Man dies on Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia

Those B&M clam shell restraints are great, IMO. I find them to be very accommodating for all types of guest body sizes, the seat/restraint is super comfortable and gives you a sense of freedom, and they really are the best engineered design for fast loading/unloading.

I do recall that the very early designs had a unique “cord” (for lack of a better description) as a redundant safety mechanism. It came out from the side of the seat and attached to the clam shell. It was quickly decided it was inefficient and awkward to use, thus removed from the design and seat belt options were introduced.

Also let’s spare some prayers for the other passengers on that train and bystanders who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, 2 of whom were hit by the man and went to the hospital. No one should ever have to witness something like that.

Touchdown:

It happened at the end of the ride, not the most forceful portion

We rode Goliath earlier this summer, and noted right away the last couple hills are the most forceful (upwards).

I have no way to verify this yet, but I read online that Orion and Diamondback have been shut down. If thats the case, does that mean that every other B&M hyper or giga will suffer the same fate ?? Ive ridden Goliath several times and never thought anything like this would happen. Its saddening and baffling at the same time. =(

Every SF B&M hyper/giga with clamshells is closed for now:

https://www.wlwt.com/articl...s/74113691

I believe Seaworld may have closed theirs as well.

LostKause:

Enthusiasts often complain about the seat belts, but I will never, ever complain about them again. A seat belt would have almost certainly prevented this from happening.

Probably, but I'm not convinced the tradeoff is worth it.

Seatbelts have implications for both operational efficiency and rider comfort. They introduce another step into loading and checking restraints, and anyone who's had a buckle wedged awkwardly beneath a lap bar knows they aren't always comfortable, either. But more importantly, I'd question how much additional safety they're actually providing.

Let's think about the numbers for a minute. There are eighteen rides with these restraints out there, seventeen in operation, and the oldest dates from 1999. Most of them don't have seatbelts. As far as I'm aware, this is the first known failure of this kind in more than a quarter-century of operation.

Even using a rough estimate of a million riders per coaster per year, which I'm quite sure is a lowball number given that some of these rides operate year round, we're still talking about hundreds of millions of riders over the lifetime of the design.

And that's just the B&M clamshells.

Consider all the coasters built by other manufacturers that have operated safely for decades with lap bars and no secondary restraints. Schwarzkopf is a particularly interesting example. Back in 1997, a train on Turbine at Walibi Belgium became stuck completely upside down in a vertical loop for around 90 minutes, yet the restraints kept the passengers secured.

Of course, none of this means a failure is impossible, or that an exceptionally rare failure shouldn't be taken seriously. But it does raise an important question: what specific failure mode would an additional seatbelt prevent, and how much would it actually reduce the risk?

If a seatbelt provides meaningful protection against a credible failure mode, that's a compelling reason to install one. But if the primary restraint is already extraordinarily reliable, and the secondary restraint adds little measurable protection, then we're imposing a cost on every rider and every dispatch to mitigate an already exceptionally small risk.

I'm not arguing against safety improvements. I'm arguing that they should be evidence-based and proportionate to the risks they address, rather than assuming that an additional restraint automatically represents a worthwhile improvement.

Gunkey Monkey:

The legacy Six Flags parks opted out of seatbelts given the fail-safe design; Cedar Fair installed seatbelts as a backup when their B&M’s were constructed.

It's probably a minor detail, but some of the Cedar Fair rides were built without seatbelts and they were retrofitted later. Diamondback certainly was, I think Bohemoth too. Intimidator (Thunder Striker) at Carowinds did by the time I got on it, but I am not sure if it always did.

I know reports from BGW are Apollo is closed so I assume that SWO shut down Mako too. Between SF and United I think that covers all the clamshells in the US.

This is beyond tragic when a man having fun with his family does not return home

Odds are that Six Flags cost cutting lead ti this tragedy. Lack of staff, training, supervision, maintenance, etc. There is no reason anyone should ever be ejected from a well-maintained coaster with a well trained staff

Remember that Disney’s cost cutting lead to a fatality on big thunder Mountain

I have felt that the Six Flags/Cedar Fair experience has been poor of recent years, but I never felt it was unsafe until now.

super7*:

Odds are that Six Flags cost cutting lead ti this tragedy. Lack of staff, training, supervision, maintenance, etc.

Wild assumption

It’s never too early to grind an ax.

Welp, now will not be the time to rename Cedar Point to Six Flags over Northern Ohio

I don't think assuming it's a Six Flags issue is that wild.

B&Ms have given what, billions of safe rides? No other major incidents in almost 40 years all over the world. Presumably in places where they aren't getting perfect maintenance even. Major crimes is investigating it for a reason.

I think this looks worse than X2.

It definitely looks worse then X2, this is probably the worst looking accident on a coaster since DL BTMRR because a ride clearly malfunctioned, the Stardust, Texas Giant, and Intamin accidents all had the restraints still function properly, it was just that the riders body evaded them. A restraint popping open mid ride sounds like something out of a Final Destination movie, not real life.

NYT article with the list of closed rides

Richard brings up an excellent point. Can we point to a single incident where a seatbelt worked when the primary restraint failed? Obviously it's a lot less likely to be reported, but I am curious.

The X2 closure and lawsuits are poor timing, and the casual observer won't even understand the distinction between the two scenarios.

If we are weighing the difference between an extra few tens of seconds per dispatch vs. the possibility that this guy would not be dead, that seems like an easy call to me. Perhaps that means my enthusiast card should be revoked.

Just horrible.

Most likely this will be the ending of this ride as a whole.

Jeff:
Richard brings up an excellent point. Can we point to a single incident where a seatbelt worked when the primary restraint failed? Obviously it's a lot less likely to be reported, but I am curious.The X2 closure and lawsuits are poor timing, and the casual observer won't even understand the distinction between the two scenarios.

Late spring 2001 (won't say the park or ride), I was riding a B&M Invert, and the OTS wasn't locked down going out of the station. I tried yelling to the ride ops no luck. Going up the hill I couldn't get it to lock. Underneath the restraint I crossed both my arms holding on to each grab bar with the opposite hand. For most of the ride I was forced back into the seat. On one element towards the end my body raised off the seat, but the moment I was forced back into the seat the OTS locked (stapled). I figured I would be fine given the seatbelt.

Back in the station, I attempted to tell the ride ops and 2 of them ignored me. I went right to quest services and filed a complaint including the names of the employees who I alerted.

Couple weeks later I got a call from the park letting me know that there was an issue with the restraint, which was addressed and both employees were let go.

BrettV:

super7*:

Odds are that Six Flags cost cutting lead ti this tragedy. Lack of staff, training, supervision, maintenance, etc.

Wild assumption

Well, the company is in terrible financial shape, and we know cuts have been made. It *IS* an assumption, but I don't think it's a *WILD* assumption.

Richard Bannister:

LostKause:

Enthusiasts often complain about the seat belts, but I will never, ever complain about them again. A seat belt would have almost certainly prevented this from happening.

Probably, but I'm not convinced the tradeoff is worth it.

I do. The life of one person and the mental health of everyone else involved with just this one accident is worth everyone else taking an extra few seconds to put on a seat belt. It adds one more layer of protection.

This accident has kind of freaked me out about riding coasters, for now. I would feel a hundred times safer with a seat belt at this point.

LostKause:
I do. The life of one person and the mental health of everyone else involved with just this one accident is worth everyone else taking an extra few seconds to put on a seat belt. It adds one more layer of protection.This accident has kind of freaked me out about riding coasters, for now. I would feel a hundred times safer with a seat belt at this point.

My feelings are the same on all points!!!