Man climbs out of coaster when lap bar allegedly releases while climbing lift

You can tell by the size of the guys neck he’s fairly large.

I thought the size of a man's hands were the indicator of his size?

The real question I would have given this: is the ride shut down pending an investigation. I've never had a restraint open on a coaster. Tight up - definately. But, in this case, either the restraint was not latched in the station or it released on the ride. Either way, the ride shouldn't be running until what happened is truly known and investigated. This is more of an issue given the issue that the ride manufacturer (Hopkins) really was not a prolific coaster building company with a large number of successes, and there is onlky one other similar ride still running (as best as I can tell).

Schwarzkopf76:

Ryan the Ride Mechanic on youtube did a nice video explanation

That was an informative video. Thanks for mentioning it. Ryan's point: getting out of the train was way more hazardous than holding on. (And, the operator was not doing their job.)

Link:

Viper SFGAm, round the turn of the century, in the middle of the ride my lap bar popped open on the turn just prior to the double down. I was able to slam it back down and relock before the turn ended. Only time it’s happened to me on any coaster.

He probably would’ve been fine staying in his seat with no lap bar, but I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect that he would know that. The average person freaking out when their coaster restraint opens up just before reaching the top of the hill is a reasonable reaction.

The only thing that would get me to jump out of a coaster train is if I were stopped on a midcourse or final brake run and there was a block violation and another train was coming my way at significant speed. And the chances of me getting myself out in the 15-20 seconds I'd have are next to nothing.

What if Steel Vengeance's restraint popped open and you couldn't get it to close?

We need MythBusters to look into this.

Wonder if Buster likes roller coasters? Gotta be better than getting blown up.

Bakeman31092:

What if Steel Vengeance's restraint popped open and you couldn't get it to close?

Then oh sh*t!!

I wonder what the guy would have done if he was sitting in the outboard seat from the walkway. I think it would have been impossible for him to get out of his seat, crawl over the inboard seat/lapbar, and then step out in the short time that he had.

I believe that’s when you hope the seat belt works.

It has a seatbelt? I thought it just had the lapbar.

Someone I used to work with insisted that the over the shoulder harness on Iron Dragon opened up midway through his ride. I didn't think that was possible, but he sure was adamant about it really happening.

Vengeance has seat belts. I seem to recall them yelling out to fasten your seatbelt when you get into the car but not to pull down your lap bar. But may remember that wrong.

I would be comfortable with riding Iron Dragon with no restraints. Same with any of the runaway train coasters with deep bucket cars.

If the restraint unlocked mid-ride, you would presumably put your arms down if you were riding with them up and would look to hold onto something. Grab bar. Person next to you. Anything you could.

I always wondered what Iron Dragon would be like with lap bars, at least the view would improve! I do love that ride...

When I was a kid I heard a story about some girl handing the shoulder harness to the ride operator after her ride on Demon at Great America. Good thing it wasn't on the train that got stranded upsidedown in the loop.

One year at Holiwood Nights, the seat divider pulled right out of the Voyage seat I was in while the train left the station. I handed it to the ride op, the train stopped at the lift base and we had to get out. How I wanted a seat divider-free ride on Voyage! But I had to do the right thing.

Schwarzkopf76:

I always wondered what Iron Dragon would be like with lap bars

Or Big Bad Wolf as a stand-up...with no restraints. :)

To be fair, I think Iron Dragon's restraints are mostly so you don't stand up and leave on the 2nd lift.

Vater:

Or Big Bad Wolf as a stand-up...with no restraints. :)

I assume that was Gonch doing that

Shades:
Someone I used to work with insisted that the…

If I had a nickel…

Bakeman31092:
What if Steel Vengeance's restraint popped open and you couldn't get it to close?

I think there’s a good reason that the RMC lap bars are as stiff as a cold something or another. It really takes strength to open and close them which leads me to suspect that it’s intentional. It also could be the reason that they insist the riders stay hands off while the ops use their weight and strength to close them down on you.
In other words there’s no “popping” open, not even after the restraints are intentionally released, and I can only guess that the sharp transitions and severe airtime isn’t enough to take someone completely out of the seat before they can push the bar back down. I mean they designed the most unusual train that for some reason don’t include a static bar to hang on to, which I find unsettling enough, but I’m going with the belief they’ve thought all this out.