here's the low down...
After the events of 1999, you know the Shockwave accident(s)and the Drop Zone @ PGA accident. Parks began to evaluate the safety of thier standups and drop rides. First, after the drop ride accident in California, parks began adding belts to the Intamin Drop Towers these included all Drop Zones, including the new-at-the-time Gyro Drop even though they had been built and run without them. With the standup coaster "events" we see Paramount add belts connecting the two sides of the over the shoulder restraints on thier Togo standups. The idea behind this is similar to the new Arrow 4-d design where if the harness fails the belt will ensure that the bars still cover the passenger. B&M made these moves in response to the events. While there was never a death or serious injury on thier standups they too added belts that dangle from the "seat" and clip to the front of the harness. Some of the newly installed clips read "for marine use only". These belts were added to ALL B&M standups and have been the result of lots of hassel as now all belts have to be buckled before dispatch. Remember stand up trains and inverted/floorless trains are different so this adds to the difficulty. All new B&M rides since then have had these belts such as the floorless (Medusa, etc) and sitdowns with thier new more open train design (Hulk, Wildfire, etc)
While some may argue that the belts were seen on Oblivion at Alton Towers before this drama, I think more recent uses of the belts are in response to recent events. In fact in Flight of Fear's new train rehab we see a belt that does no purpose but to ensure the belt is down far enough. I have a real hard time believing that this small strap with a hook is gonna hold that lap bar down if something happens.
As for Kumba, the old design isn't as open as the new reclining standard sitdown B&M as seen on wildfire, so I dont think they really need the belts.
Finally, for the belts on Nitro, I was under the impression that they are only used for larger guests, how do they work, anyone have any details. I know they are hidden the arm rest.
