How to ride forward coasters backwards
As if no one's ever turned while sitting in a car seat to talk to someone behind them. You know--the place where optimum restraint position is far more critical because you're 40,000 times more likely to smash into something or get smashed into.
When you can constantly face the front in your car, maybe you can whine about torso postion in a much safer coaster. And don't look down to pick up your coffee or pop either. It's distracting.
-'Playa
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The CPlaya 100--6 days, 9 parks, 47 coasters, 2037 miles and a winner.....LoCoSuMo.
General Public said:
Actually if you stop by guest relations or look at signage around the ride, it will explain that you must "properly utilize all restraint devices".
"Properly utilizing all restraint devices" means the proper use of lapbars and seatbelts, assist bars, OTSRs, whatever restraint which is located on the ride must be used. That is what the signage means, not that you have to face forward so don't give me that. I've worked in guest relations at a Six Flags park, I know all about that crap.
A lapbar and seatbelt keep you secure, inside the train, right?? So if I pulldown the lapbar to a reasonable hieght and buckle the seatbelt, how is that breaking the rules?
Btw - I'm looking forward to my backwards Mindbender ride this sunday
Edit: I'm glad that someone understands what I am talking about here! Thanks CoastaPlaya. You rule! How bout a backwards ride on that impulse next year?? lol! I'll be there for the credit
Edit 2: Come to think of it, besides PP and Revolution, how many coasters have had OTSRs replace their lapbars?
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Corey
"Have you ever tried backing out of a drive-through bank?" - George Carlin
*** This post was edited by rOLLocOASt on 10/31/2002. ***
Six Flags Marine World strongly prohibits this now that a staff member got major whiplash on Roar.
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CCN's forums are now fully operational.
*** This post was edited by Antuan on 11/2/2002. ***
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Le roi est mort. Vive le roi.
Thanks Great America!
LOL Antuan
Really, rollocoast... your park must have not cared about guest safety then... we stopped trains on the lift all the time when we see a guest doing something stupid.
You must utilize all safety restraint devices does mean that you must ride with all the restraints in place and as the manufacturer (thus the park) warrants. Turning around and miscontortioning yourself is technically breaking the rules.
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the member formerly known as MisterX
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Lifts are for wimps. Real enthusiasts use the power of their minds to make the trains go up the first hill.
I just don't see where your getting that though! I'm not sitting backwards on the seat... The restraints are always in the down and locked position, on and across my lap. Maybe we won't agree on this subject, and it's cool.. no worries!
To answer your question about my park not caring about guest safety, that is definitely wrong. At both parks I've worked at, Guest Safety is the top priority. But, for simply turning around to talk to someone, or turning around to ride backwards, has never been, IMO something to consider "unsafe". At both parks, they have and will continue to stop rides on the lift if someone is doing something unsafe, like standing, attempting to stand, or whatever. Hell, at Cedar Point if we saw a lift stander on Magnum, one of us would run up the lift and "make sure the restraint was properly securing the rider" lol.
In conclusion, some may agree, and some may disagree, but is it really "that bad"? Maybe, maybe not. Opinions differ, and it's cool... Its what makes us human!! Either way, coasting is fun no matter what, and it usually doesn't merit for flame wars on the internet .
*** This post was edited by rOLLocOASt on 10/31/2002. ***
"Please keep all hands and arms inside the car at all times and your head against the headrest." I'm sure I've heard something like that on autospiels at SFGAm. If you're turning around, then the only way you can have your head against the headrest is if you're smashing your face against the headrest. Since that would defeat the purpose of turning around, I'm assuming none of you are doing that. I don't consider raising your hands to be against the rules: As long as your hands are within the two-dinensional confines of the car as defined from above, I think they're "in" the car. If you define outside the car as being above the sides and/or headrests, well, then I know a lot of people who have part of their bodies outside he car every time they ride, just because they're tall. Designers always put in more clearance than is necessary for just the trains to get through.
But twisting around in seat is not safe. Yes, you're much more likely to get in a accident while driving, but think about this: if you don't get in an acident, you experience almost no forces what so ever, in a car. In a coaster, you are garanteed to experience many of the same harful forces you will experience in an accident. You will be thrown from side to side, there will de sudden de-celerations, and there will sure as heck be sudden accelerations. You wouldn't ride if their weren't. Now, I agree that you can turn around without by-passing any restraints. There's no danger of falling out. But you can't keep your legs straight and look backwards without twisting your spine about 90 degrees, more if you count your neck. That puts it under pressure. Because I don't have the greatest back in the world, I can really feel it. But just because you can't feel doesn't mean it's not there. Now, do you want to put a spine that's under presure, and twisted into a postion it was never meant to be in for more than a second or two through all the miryad forces a hypercoaster or a woodie throws you through? I garantee you, if you do this enough, you're going to have consequences. And the fact that some of you have been doing this for years doesn't mean you're immune: It just means you're that much closer to the day it'll catch up with you.
P.S.-Even if it's clearly against the rules to turn around, if something happens because someone does, the park'll still loose. The riders' hot-shot lawer will threaten to draw the whole thing out (and, even though it appears so cut-and-dry, he can), so the park will just settle out of court.
G-forces on a coaster vs. my neck: Somewhat appreciable
60-pound 5 year-old jumping on my neck: About 50 times more appreciable
I suppose it really helps to have a spine in the first place. Some a-you might need to hit the gym and work on the muscular regions and stuff...
-'Playa
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The CPlaya 100--6 days, 9 parks, 47 coasters, 2037 miles and a winner.....LoCoSuMo.
And I quote ...
"Please keep all hands and arms down and inside the car at all times and enjoy your ride on Millennium Force"
Now watch as a few people put their hands up before they are even out of the station, and then go look at all the on-ride photos where everyone in the train that isn't terrified of the ride has their hands up, to the sides, is acting like they're sleeping, is screaming like a lunatic into the camera ...
So you're saying that all of them are totally unsafe too? As long as there is no restraint against an axis of motion, the ride designer did not feel it important to restrict that motion. Ride designers are just like every other engineer - from day one we're taught to design for the worst case scenario, and on roller coasters, that would mean designing for people doing everything from putting hands up, to turning around, to ... well you get the idea. If you can do it, the ride was designed to be at least safe enough that you'll walk off under your own power. The rest of the rules are there so you don't sue the park.
Long and the short of it? I turn around all the time on the first two hills of Magnum. Watching the track fly out from behind you is just an amazing feeling (probably why I like Wicked Twister's front seat so much)
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1. Kumba 2. Millie 3. Mantis 4. Lightning Racer 5. Wicked Twister (Front Seat)
"The key to a happy life is moderation" -- Jon Stewart
(SF)Great American said:
"Please keep all hands and arms inside the car at all times and your head against the headrest."
Intamin hypers don't have headrests. And since when did keeping your hands in the car mean only in two dimensions? Ever tried to put your hands up for the launch on Xcelerator? The ops won't be too happy.
And if you're going to say that the designers put extra clearance for my hands to be up, how can you say that they didn't build it so it could be ridden backwards?
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the member formerly known as MisterX
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Lifts are for wimps. Real enthusiasts use the power of their minds to make the trains go up the first hill.
I did say that I had heard that at SFGAm, which, last time I checked, doesn't have any Intamin hypers. I'm sure I've heard it there. Coasta Playa', more muscle mass means nothing terms of protecting bones from outside forces. In fact, if your muscles are more powerful, you could probably subject your bone to more stress just by moving, making your bones even more vunerable to outside forces. That's not to say those forces aren't safe: they are. But only if you're sitting the right way. If you sit facing forwards (or straigh backwards, for that matter), the forces on your spine are controled: either straight down, or straight back, with a little to either side on the curves. All forces are distributed equally, allowing the enitre structure to take it as a whole. The entire spine responds with a force equal to the one being put on it. Now, twist this structure into a heilx. As you accelerate, the forces press you into the back of the seat. Your spine is no longer taking it all evenly, though. Some parts of it are taking it from the front, some from the side, and some almost from the back. Suddenly, there's a whole bunch of different forces working on the spine, from different angles. Each of these forces must be responded to with equal force. Because of the disparity of the forces, each section must respond to the individual force it's experiencing, without anyhelp from the rest of the spine. Add to the fact that it's already under considerable strain just from being in that position far too long (it was never meant to twist like that for more than a few seconds, really), and you could have problems. Not that you will, necessarily, but I don't think it's a risk worth taking.
Peabody, to answer your question about why they'd design coasters so that hands could be raised, but not to let you look backwards: As I think my above explanation makes clear, it simply isn't possible, given human psysiology.
I'm coming over there and bringing Da Midget to jump on your neck a few times. After you pick yourself up off the floor and remember what you were ponti-fecating about, maybe you'll realize how insignifcant all your blather is in the whole scale of things.
Have a pancake and settle down.
-'Playa
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The CPlaya 100--6 days, 9 parks, 47 coasters, 2037 miles and a winner.....LoCoSuMo.
I do not think that I have yet turned around on a coaster that had a headrest. That would defeat the purpose of looking back as you couldn't see anything.
I dont see what the large concern here is. I do not think that it is unreasonable to think that "occasionally" a person would turn around and look back at their friends. That does not *defeat* the restraints (unlike the "slouching" and "knee propping" that is so often advocated here). Methinks there is a mountain forming here out of mole-hill-like products....
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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do
I just love how some many people here start to jump down others throats for stuff like this.
Anyways, I do "stupid" stuff on coasters all the time. I won't stop because someone on this board lectures me either. It's fun. At one particular park, and enthusiast friendly park, I was so high out of my seat, I was seriously scared of falling out. Thank god for the seat belts. Did I do it again.....YOU BET! The next time I was prepared though. Turning around in your seat is not even nearly as bad as some of the crap we pull.
So get over it. Have a little fun. Make the most out of everything.
Eric
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A one that is not cold, is hardly a one at all.
*** This post was edited by eric.walton on 11/1/2002. ***
2Hostyl said:I dont see what the large concern here is.
Its the internet. People with nothing better to do just can't resist a good old fashioned pissing contest.
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If the shoe fits, find another one.
*** This post was edited by ravenguy98 on 11/1/2002. ***
I say to each his own.
It just sounds like a stupid idea to me. I'm sure manufacturers expect people to raise their hands on a coaster but I don't think any of them expect you to turn around in your seat. Unless you know the ride like the back of your hand you won't even know when to expect all the twists and turns and could subject yourself to injury.
While I agree many on these forums do things just as unsafe on a coaster, 2 wrongs don't make a right. It's easy to get too comfortable and think you can't get hurt. That's why people drive like maniacs. It's just a matter of time before someone gets hurt and rides become more restrictive to the masses.
If it wasn't for people trying stupid stunts on coasters there probably wouldn't be so many activists saying coasters are unsafe and pointing to some of these incidents.
We're talking about 3-4 G's on a lot of coasters. Do some of you forget how much force that really is? Don't get lulled into thinking you can't get hurt.
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