Man dies after falling off Superman at Six Flags New England

This is very sad news and my thoughts and prayers are with the man's family.I just saw a segment about the accident on News 7 in Boston. It was a really inacurrate story and I was very disappointed with it. They interviewed guests and had them give us their "professional" reasons on why they thought the man fell out. Most of them said that the restraint had to be broken in order for him to fall out; I really don't think it is helping the situatuion by having people who have no idea what they are talking about give their resons on why he fell out. The reporter also compared the coaster's seatbelts to those found on airplanes, yet the designs are completely different. I guess I shouldn't expect much from the news.

Does anyone have any pics of the difference between the curved restraints and the older models? I lookd on RCDB and couldn't find any pics that clearly showed the difference, thanks!
*** This post was edited by lilspike333 5/1/2004 11:19:16 PM ***

The bent bars can be seen here on TTD. The straight ones, like S:ROS's, are just a straight bar like in this MF test seat.

First, I'd like to express my sadness that something like this happenned... Never a good thing when a day of fun ends like that.

Thanks for posting those pictures, mantis man. From the pictures, it looks like the TTD-style restraints fit higher up on the person's waist then the MF style restraints. (Never ridden a coaster with the curved style, so unsure.)

Just a quick question: Someone mentioned the accident rate on the Intamin restraints, and I did a few quick searches, and couldn't find much info on that. I've always gotten the impression that the Intamin restraints had a good track record and I've always felt reasonably secure in them. (It's been a year or so since I've been on the boards, so I might have missed a few things. If so, any links that are floating around?)

Whatever the cause for this tragedy is, I do hope that if its a restraint design issue, they are able to identify and correct it so that this sort of thing doesn't happen again...*** This post was edited by OnLiftHill 5/1/2004 11:39:35 PM ***

Perilous Plunge, death; S:RoS, injury; S:RoS, death; Hydro: death. All rides had the Intamin t-style restraint.

Palwine: that's the local news for you. It's too bad people actually watch that nonsense. Regardless, this is very depressing news for me. S:ROS is my favorite coaster, but it's now had two catastrophic accidents. I won't speculate or place blame until reading further details, but I will say I always felt safe in that coaster, despite the extreme ejector air. I always found myself thinking that even if the lapbar failed, the belt would hold me in and I could always hold on. I hope this doesn't get Markey back on his tirade - if the ride was to be found at fault, you can say goodbye to Intamin hypers as we know them (at least in MA).

my thoughts and prayers are with the family....so sad that this happened right at the beginning of the season. im anxious to hear the outcome of the investigation.

It is always a sad day when a dreadful accident like this happens, which we've had so many recently.

My thoughts are with everyone involved.

First of all my thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the victim.

I honestly don't know what to think. I know we don't have all of the details yet but I'm still so cynical over the intamin restraints. S:ROS is hailed as such a great ride because of the intense airtime and the freedom of the restraints. This is one ride I actually WANT to be stapled into.

I will say this now. I wouldn't be surprised if these recent incidents with Intamin's rides lead to modified restraints. I don't think OTSR's are out of the question either. Maybe not OTSR's but more of a butterfly restraint (X). I wouldn't object to that at all.

I wonder how this will affect the ride's future as well. This is the second incident on this ride. Will people of a higher power decide that this ride just should not be run? I personally love this ride and it is my #1 coaster. However, even I am beginning to question its safety.

An interesting additional bit of information is in the latest CNN report:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Northeast/05/01/coaster.death.ap/index.html

The victim's 82-year-old mother, Germaine Mordarsky, told The Hartford Courant her son had cerebral palsy and used a scooter for transportation. She said her son liked to visit the park 90 miles west of Boston two or three times a year.

"I can't understand why they would let him on a ride like that in the first place. He was so sickly and handicapped. I just can't believe it," she said.

That the guest was not an able-bodied rider likely has something to do with this incident. But that's just speculation!

This it truly a sad day for SFNE. But in response to what CNN had posted and what the mother had to say. You have to remember that all Amusement Parks around the country are not allowed to question a persons disability. You can ask them if they are able to meet the criteria (are you able to hold on to the lap bar with at least one funcitoning arm, etc.), but you are NOT allowed to question their disability in anyway.

So if this person said they were able to meet the ctiteria, you CAN NOT deny them a ride!

So if the ridership questions were asked and they meet the criteria, the only one to blame would be the local, state government, or federal government for imposing these restrictions on the parks.

My prayers to the family.I am not going to speculate as to what caused this.(per jeff's request)

But do you think the entire track and load area of all coasters should be covered by video cameras ?

Or would that cause even more problems as the news people would sue to get the footage of accidents.

Not to mention what the attorneys would say it shows in court.

Or would it help the parks get rid of rule breakers and unsafe riders (like the casino's ban cheats and card counters)

*** This post was edited by kevin38 5/2/2004 4:52:39 AM ****** This post was edited by kevin38 5/2/2004 4:57:26 AM ****** This post was edited by kevin38 5/2/2004 5:03:17 AM ***

Does anyone know if the SFDL or the SFA coasters were closed immediately following the accident. I'm sure they would. Wouldn't the ride-ops have checked to see if his seatbelt was still locked when the train returned after the accident?

It was a sad day. I was in line for Batman when it happened. THe peronel wre very hush hush about it. My prayers go out the the faimly an anyone else in volved.

^Kevin38,

It is impossible that this sort of accident could have been preventable by video camera. This has been discussed before, under the Big Thunder Mountain Railway Accident topics.

Also, you cannot simply get rid of rule breakers and unsafe riders. How would you know? You can get rid of rule breakers, but it is hard to observe. I don't really think this man was an unsafe rider; just that he had this disease, but shouldn't have been allowed on the ride, but the park's only defense is asking.

If anyone was wondering where in the ride this happened, go to http://badnitrus.coasterbuzz.com/Coasters/SupermanRideOfSteel_SFNE/SROS_SFNE.htm and download the video of the ride. At 1:32 into the video, that turn comes around.

Are you sure ^^?, I thought it happened at the entrance to the 2nd tunnel. That has the most airtime and laterals out of any part of the ride. If he fell out at the very end, Then the whole story doesnt really make sense.

I rode SROS just about an hour before the accident and was seated in the last row with a 9 year old girl. The ride-ops were doing an excellent job of checking all seatbelts and lapbars and the ride was running flawlessly. Unfortunately if this guy was in the back seat then there is unlikely to be any witness to him undoing his seatbelt or any other unsafe behavior that would let Six Flags off the hook.

1st of all my sympathy to the family of the man killed. This should be a wake up call for this madness to stop. In this crazy politically correct world we live in everyone is suppose to have chance to do what they want. BS! This has to stop, physically challenged, mentally challenged and anyone else that is incapable of riding safely and correctly SHOULD NOT be allowed to ride. It is just too bad; life is unfair for us all at times. I will never be able to be an NBA player because I am 5 10". Ill never be heir to the Royal throne because I wasn’t born into the family. It's just the way it is and it's too bad but that is life. Making wheelchair access through the exit is horrible, they get to go right on while we all have to wait because we don’t need a chair. Most of all they don’t BELONG on the ride! I was at SFNE last weekend and they are extremely strict on checking the safety belts on Superman. This madness has to stop!!! Sorry if it hurts your feelings but life isn’t always fair. These rides are built for people of sound mind and body, when you start altering things to " appease" the politically correct crowd "bigmouths" this is what happens. Now of course the mother is going to get an ambulance chaser lawyer and suit the hell out of SFNE. Our ticket prices will go up and another trail lawyer will get rich. It wont bring back the man who died nor erase the horror that everyone who witnessed the tragic event had to see. If the attendents told him “no you cant ride” they’d suit Six Flags for discrimination. Enough is enough.. Rides are meant for people who can freely enter and exit without anyone’s assistance; and that includes those people that over indulge in food. Stop wasting everyone’s time by getting on the ride only to make us all wait have the restraints released 2 or 3 times only to be told you cant ride because your too big. Those people too pop out of a ride now and then and of course, we all pay the price because we eat moderately and watch our weight. They should have a size gate that you must be able to walk through without touching the sides before you can even enter the ride line. Sorry I am not a hard person, but I am just tired of seeing these tragic events happen because politically correct bigmouths make parks heal to their stupid demands of making rides accessible to people who shouldn’t be on them.Have a safe coaster season.

*** This post was edited by 5/2/2004 7:27:16 PM ***

Yes they were both closed SFGRADV lover...I was at SFA yesterday & managed to get in two laps in the morning but when my friend & I went back to ride in the afternoon it was closed already.

At the time I thought it was just closed due to typical maintenance issues(our ride has become more problematic lately) & they wouldn't say why it was closed at all.

It wasn't until this morning that I got an email from my friend linking to this thread that I learned what happened at SFNE,although my mom told me she heard something about an accident on a ride when I got home last night...we were the last ones out of the park thanks to a mini ERT session on Wild one.

This is really bad for the park & for SF in general,we've had so many accidents already this year & the Intamin hypers in the SF chain have had numerous mishaps since opening(SFDL rider falls out,SFNE brake failure resulting in a crash,SFA again another brake failure but thankfully no crash & now a man has died)and I won't be too suprised to see these rides either modified or removed all together from their respective parks if this keeps up.

It is really tragic & sad when friends & family go out to visit their local park expecting to have a day of fun & then someone's life is cut short because of something like this happening.

^coasterwiz

I was not stating that a video camera would have stopped accident.I was asking if it would Help the investagation.Second I did not state that it would stop rule breaking but a video is hard to rebut when the rider states I did not break the rules. A camera would be a cheap addition to a ride that costs millions.