Almost definitely a lap bar instead of a proper belt. It’s not safe for anyone. I have been on rides where I’ve almost slipped under the bars myself, it’s terrifying.

Why would he stand up?