Girl falls to her death from Oakwood's Hydro giant flume

The thing is, it was an "unacceptable system" for a rider of very unusual proportions. That was not the case here, and I believe the park would have turned away anyone who couldn't ride it safely (Knott's could have done that as well, but instead chose put in the 5-point system; I'm sure it's STILL possible for people to not be able to ride it even with that).

I rode Hydro in 2002 (as did most other participants on the ACE ECO), and it was in no way even remotely unsafe. A good ride, yes, unsafe, no.

Now, that's based on MY body, but the unfortunate girl in question here does not appear to be any more unusually-sized. Obviously she fell out somehow, but I just can't see how it was at all possible. The investigation is going to be VERY interesting.

--Greg, who is fascinated to note the amazing amount of traffic his Oakwood pictures page from the ECO is getting this week.

I agree. I've been on Hydro around 10 times and I have never at once felt unsafe. The lap-bar/t-bar restraint is pushed down very firmly on you, so it's very tight and you're 'stapled' in. I particularly remember how tight it is, because it always used to tear the poncho I was wearing. Below this, you have a seat-belt which is also done up very tightly, and is the most secure seat-belt i've seen on an amusement ride. Even if the t-bar failed, this would hold you in.

Which means it's the ride-ops or the rider. I don't think it's the ride-ops (as mentioned, they do thoroughly check every rider)... so here's an explanation:
A report in the Times mentions that eyewitnesses say the girl attempted to help the boy in front of her as he was scared and may have tried to get free at the last minute. The report mentions the girl may have moved into an unsafe position as the boat went down the drop. The papers and eyewitnesses seem to think this was rider error but a full investigation is underway as the ride remains closed.

Anyhow, the news is tragic for all parties involved - and just as a side note, if there was any park this shouldn't have happened to, it's Oakwood. In regards to customer care, out of all the parks I've been to, it's second only to Holiday World.

I rode PP before the retrofit. I would have told everybody how safe it was and how it was impossible for somebody to fall out. I still do not see how it could of happened no matter how fat the guest was. If anything, I thought the system prior to the retrofit was too restrictive. Today it is unbearable for me (with the 5-point).

Apparently this restraint system that we think is safe based upon our perceptions from riding, is actually not that safe at all. I see no way that I can reason it was acceptable to keep this restraint system in use after one person had already died such a grizzly death while utilizing said system. If speculation is correct, and it is hard to see how speculation is not correct unless there was some sort of gross mechanical failure, then gross negligence is the best I can say for the park/operator.

Last time we were able to blame it on the fat. This time the excuse will have to be something different. Either way, there is no way this should have happened. One death was bad enough. Now they've let history repeat. This is terrible.

At Cedar Point I would have to say I feel overly secure in the Intamin restrants than any other. I like the way the hydraulic restrants don't have any forward movement once they're locked. I hate the feeling on rides like Mantis, Raptor, and Blue Streak where the restrants go forward a inch when all your weight is on the restrant on the first drop and some other elements. Never have I felt in danger on any ride, but on TTD, MF, and WT I feel the safest. I'm saddened to hear these systems fail on people.

I think it is grosely unfair to start talking about suing Oakwood over this tradgedy, especially that you're basing your assumptions on the few, vague details released so far. We know absolutely nothing concrete about the circumstances leading to the accident, so to accuse Oakwood of being negligent is very wrong.

Intamin have always stressed that the 5-point harnesses were completely unneccessary, and as someone said, it just isn't good business sence to have rides that kill, so Intamin must have also been confident in their statement, too.

Oakwood always ensure every rider securly fastens their seatbelt, and the ride operators lower the bars for you - tightly.

Knotts chose to install overshoulder seatbelts, and Oakwood opted to check seatbelts/lapbars thoroughly with no exceptions. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the 5-point seatbelts can actually be unfastened on Perilous Plunge? Let's say Oakwood retrofitted, and the same circumstance arose where the 16 year-old girl was concerned by the boy in front. If she unbucked the overshoulder seatbelt, how would that being off be any different to the lap belt?

I know this is a forum to discuss such circumstances, but the investigation has hardly started, and to start talking about lawsuits regarding Oakwood is insane. Let's just be a bit more realistic and wait until REAL evidence comes to light.

I wouldn't wish this on any park, least of all Oakwood. Oakwood are a fantastic park, Paddy is an amazing and warm-hearted gentleman. I really feel for him.

*** This post was edited by Marcus Sheen 4/17/2004 7:16:21 AM ***

Having ridden the smaller plunge (Tidal Wave) at Thorpe Park, where they only use a lapbar, i have to say that she must have been virtually standing up to get left behind when the ride dropped - they come a long way over your normal leg position. As Brian Noble said, getting out of an in-place Intamin restraint is near impossible without physical damage!!!

I agree with Marcus - wait until the investigation is complete - with any luck someone will have been filming it with their camcorder and quickly solve it!

In the meantime, shall we keep the speculation and wildtalk to a minimum?

/Baz

I too will be looking out to see what the investigation concludes...

There is talk of the boy in front being scared, talk of the girl undoing her seat belt to free her coat and another saying he coat was jammed in the lap bar – she freed it and this gave her enough room to come free.Living so close to oakwood, I feel this is a terrible experience for the family of the girl, oakwood and the whole of Pembrokeshire.

Here is another update on ride accident. It seems they are checking out a story she was trying to get her jacket loose from restraint.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004173572,00.html

Whatever we do....Let us not speculate about ride accidents on an amusement park message board...?

I agree completely. There are so many theories that the press are reporting on at the moment (from the girl helping the young boy, problems with her poncho...) that is impossible to try and analyse what happened.

Hopefully the investigation will provide some concrete information so that nothing like this can happen again.

It's human nature to speculate. It'd be nice if we didn't, but I honestly don't think you're going to see it stop here anytime soon.

Interesting coverage in the UK. That article on The Sun ended not by calling rides death traps, but putting it in perspective with regards to the number of accidents overall.

I appreciated that as well. While some of the coverage has been a litlle out of hand ("death ride kills again"), I had to applaud the writer of this article.

you are right, that is a good article- very surprising considering the paper it is from. The sun is a shocking newspaper- basically tits and arse on every page- with a bit of 'news' thrown in every now and again.

Very unusual that they did not sensationalise the news to make it more interesting and controversal..

While we see it all the time in the States, sensationalising news is somewhat rare in other countries. This is just a peek into the world of real news, something Americans haven't seen for a while.

Fortunately we have the BBC over here which seems to be very reliable, even despite the Hutton Report whitewash. That Sun article genuinely surprised me.

There was an incident on Rattlesnake at Chessington (Maurer Mouse) where a car slipped from a stand still off one set of brakes, rolled around one 90-degree turn (the middle level one around the front) and nudged the car in front at walking pace. The article was hilarious, saying about the ride being completely 'out of control' hairing around turns at breakneck speed. In fact, it sounded similar to the press release that accompanied the opening of the ride!

The article itself was alright, but the bit on ride safety at the end really brought it into perspective. I'm glad to see that for a change.

As it turns out, we have the BBC here, too, thank goodness.

More from the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3635619.stm

It always seems worse when there's a picture. I don't know what I'd do if I lost one of my volleyball kids like that, let alone my own child. I hate it when the world loses kids.