Man enters restricted area at SFMM and struck by Ninja coaster

^ 6-foot tall chain-link style fences are not meant for decoration.

If he had been remotely intelligent like you're suggesting, he would have registered it as "keep out, stay out."

Needless to say, anybody who thinks hopping a perimeter fence into an area where 5 tons of fiberglass and metal are flying 40 mph overhead is perfectly safe IS an idiot and IS a candidate for the Darwin award.

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LostKause said:
Do firefighters or inner-city police officers deserve to die just because they chose dangerous jobs?

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I don't think that's a fair comparison at all. Those are people who understand the risks of their jobs and train to be as safe as possible while doing their jobs. It's insulting that you'd compare them to this idiot.

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a_hoffman50 said:
I have seen on many occasions where hats were not allowed on the ride, but still people took hats with them on the ride. They sometimes purposefully hide them from ride ops.

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Does anyone know if Ninja is one of those rides with the lockers? I know at Great Adventure on any rides with the lockers they make you take the hat with you on the ride. On Nitro they tell you to sit on your hat.

Regardless of the intelligence level of this guy it sucks that he is dead. I'm shocked that people are actually considering putting blame on the park for this.

So by walking through the turnstyle people no longer have to take any responsibility or accountability for themselves or their actions. If I go to a Six Flags park and decide drop trou take a huge dump in the midway, it's really their problem because there should have been a sign telling me not to. Or if there was a "Please don't defecate on the midway, restrooms are located throughout the park for your convenience!" sign it should have been bigger.

After the SFOG thing they were told they need bigger fences. Someone here mentioned that the attendant shoudn't have allowed a hat to go out. It takes work and effort to break these rules, climbing fences and hiking in the woods isn't an accident.

I have ABSOLUTLY ZERO sympathy for this knucklehead, moron, and numbskull.

I still want to know when the construction for the piranah-filled moat will begin construction.

Then again, it might be just the type of people who go to SF. It's rare you hear about this jink at CF parks.

^Define intelligent. His decision to go into the restricted area for whatever reason was stupid and almost got him killed. Not very bright that is for sure. Mistake? You make it sound like it was a split second decision to climb a 6 foot fence. Oh yea it was a mistake alright, a really stupid one but one he had time to consider.

The moron got what he deserved. Its too bad that he survived to tell about it. I never have lost a hat on a roller coaster. Either it goes in my cargo pockets or its zipped up inside of my jacket. Its hard to believe that this jackass did not use the built in storage compartments provided by the clothing company.

BTW. One one would think that a six to seven foot fence around a roller coaster would keep someone out. I guess its more proof that the general public has to babysit everyone else. I suppose that cranking up the ticket price might keep out those that are lacking in intellegence.

I am reminded of a skit on Saturday Night Live from probably twenty years ago. It was a club meeting of People Who Ruin It For Everybody Else. Each member would brag about things they had ruined or were planning to ruin. One guy chimed in, saying, "You know how you don't have to go through metal detectors to get into amusement parks? Heh heh heh...just wait." And then, of course, in the real world he was proven right.

It seems like we may be at one of those turning points again. If parks have to turn their rides into prison-like structures with barbed wire and sensors and who knows what else in order to protect the customers from themselves, who will want to go?

I was at Cedar Point on Saturday. At numerous spots I noticed how unsecured many of the rides were. The most obvious one, of course, is the midway under Corkscrew. It seems to me that any idiot with a little bit of climbing skill could shinny up a pole ten feet to the track. Why it hasn't happened yet, I don't know, except that Cedar Fair has been lucky so far. For that matter, almost anybody could jump over the rail into Matterhorn or Himalaya while it was operating and get just as equally dead.

So what's a safety-conscious park supposed to do if these idiots keep breaking the rules of common sense? Beats me.

Jeff said:

LostKause said:
Do firefighters or inner-city police officers deserve to die just because they chose dangerous jobs?

I don't think that's a fair comparison at all. Those are people who understand the risks of their jobs and train to be as safe as possible while doing their jobs. It's insulting that you'd compare them to this idiot.

No comparison at all. Firefighters and police enter dangerous postions to help others, not to retrieve a hat or sunglasses.

Imagine this, you're at a park, the wind grabs your hat, glasses, whatever and it flies into a restricted area.You see a cop and say: hey, serve me. go get my hat. I'm sure they'd find a polite way to tell you to 'pound salt'.

Soooooo...

If this guy has survived, what can we expect him to sue for, reason and compensation?

He'll probably use an arguement that relates to the kid at SFoG and try to get $100 million +.

I'm very sorry that I offended some of you. That was not my intention. Please let me reword it with another subject...

Intelligent people can make stupid choices. Some of you act as if you knew this guy and you thought that he was a moron.

LostKause said:
I'm very sorry that I offended some of you. That was not my intention. Please let me reword it with another subject...

Intelligent people can make stupid choices. Some of you act as if you knew this guy and you thought that he was a moron.

No, you did not offend me.

Secondly, you are assuming this guy was intelligent. Just as much as you are talking in a condescending manner to the rest of us for judging him without knowing him. You're doing the exact same thing, but giving him the benefit of the doubt...which I find ridiculous.

Intelligent people don't jump 6-foot perimeter fences beneath operating roller coasters. Where the hell are you drawing the line at defining intelligence? People that can count their ABC's? Because that's what it seems like. And for that I don't agree with you at all.

You're right. People do make mistakes. Intelligent people definitely can make mistakes. They forget to pick up the cake for their cousin's birthday. They forget to bring their papers to the office meeting. They forget to make their credit card payment on time.

THEY HOWEVER, DON'T JUMP DANGER-MARKED 6-FOOT FENCES UNDERNEATH ROLLER COASTERS.

I always used to think the no glasses policy was silly at certain parks... but now 4 years later I'm thinking maybe not so much. Shame a few people have to ruin it for everyone. Soon there will be no keys, wallets, or loose change and they will scan you via x-ray before entering the ride.

You're right. People do make mistakes. Intelligent people definitely can make mistakes. They forget to pick up the cake for their cousin's birthday. They forget to bring their papers to the officemeeting. They forget to make their credit card payment on time. THEYHOWEVER, DON'T JUMP DANGER-MARKED 6-FOOT FENCES UNDERNEATH ROLLERCOASTERS.

I think you are still comparing stupid (or unintelligent) people with stupid actions, which is what the other guy is getting at. Some people have mental issues that lead them to cut themselves. Does that make them stupid? WHat if that same person runs a successful business that makes them millions? Some people jump off 200 ft cliffs into water below for fun. There is a high risk, but does it make them stupid? What if 1,000 people out of 5,000 die doing that very thing. Does that make them unintelligent? Van goh cut off the lobe of his ear, freak shows mutilate their body (but can get paid for it!). I guess nobody can answer what is stupid or not as it's subjective. People disobey the law every day, does that make them stupid? New ideas are born by breaking 'rules' sometimes. What IF this guy was mentally handicapped, or something of that nature, would it have been OK then? No answer needed, just sayin'.

Playing devil's advocate, of course. Waaaaayy too much "philosophy" in this post. I had posted another post instead of editing the previous one right above.... does that make me unintelligent? [OK don't answer that :)]. I think everyone at some point in their lives has done something they regretted doing. Maybe it was giving $5,000 to a nigerian scammer. Or having sex with someone you know has an STD. I'm running out of ideas because it seems all of my examples involve money in some way.... but then again, the hat may have had value to this guy for whatever reason.

OK, better example. Yes, I agree he went about it the wrong way and should have notified someone or just let it go and NOT gotton the hat, I don't think anyone disagrees. BUT he's lived for aproximately 8,000 days, and on ONE of them he decided to jump a fence to get a hat. Does that 1 action counteract the 7,999 other days automatically? By the sounds of that post, yes it does [or at least my comprehension of it]. And that's totally your opinion.

Wow. Someone understands my deeper meanings. High five, mfivesdarienlake.

I noticed that all of the other examples that put someones life in danger (cliff diving, lion taming, coal mining) is something that they plan for, whereas climbing a fence to retrieve a hat is probably more spontaneous. Which is more "stupid"? Planned danger or spontaneous danger.

My intentions is not to make people agree with me all of the time, but to try and get people to understand another perspective. Honestly, I fail at that more than I don't.

I see where some of you are coming from. I don't mean to sound judgmental. I just want to balance out all the meanness on this site with something a little more thoughtful. It's easy to say that "He was a stupid, idiotic moron for doing what he did". It all boils down to this...one stupid act does not make someone stupid.

LostKause said:
He may have been very intelligent and simply made a mistake.

I'm pretty sure I don't want to live in a world where ignoring posted warnings, climbing a fence into a restricted area and standing in the path of a piece of machinery weighing several tons and moving at speeds of up to 55mph to retrieve a hat is something an intelligent person does.

Your comment would be funny if it weren't such a sad commentary on the state of things.

I guess a case could be made that kids jump out into traffic to retrieve a ball. Thats a careless spontaneous act. This guy had to think about things first. His hat fell off during the ride, he then had to find where on the ride he lost it, then figure out how to retrieve it. There was nothing spontaneous about it.

Not only that, but he had to bypass at least one fence and signs stating that it is dangerous beyond that point. Where does the line between spontaneity and premeditation fall?

LostKause said:

I noticed that all of the other examples that put someones life in danger (cliff diving, lion taming, coal mining) is something that they plan for, whereas climbing a fence to retrieve a hat is probably more spontaneous. Which is more "stupid"? Planned danger or spontaneous danger.

I don't understand the logic of comparing this person's behavior to the behavior of someone else in a different situation as a means of measuring the stupidity of his action. This person in this situation ignored warnings and devices designed to protect him from the harm he brought to himself. Let's just focus on that.

LostKause said:

I just want to balance out all the meanness on this site with something a little more thoughtful.

The opinions being offered here can be mean/insensitive and still be true. Just an observation.

Urgh...didn't we beat this topic to death before (no pun intended)? *snicker* It is a shame that this person likely will have serious injuries that could damage him for the rest of his life. It is a shame that his loved ones will have to suffer with him, and possibly suffer his loss (did he pass away yet?). Was he a stupid person? We don't know, but he made a really stupid decision, and I can't help but agree with the social darwinism thing. He's a candidate (and for the record, a social darwinism candidate is one who takes themselves out of the gene pool due to death OR the inability to procreate). I don't know a single person who doesn't know about the SFoG death (and not because I was talking about it). What did he do? He hopped a fence just like the other guy. After all the publicity the SFoG occurrence received, he STILL did it. One fry short of a Happy Meal is my opinion.

I think I'm closer to Dexter on this one than most of the others. It was a stupid decision, but I don't think that makes him a stupid person.

If he had safely gotten his hat and gone on to discover the cure for cancer, we'd be lauding him as one of the most brilliant people in the history of humanity.