Accomodations for guest error

There is little doubt that manufacturers must makke safty meausres into their rides in case of both weather and mechanical problems. But, should the ride creators account for times where the guest on the ride does not follow the rules, as we know they do?

I personally think that yes, the manufactuer must make the ride "fool proof" because it is no mystery that a good portion of people do not follow the rules for the rides they get on. Because it's a fact, their should be some meausre to prevent injury.

This would keep rides open longer, more people in buisness, and mostly, less people hurt.

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They should account for the times when the guest does'nt follow the rules because then if something happens to the guest, then automatically the guest gets sue happy. I have seen this too many times. In the case of the 4year old girl falling out of the StarFish ride, the mother should be made accountable because the little girl was much too small and immature to ride it. Sometimes it's a tough call to say who should be made accountable and it's hard for the ride designers to know what type or kind of person is going to ride their rides. They already try to acoount for all the loose nuts that don't follow the rules. Those people just don't have any common sense and somehow should not be permitted to ride. The ride designers all have our safety in mind and the ride operators should kind of have an idea of who can ride and who can't. I was at IB not too long ago and an overly drunk guy wanted to ride the Chaos, and the operator turned him away. I have to say that the ride ops have the ultimate responsibility.

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Beer, my soon to be wife, coasters, and the FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Is this a great country or what!!
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stoogemanmoe and places to get discount Six Flags Great America tickets!

My favorite is "she's almost 4 feet tall, she's in first grade, and she just rode the Corkscrew...why can't she ride Power Tower?"

Some people don't realize that restrictions are for SAFETY reasons, and many guests really believe (and have told me) that height restrictions and other restrictions aren't there for safety, but are there to "keep the lines short" or "give the impression of the ride being scary."

You wouldn't believe the items we've seen people stuff in their kids' shoes to try to get them by...butane lighters have been put in kids' shoes on 90 degree days by parents who shouldn't be allowed to HAVE children, to sneak them into the lines. Not on MY entrance time, buddy. :-P

Alan--PTC02

You can't make the rides foolproof. There is only so much you can do and so far you can go before the the safety things become impractical to put in use. There will always be some idiots out there somewhere who find ways to mess it up. Like the guy at SFMW the other day that hopped a fence over by Medusa.

To slightly twist a phrase from Stan Checketts, the only thrill ride that would be "foolproof" would be an elevator, and that's not a thrill ride.

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Sometimes it's up. Sometimes it's down.
But with God, life is one thrill ride that you'll never regret being on.

Big Al said:

My favorite is "she's almost 4 feet tall, she's in first grade, and she just rode the Corkscrew...why can't she ride Power Tower?"

That one always cracks me up. People can be so infuriating.

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Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society-Chicago Chapter

But take the example of Perilous Plunge. Large guests are known to ride, they basicly got on by bypassing the Op, should Intamin have been responsible?

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Texas Coasters... wow I'm lucky... IM me if you feel like talking about coasters.

How did she bypass the op?

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Beer, my soon to be wife, coasters, and the FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Is this a great country or what!!
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stoogemanmoe and places to get discount Six Flags Great America tickets!

She didn't listen to them and went on anyways.

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Texas Coasters... wow I'm lucky... IM me if you feel like talking about coasters.

"Nothing is foolproof for a sufficiently talented fool"

No matter what the ride manufacturers do, there will always be something that they didn't think of. While it is a good idea, it just isn't feasible.

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"Attention all Time Travel Commitee Members; the reasearch and development meeting will take place last friday at O-Three-Hundred hours. Do not be late."

Oh, I didn't know that. Well, then It should have been the ops place to say hey, I can't let you ride this. The op was probably trying to be nice to the lady by not saying she was to big to ride. The park not enforcing the rules is who was responsible.

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Beer, my soon to be wife, coasters, and the FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Is this a great country or what!!
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stoogemanmoe and places to get discount Six Flags Great America tickets!

but should Intamin have had to re do the ride restraints?

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Texas Coasters... wow I'm lucky... IM me if you feel like talking about coasters.

Jus yesterday while at six flags great america, I was waiting to ride dejavue. The ride op measured a kid and he was 52 inches well u have to be 54 to ride. He wasnt allowed to ride and the parents got really mad. They started to yell at the ride host. He called his lead over to remeasure, still 52 inches. the parents continued to argue. They wherent going to leave until they rode Dejavue. I saw the lead on the phone shortly after that a rent-a-cop showed up to escort them off the platform.

*** This post was edited by acer on 6/10/2002. ***

Deja Vu.

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Planned parks: Astroland, Knoebel's, Hersheypark, SFNE, SFGadv,SFGam,CP,PKI,PKD,PCW,HW,Indiana Beach,SFWOA,SFKK,SFDL,SFSTL,Lakemont,DelGrosso's... Need I say more?

I saw the lead on the phone shortly after that a rent-a-cop showed up to escort them off the platform.

The good thing about CP is our security is genuine law enforcement. Well, that's ONE of the good things anyways...

Just don't speed on the causeway :-P

Alan--PTC02

phydeux said:

but should Intamin have had to re do the ride restraints?

Unfortunately, there are multiple issues here. Did Intamin PAY for the restraints to be re-done, or was it paid by the park. Was the person too large to be safely riding the ride? While I do not believe that ride ops are infalliable (and yes, I have been one), I believe that they need to be responsible. That doesn't mean financially responsible for a suit that happens. What I mean is that if a guest isn't physically capable of riding the ride because of their size (or lack there of), it has to be the ride op's final decision, as they are responsible for the safe operation of the ride at all times. Now, I understand, talk is cheap. It's HARD to tell a kid "no." Especially when their parents are screaming even louder than they are. But, I've had to do it several times. But when it comes down to it, I'm not going to have the guilt, horror, etc. of a mistake I made haunting me for the rest of my life if I can help it.

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"Getting on Iron Wolf is kind of like going in a blender and pressing PUREE"

--Ever lying in wait for someone to say something stupid.

I think Intamin should have the financial responsibility for not realizing that this type of situation is common, and thus should have had a better restraint system in place before hand.

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Texas Coasters... wow I'm lucky... IM me if you feel like talking about coasters.

acer said:
He called his lead over to remeasure, still 52 inches.

well, you really would've been surprised if the kid had grown two inches during the argument......;)

Sir Willow said:

To slightly twist a phrase from Stan Checketts, the only thrill ride that would be "foolproof" would be an elevator, and that's not a thrill ride.
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Even an elevator is not fool proof. Once I saw a parent set their little girl leaning against the elevator door, and when it opened, her arm got stuck in it. It took both me and her father pulling on it to get her out.
There is ALWAYS going to be somebody who gets hurt, it's just life. And it's no big deal, pain is only temporary. I'm sure the girl is OK now.

If the belt fit and the bar was down then she shouldn't off fell out Intamin is at fault by my book and the ride should be design for everyone to ride not just skinny teenagers.

Man people putting things such as butane lighters in thier shoes to get around the height restrictions.What's next ?are we gonna have to be measured by the ride ops without our shoes on in order to get on the ride?