Dragster shut down after riders injured by debris

God Cleveland news is bad, wait all local news is unbeleviably bad.

Chanel 8 the most accurate of the bunch is saying it was comparable to bee stings.

Considering they did not go to the hospital immediately, it sounds like there planning a case.

pkidelirium,

While Hulk does have a launch, Universal provided the design of Hulk's launch if I remember correctly.

I really do feel bad for Cedar Point. They want nothing more than TTD to be up and running constantly. Whatever the case may be, I don't think we have reached the limit for speed and height. I just a certain firm may have reached a limit for the time being.

Intense and Nice Thrills, Although Maintence Is Neverending.

-Sean

Granted, I am NOT a lawyer, but, assuming these people take a case to court, they have to proove negligence on CF's part. I believe this will be somewhat difficult to do, assuming that they have followed the manufacturer's maintenance procedures and/or knew that there was a potential for someone being injured.

I would hope that CF (SF or Paramount for that matter) would not knowingly operate any of their rides if they knew there was a potential for injury...remember...injuries/deaths on rides are not a selling point to the general public. Regardless, this is a definite blow to CP and I hope they can address this problem.

I am curious to see if XLR8R or Storm Runner are closed in the wake of this accident....

Fever

When you get hurt on a ride that isn't supposed to hurt you, at no fault of your own, you don't need to prove anything.

This is great news, I leave for a 3 day trip to Cedar Point tomarrow!

As posted at PointBuzz

I just finished watching news stories from both Ch. 5 and Ch. 8 in Cleveland.

The claim was made by the riders that Cedar Point let them set for "15 or 20 minutes" before allowing them out of the train. Ch. 8 reports that park officials said that amount of time was actually 6 minutes. Apparently, when the ride shut down, the restraints had to be opened manually. Perhaps it seemed like 20 minutes to those riders, but 6 minutes in that situation is not unreasonable.

Another point the 4 riders made was that they felt like they were 'blown off' by the park. They were given "front of the line" passes for Dragster. On television, the injuries looked to be minor - as had been reported. Ch. 5 reported that the riders were treated at the park's first aid station and offered the option to be transported to the hospital. According to that Ch. 5 report, the riders refused and went back into the park. Now, on the surface, front of the line passes on a ride you were just injured on seems in poor taste ... but if the riders went on their way and only received a few abrasions, it wouldn't be unreasonable for someone to think this really just was an "inconvenience."

While injuries are always a big deal, I just get the impression that those riders are making a bigger deal out of it than it really is. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. I'm only going off of the Ch. 5 and Ch. 8 reports. Both stations were live at the park.

This is not the first time someone has been injured at Cedar Point. And if it goes to court, it certainly wouldn't be the first time for that either. There's a case that was just filed two weeks ago where a woman claims she broke her arm and dislocated her shoulder on Matterhorn (in 2002). There was no news coverage about that injury (which, if true, would be more serious). I'm not saying there actually is an injury or, if there is, that the park is to blame. I'm just using it as an example.

I seem to think these kids would not be holding a news conference if this wasn't the world's tallest and fastest coaster that had already been in the news for its maintenance woes. But that's just my impression. Like I said, I could be way off.

I shudder to think how Ch. 19 ACTION NEWS is handling this story. :)

They were cut and bleeding as a result of the ride failing. I dont know, thats sounds like a pretty big deal to me.

The launch cable is what failed and there doesnt seem much they can do to predict when it will break to replace it. Every aspect of the ride is inspected each morning, and the cable has snapped I think 3 times now?

Did you see what the riders actually looked like on the news? No one had any visible injury outside of very minor scraps. I don't know if there were others (reports say 4, they interviewed 5) - but, like I said, I was only going off the kids they interviewed. Those that were interviewed suffered only minor injuries. The camera had to zoom in even the see the scraps. But, again, like I said, injuries are a big deal. Reports indicate that they refused transport to the hospital and went back into the park, although two apparently went at a later point.

A broken arm and dislocated shoulder is really a big deal (if the injury is true). There was no news coverage on that incident.

This has become a big media deal not because of the injuries, but rather because it is Top Thrill Dragster.

*** This post was edited by Gemini 7/13/2004 9:10:25 PM ***

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Intamin's going under! CP will rip that sum***** down! They'll go bankrupt with lawsuits!

Wow. :)

Some people got boo-boos. The ride needs fixed. Life goes on.

Here's a somewhat depressing thought. If no one in their right mind would want to deal with Intamin. What does that leave the industry with other than B & M? Things have not been great recently and it seemed that Intamin was pretty strong, but in looking at what has gone on recently, I just don't see Intamin being a major factor anymore.

I have nothing against any park. They all have good points. It is a sad situation, thank god it was minor.

Easily eyes could have been damaged. Obviously Cedar will see this risk potential, and keep it down until they are positive this could not happen again.

I just think that will take a long long time.

No, the world is not ending, and the sky is not falling, but I personally can not blow off any non rider cause injuries, as minor. The potential is there for much worst.

As far as Intamin, it is sad.... They have done some great work for many years. I hoped for an Intamin at AW soon, but I dont think SF's or CF will be buying with Intamin anytime soon!

The NBC affiliate here in Cincinnati included it in their 11pm news.The people they had interviewed were apparently NOT the victims of the accident, as they reffered to the victims in the third person, for example "he had larcerations clear cross his chest"

They also implied that two of the riders had to resort to hospital attention that was NOT offered by the park, and they also pointed out from the parents of the victims that "They made our children wait, in the coaster train for 20 minutes while they bled out"

In short they make it sound like a horrific accident, and that the park was negligent in the safety and welfare of the victims post-incident.

I realize from reading above that the media report is probably the usual media overplay, but remember perception is reality, and I don't suspect it will do CP any favors if their target audience is being told the park suffered an alleged horriic failure and was not forthright in aiding the victims of it.

Right about now, I'm happy I'm not a CP PR person who is probably loosing sleep right about now.<
*** This post was edited by Coasterville Dave 7/13/2004 11:37:28 PM ***

Hey folks,

I don't know if you read the article and it said that the ride has been shut down indefinately.

This means that it will not open again.

So, it appears that they are going to do something with it. No reason to keep in in the park if it is never to run again.

Maybe a refund from Intamin.

I just think that is was all about Cedar Point trying to make itself the biggest and the baddest again by having to get their spot back with the tallest and fastest roller coaster.

Unfortunately, that $25 million investment in PR was not a good choice.

I couldn't imagine what would happen if some of those "chards" would have gotten into the riders eyes.

---

I don't know if you read the article and it said that the ride has been shut down indefinately.

This means that it will not open again.

---

Check a dictionary. It will offer both the correct spelling and meaning of the word "indefinitely" (there's that 'root word' thing Jeff was talking about again)

Indefinitely means - unclear, vague, uncertain, undetermined, undecided

It simply means they have no idea when the ride will run again. With all the things they have to work out, it seems like a safe, coverall statement.

-Gonch
a tad standoffish today

I think I'll have to repeat Walt's comment:

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"This has become a big media deal not because of the injuries, but rather because it is Top Thrill Dragster."

---

This is a terrible accident but any idea if it will be up anytime soon?

The cable on TTD does seem to wear out very quickly, I think there are some issues with the layout of the cable. The bull-wheel at the launch point seems very small in diameter when compared to the MF lift. Perhaps the small diameter is causing premature wear on the cable. That's just a guess, but something seems to be causing the cable to tear itself apart prematurely.

Well PKI fan2, let's whip that crystal ball out and check. Oh wait, I'm getting a busy signal -- it appears all the other coaster psychics are using their crystal balls at the same moment to try to answer your question.

Get Real! The accident just happened...well it is yesterday now, like they will know how long it will be down within this short time span. I myself am a little upset, not sure as to whom I should be upset at yet, because we (MiG) will be at CP the second week of August and were looking forward to riding TTD again. Fingers crossed that this is an easy fix and that it will be back up, but as I am a realist, I'm feeling like TTD might be down for the rest of the year. :(

Some points...

First of all, it is interesting to see the news handle the accident in the same way that they do with any accident and for everyone to flip and say that they news is now being unfair. Just as was pointed out before, TTD has "design flaws" while X and Deja Vu are "not well maintained." It's fascinating to see the bias on these message boards.

For the record, I believe all of the above to be design flaws and not maintance issues. There is obviously nothing that Cedar Fair could have done to prevent this from happening.

As for anyone stating that TTD couldn't be retrofitted with a LIM-based launch system, I would like to see your technical arguments as to why this would be impossible. Not just is Intamin the leader in LIM technology right now, having surpassed the ability of Premier in many ways with the introduction of their Impulse line-up. Sure, the Impulse coasters have had design flaws of their own, but the LIM-technology itself has remained relatively stable.

The trains would not need to be replaced. On the Impulse coasters, the same fin that is used for launching is used for braking. TTD could get a retrofit of this type relatively easily, and beyond the massive electricity consumption that the ride would have (which incidentally, would have to be less costly than the current maintance and cable replacement scheme), the ride should work more reliably.

Metal shards hitting the people on a ride is a big deal, and if I was one of the people on there and I was injured in some way that was relatively major, I would totally take the park to court over the matter. These riders boarded the ride not expecting to do anything but experience the ride. They were not injured because of any limitations they faced, they were injured due to either (likely) an Intamin design flaw or a Cedar Fair maintence failure. If a piece of metal flew into my eye and I couldn't see out of an eye, even if it was for a summer, that is a pretty major thing. How much is one summer of your life worth to you? It sure isn't worth a "Front of line" pass to me.

The ride needs to stay closed until it can be fixed with a much more permanent solution, whether that is a week, a month or years from now. I own a lot of stock in the company, and even with the marquee attraction for the entire chain down, I would much rather it be a permanent fix than a quick job and risk something much worse happening in the future.

As for some of the other comments in this thread:

The Hulk's launch system was designed by B&M on IoA's pleading with them to create a launch system for the ride. B&M did not want to use what they felt to be unreliable launch methods, which were at the time basically just LSM and LIM technology, and therefore they designed the wheel-launch thing that Hulk got. The official word was that the trains were too heavy to be launched reliably by LIM technology. Unofrtuntely, the developed design eats those wheels, and costs IoA a TON of money in maintence fees, and because of that, there have not been any more of that design created. Will B&M start to experiment with (most likely) LIMs in the near future? We'll have to see, but the fact that rides like Flight of Fear and the Impulse coasters are becoming more reliable may just mean that B&M will start experimenting with it more.

Is the era of Intamin over? Undeniably, yes. Intamin is not well known for the reliability of their products, as has been evidenced by everything since they started building drop towers. Considering that safety in their products is being called more and more into question, and they have traditionally destroyed working relatitionships with parks in the past, I wouldn't expect a quick resurgence. Even with a new proto machine, not every prototype gets bought and built -- and without a complete overhaul of every aspect of their designs, not many parks are going to be interested. It seems that they have already gotten to that Arrow did right before they closed up shop -- every park has the types of rides that they can provide already, and the ones that don't have those types of rides can get the same sort of ride from a different manufacturer with a better safety record -- S&S for Towers, B&M for Inverts, Morgan / B&M for Hypers, Premier / S&S for launched rides and B&M for traditional loopers.

TTD is not a prototype. I have mistakenly referred to it as one, but it is no more of a prototype than any other ride that once held a record. Usually, the first ride of a particular type for a particular company is the prototype and subsequent rides are not. For instance, Batman (SFGAm) -> B&M Invert Prototype. Raptor -> B&M Invert Modification. TTD is a major modification to a system.

And that's about it. I'll go back to my regularly scheduled lurking now. Here's hoping that the summer can have no more major park-related accidents and that a permanent fix can be found and implemented on TTD soon.

Xcelerator was open the day after the TTD incident (which was a day ago from this post) 7/14/04, which shows that Cedar Fair feels this is an incident isolated solely on Dragster because of its much larger size and top speed - thus more stress/force placed upon equipment used to operate it.

Those riders were lucky none of that steel debris hit them right in the eyes.