Accident on Katun; Man Dies

A guy climbed to get his hat and was struck by a rider on the ride.

www.amusementsafety.org/safety_news_07.htm *** Edited 8/20/2007 5:39:37 AM UTC by Gorman***

Any other website besides that one? I don't want to give the ASO any of my attention whatsoever.

Doesn't seem to be. Not a long report. Man being stupid climed a fence into a restricted area to get his hat, girl on ride struck him with her foot. He died, she has several fractures in her leg.

This is WHY they have fences around the ride in the first place. Common sense should have prevailed here and the guy should not have climbed the fence. I hope the girl is ok and gets well soon. My sympathy and condolences and prayers to this mans family despite what may come across as me being insensitve.

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dexter said:
Any other website besides that one? I don't want to give the ASO any of my attention whatsoever.

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http://www.rideaccidents.com/

Sad. That's all i can say on this one.

If by sad you mean, it's sad that there are such stupid people in the world. Then yes it's sad. Or if by sad you mean it's sad that the innocent girl got hurt, then yes it's sad.

It's not like this was a kid who didn't know any better. I say nominate him for the darwin awards.

^Sad on many fronts. Sad that people had to witness an act of fatal stupidity. Sad the employees had to handle something that should never have happened.
Sad for the girl and yeah, sad for the guy.
Some mistakes are permanent and this guy found that out.

Moms, Dads, uncles, aunts, cousins, neighbors and co-workers/classmates still have every right to miss that person they knew.

And it only takes one minute of 'idiot' behavior to keep you dead from that point on. At an amusement park, in a parking lot, anywhere else.

So yeah. I'll call it sad for everybody.

-'Playa

I think as humans, we can be just as bad as the dead animal sitting at the side of the road when it comes to judging speed. I almost hit a kid and an adult (separate ocassions) in Baltimore City who came out of nowhere in the past few years. Was I speeding? No.

Obviously, the kid couldn't drive, but in Baltimore City, it's highly likely that the young man who ran across 395 going out of the city didn't drive a car and therefore was incableable of figuring out how fast I was accelerating.

Look at how many people get hit by trains every year either in motor vehicles or on foot thinking they can beat the train.

I don't know what it's going to take for people to respect the "Authorized Personnel Only" area signs, but you're hat/wallet/keys--whatever are not worth your life due to bad judgement.

Talk about Deja Vu, isn't that exact same thing that happened to another person with Top Gun at Great America in the mid 1990's?

It is sad when this happens, because these kinds of accidents are completely avoidable.

Once when I was operating a Boomerang roller coaster, I E-Stoped the ride because of a kid jumping in to get a basketball! While nobody got hurt, that could have been a serious problem. I couldn't even imagine what it would have been like if the kid had gotten struck by the train.

For some reason, people don't always realize that fences are there for a reason. In my opinion, the fences on that particular boomerang are still too low, but the ride may be removed by next year anyway. I think they did eventually add signs to the fence to remind people not to jump in.

EDIT: When I E-stopped the ride, the train ended up resting the the brakes between the loop and lift 2. I don't think maintenance was too happy with me, but it didn't matter because I did what I did for safety.

-Sam

*** Edited 8/20/2007 8:58:49 PM UTC by Avalanche Sam***

They may not have been happy, but I can't imagine anyone blaming you for the e-stop. It's just lucky you got it in time.

And though all the accidents such as this are avoidable, I have sympath for kids. Because sometimes they just don't know any better. But when it happens to a grown man, I just have to shake my head. I feel sorry for everyone but that person. Witnesses, family, etc. it's been in the Podcast time and time again, "How much responsibility does the industry have to protect people from their own stupidity?"

History repeating itself.

This EXACT same incident happened at (Paramount's) Great America in 1999.

A man jumped a chainlink fence to a restricted area beneath Top Gun The Jet Coaster to retreive a lost hat and was struck in the head by a rider's foot in a passing train overhead.

Oh and I forgot to mention he died.

Jason,

By kid I mean someone that appeared to be a teenager.

And I don't know if the ride would have hit the kid, but hitting the E-stop was just common sense.

I did what I needed to do, and the kid hopefully learned a lesson.

-Sam

One can only hope.