Posted
A pair of improper bolts caused an amusement park ride to break apart at a church fair in Boston Sunday, killing one person and injuring two others, the Massachusetts commissioner of public safety said Monday.
Read more from AP via Yahoo.
What a change in tune...hasn't he always said that ride forces kill people - hence his proposed regulation of the # of G's coasters should have???
The DPS directive on the Sizzler -- which includes a clear identification of the bolts in question -- is available for download at MassTort.org.
Markey is a fool and just looking to make a name for himself. I bet he has placed himself in more danger this very day by travelling to his office than he would ever experience in a lifetime of riding amusement rides. It's just like those folks who worry about the plane crashing after they just drove 80 miles an hour to the airport so they wouldn't be late.
Of course the issue here was not the manufacturer's selection of the designed bolt, but the substitution of undersized and "altered" bolts. This is just plain negligent maintenance.
As a general note, about 2/3 of fatal ride accidents are due to mechanical failure or operator error. Only about 1/3 are due to rider error.
Fatalities associated with ride forces are almost unheard of except when there is a pre-existing medical condition. Even then, many of the deaths and injuries that Markey associates with rides are probably not ride related when you read the details. Markey seems to assume that if you have a stroke 3 days later it must have been the ride that caused it. He also attributes one stroke to a near zero force ride when the victem reported having a pounding headache while in line.
phoenixphan:-), there was a fatal accident on a Scrambler earlier this season, though that one was clearly rider misconduct.
I'm just a little bothered that a couple of bad bolts would be enough to allow the seat insert to go crashing through the outer tub shell and sailing down the midway. I can't help but think that there is more to this than has been revealed.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
not to be argumentative, just out of curiousity. Also, did the man fly out, or did the seat fall through the bottom like Rideman said?
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