Man claims injury from safety gate at Cedar Point, park says he tried to squeeze through closing gate

I'm pretty sure this guy staged the whole incident. He's just an attention whore looking for a nice payday.

In all reality, I am a bit surprised given human nature that this is the first time I've heard of something like this. The gates on the rollercoaster are all tied together and close at exactly the same time. Furthermore, to my knowledge, there is no sensor on them (like an elevator door has) that will stop them from closing.

The safer (but probably more expensive way to do this) would be to have a magnetic lock and have a "gate" that springs closed once people go through, similar to the exit gates on some rides. But, that probably is overkill, and of course, would probably lead to another check before a train could be dispatched (are all gates locked?)

What's sad about all of this is, relatively speaking, gates on rollercoasters are basically something that has been added within the last decade or so. Prior to that, there were increasingly wider yellow lines on the platforms. If you compare rollercoaster trains to say, subways, there's a huge difference. Yet lots more people ride subways than rollercoasters.

I can certainly see how someone could become caught in the closing airgate, but I would not have expected the injures to be so severe as to require hospital treatment. I've seen it happen numerous times where there will be a group of 2 people boarding the ride, with a group of 3 or 4 behind them in line for the same row. The group of 3 or 4 will turn around to ask for a group of 1 or 2 to fill the open seats, but by the time the group of 1 or 2 squeeze by the waiting group the gates are already starting to close.

Walt, magnetic gates like the ones you describe are used on all of the major coasters at Dorney. I have always wondered why Dorney does it this way when all of the other Cedar Fair parks use the standard motorized gates.

Walt S said:

The safer (but probably more expensive way to do this) would be to have a magnetic lock and have a "gate" that springs closed once people go through, similar to the exit gates on some rides.

You mean like on Shoot The Rapids?

Mr. Six said:
Walt, magnetic gates like the ones you describe are used on all of the major coasters at Dorney. I have always wondered why Dorney does it this way when all of the other Cedar Fair parks use the standard motorized gates.

Interesting. It's been a while since I was at Dorney, but if I recall, I believe the only ride that had any form of air gates when I was there last was the B&M. But then again, that's been almost a decade and a half ago.