Man enters low zone, struck by Ninja at Six Flags Magic Mountain

These incidents continue to baffle my mind...

I didn't like going into Raptor's low zones even after we had completely shut down the ride!

Geez, I wish somebody...anybody......could tell these people before they do this "You know what, before putting your life in danger here's 10 bucks let's go buy you a new hat!" Or how about this........last I checked nobody has ever suffered severe injury or death for going the remaining day at a theme park "hat-less". I guess he probably did it without telling anyone he was about to do that. Hopefully any of the people near him who saw him do this was telling him what an idiot he was while he was doing it.

God, I can't believe how unbelievably stupid some people are!

*** This post was edited by jephsteph 8/31/2008 11:51:11 AM ***

I hope he is okay.

Maybe this is why SF has the locker policy. As much as it looks like a money grab, the locker policy does have it's pros. Why didn't this guy just stick the hat in his pocket like most people?

Maybe he thought that if authorized personnel are allowed to enter the area, then why can't I?

Darwinism at its finest. I have no sympathy for him.

LostKause,

Has the Locker policy improved the loose item issue, or complicated it?

I've had some hats in my lifetime.

Some have been junky. Some have been ok.

And some have been really great.

But none have been that great.

An engagement ring? Maybe. Heart medicine for someone having a heart attack right then and there? Definitely.

But a HAT. No, just no.

The locker policy doesn't affect hats at all. The lockers are just for bags and other items that might "slow" down operation by setting them down on the ride platform. Six Flags doesn't care if guests bring hats and glasses on the ride. Cedar Fair on the other hand has the policy where guests cannot wear their hats or glasses on the ride, that includes prescription glasses, unless they are secured with a strap. It prevents people from losing it on the ride and also prevents accidents like this made by stupid people from happening.

The policy does affect hats. For example, if I went into the station with a hat and tried to leave it at the station, I would be told that I have to take it with me. This probably did not happen in this case, but is a possible scenario.

I've heard that the man died around 2 AM this morning.*** This post was edited by Pinja 8/31/2008 3:33:59 PM ***

Ridiculous. What can they do but use barbed wire to keep people out?

Since when was Ninja YOUR coaster, Jeff? Geez. I thought it belonged to the park and its paying customers. ;)

Wow, totally missed that typo. lol

Seriously though, this just makes me shake my head at people. The number 1 rule holds true... "people are stupid". As much as I want to feel no sympathy for the guy, he may have thought he could "safely" avoid getting hit and maybe something unexpected happened that resulted in him not being able to get out of the way in time.

No one is to blame but him, but still a harsh lesson to learn.

I'm not trying to start anything, but how hard is it to walk over to lost and found and report a missing hat. I'm sure SFMM would mail it back to the guy after the park closed for the day.

A few years ago Six Flags went around to their rides and installed a bunch of extra fence security. Many rides with low points received a second set of fence in those low areas, probably the reason that 2 fences had to be scaled in the SFOG case. on top of the addition of extra fences, rides with areas high on the list of areas guest want to enter for whatever reason, received a nice barbed wiring. Now i'm not sure that adding signs with "Extreme" danger are going to do the trick, like the state of Georgia believes, but I am sure Six Flags again will be adding features like this. Perhaps we could also see some policy changes like those mentioned above.

In the end no matter what you do guests will do as they please, but the more this happens, the more everyone else will be affected.

I was at Great Adventure the other night with some friends and we all noticed a lot of additional fencing added around the coasters, including 2' extensions on much of the pre-existing walls into ride areas. They even blocked off spaces people could sneak through between stairways and such.

I'm just going to go ahead and once again disagree with the all-encompassing statement that "people are stupid". Some people do not know the extreme dangers of entering a low zone. That doesn't make them stupid.

I'm not sure what significance the locker policy has with regards to loose articles, Andy. I haven't been to a SF in ages. I thought that maybe low zone breeches had something to do with the implementation of such a rule.

Fences are to keep people (and animals out). That is common sense. It doesn't matter what is on the other side.

Regardless of one's knowledge of the dangers on the other side, obviously the park doesn't want anyone to enter that area.
*** This post was edited by Acoustic Viscosity 8/31/2008 5:30:21 PM ***

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Some people do not know the extreme dangers of entering a low zone. That doesn't make them stupid.

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Yes it does.

What I don't get is that if I was dum enuff to jump some fences (and not use spell check before I post in this forum), I would DEFINITELY look for the coaster to pass by before I went for the hat.

I don't know how any park can keep out these Darwin Award winners from going for their 'prized' possessions. Maybe they need 1000 voltfences like the ones used in Jurassic Park - but then again, somedingleberry would put on rubber gloves, still scale the fence, runafter their family heirloom (which they just bought) just when the coaster is flying by, and be the football in an extra point attempt made by the coaster.

Oooooh, wide right!!!