Decapitation at SFoG

^ Agreed

The biggest problem with most of the Batman clones is that the ride area is pretty much invisible to the crew members. Even if an E-Stop was hit if someone noticed it and called to the station, the train still wouldn't stop until it hit the breaks anyhow so if the kid was still in the ride area at the time the train approached, well...you get the idea.

To add to the previous list of changes

7. Employees situated every 3 feet along a ride perimeter fence with radios to be on the lookout for anyone who tries to scale a fence. Should someone succeed, they radio to the operator to hit the E-Stop button.

Of course we already have that on rapids rides.

I keep track of Sxi flags stock and its at a serious low today possibly because of this. $1.20 a share as I post this. It was $1.17 a few minutes ago.

Maybe it will get to a point I can afford some. Yes I'm that broke.

When I was at SFGADV last month I saw a guy jump a fence where the cop car used to be in line and get a cell phone. What a dumb ass! People are so stupid!

While I feel very sorry for the family, and somewhat sorry for the kid (yeah, teenagers do stupid things, and don't necessarily deserve to die for them) I just am really annoyed at this kid's stupidity and thoughtlessness. I used to hang out at SFOG with a friend when we were about 14, and we obeyed the rules. We knew there were consequences if we didn't. We could get in trouble, get hurt, etc. Even back then I knew if you got in the way of a coaster, it would be about the same as getting in the way of a car-- bad news.

Something else that irks me, a quote from the father in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

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"He didn't do anything wrong," Ferguson said. "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

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Bull CRAP. He scaled two fences, with warning and "Do Not Enter" signs. He broke the rules, and possibly the law. He was dumb, cocky, and/or way too susceptible to peer pressure. BUT HE DID DO SOMETHING WRONG. If it'd just been a case of wrong place, wrong time, he would've been standing on the correct side of the fence as some rider's cell phone came flying at him and bonked him on the head or something. Heck, when Fabio got nailed by the goose, that was wrong place, wrong time.

He was old enough to know better. I don't care what the excuses are, unless he was mentally disabled he should have known better. I feel so bad for his family and the other parkgoers. *Maybe* his friends will learn that most rules are there for a reason. I'm glad no one truly innocent was hurt. In the incident with the maintenance man, didn't the rider who hit him seriously injure their foot?

*Sigh.*

CatPurrson *** Edited 6/30/2008 4:03:07 PM UTC by CatPurrson***

Agreed CatPurrson. The attitude of the father could explain a lot as to why this kid would do something like this and expect nothing to happen.

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"He didn't do anything wrong," Ferguson said. "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Wrong place at the wrong time is right, and did he ever pay for it.

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Mamoosh said:
Catch the comment from the family member at the end of that newsstory? Telling, doncha think?

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Like everyone posting under the news item, I don't see said comment. I have the same short article that was posted under the news item.

If this is the attitude that the father is going to take, then crap, you KNOW the lawsuit is coming. I responded to a post earlier that had said that kids need to be raised right to make correct decisions. Apparently, something in that family line is missing that allows understanding of correct versus incorrect decisions and consequences.

Okay, I had to chuckle at whoever posted the velociraptors thing. However, velociraptors are apparently smarter than some park patrons and would know that hanging out under a suspended roller coaster that weighs a few thousand pounds and traveled at speeds of 50 mph is not a good idea. They would find a way over the fence back to the regular side. Madness would ensue. LOL

Still, this comment from the father makes me more certain that this kid just didn't understand the gravity of his actions. I feel sorry for them, I really do. I have sympathy, I really do. I hope that the family and the other patrons at Six Flags all will heal in time. I know I said something about thinning the herd earlier, but I think in these situations, we as a society are more likely to, at first glance, say something like, "Dumbass" and THEN think things through. It really is a sad thing.

Are you kidding velociraptors weren't even smart enough to take cover from the asteroid.

All seriousnes though this is sad but the park should have no liability. It would be nice if Six Flags stepped forward and paid for the funeral and any medical bills that the family incurred.

I ment that velociraptor remark with tough firmly planted in cheek. Figured I might as well a add a bit of humor. Heck, my CAT is smarter than many park guests out there.

Heck, let's just let the v-raptors EAT any stupid guests.

BTW, by my watch, it's 2:15 on the east coast and no word on a lawsuit. *** Edited 6/30/2008 6:14:08 PM UTC by Hopman***

I know Hopman I was joking too.

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john13601 said:
Are you kidding velociraptors weren't even smart enough to take cover from the asteroid.

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Did you not see Jurassic Park? Those bastards can open doors, man.

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F2006 said:

The biggest problem with most of the Batman clones is that the ride area is pretty much invisible to the crew members. Even if an E-Stop was hit if someone noticed it and called to the station, the train still wouldn't stop until it hit the breaks anyhow so if the kid was still in the ride area at the time the train approached, well...you get the idea..

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I was just thinking the same thing. Aside from the area under the lift hill the infield of the ride is well out of view of anyone with access to an e-stop. It wouldn't have made a difference and sucks but the company is going to end up paying out in some form for this. Even if it's like setting up infield cameras so that panel operator can see what's going on.

Remember that waterslide collapse at the Premier owned Waterworld USA in Concord, CA in '97? High school group pushed attendant out of the way and rushed a tower slide, plugged it and stood up and started shaking the slide. It collapsed, seriously injuring dozens and killing one.

The park ended up paying out on that. Also they installed these weird sliding gates at the top of the tower. I guess in case another group decides to rush the slide the attendant can close a gate and block the slide. So apparently the park is responsible for protecting the general public against their own mass hysteria. *** Edited 6/30/2008 7:29:02 PM UTC by Cropsey***

Sorry everyone...my bad. Here's the link and the quote:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080630/ap_on_re_us/six_flags_death_7

"We're not clear on what happened," he said. "All we know is that we don't blame anybody."

^^And in this case SFoG had done what was needed to protect the general public, by building two fences and placing danger signs.

^I totally agree. But because of of what happened and the PR aspect of it, they're going to have to say well because X happened we did Y to prevent this from ever happening again. They shouldn't have to but most likely will.

Like in the Waterworld incident. Apparently the school group had done a similar thing at the former Manteca waterslides which were built into a hillside. You'd think that the idea of doing this on a sprawling waterslide tower would seem take care of the problem but it still happened. So Waterwork/Premier/Six Flags intalled the gates so just in case a group of 50 kids decided to do this in the future they had a system in place to stop them. They shouldn't have to, but it's also part of the nature of dealing with a PR nightmare.

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Mamoosh said:
Sorry everyone...my bad. Here's the link and the quote:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080630/ap_on_re_us/six_flags_death_7

"We're not clear on what happened," he said. "All we know is that we don't blame anybody."

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Translation: We haven't figured out a way to blame anyone else... yet.

I was joking about the velociraptors too. LOL I thought it was so funny, I had to post a comment.

Wow, I can't believe how stupid people are. I really can't. That waterslide thing just blows my mind. Those kids gotta live with that for the rest of their lives, knowing that THEY were stupid and someone died. I just can't believe people had to paid off for that. Doesn't give me much hope for Six Flags not having to pay for this one too.

Okay, so the article (Which is almost never fully on the ball in the beginning, and tends to exaggerate a bit) says that the ride was traveling at full speed (50mph), which means it was at the bottom of the first drop. I keep looking at the pictures and I just cannot figure how someone would be able to jump high enough to have such an incident occur. The ride is lowest after the second loop or near the corkscrews correct? That would almost certainly be a more logical place for this to happen. *** Edited 7/2/2008 1:03:49 AM UTC by OrientExpressKid***