Multiple people injured on Six Flags El Toro coaster

Developing story.

https://nypost.com/2022/08/25/multiple-injured-on-el-toro-coaster-a...SocialFlow

Multiple people were injured on the El Toro ride at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey on Thursday night, according to local police and parks officials.

At least 12 patients were transported to area hospitals for treatment via EMS after the popular ride malfunctioned causing injuries around 7:30 p.m., just before the park closed at 8, the amusement park told NBC 4.

A Six Flags spokesperson told The Post that several people reported feeling back pain after riding the roller coaster. The spokesperson said just five guests were taken to a local medical facility for evaluation.

Hope everyone is OK overall. This is not a good sign. Wasn't El Toro shut down for most of last year due to an incident as well?

Yes. It was closed for 10 months and reopened in April of this year.

El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure Shutdown After Partial Derailment

A woman who said she was on the El Toro Thursday night wrote on Facebook that “it felt like [the roller coaster] hit a pothole” after the third drop.

Dang.

Sounds eerily similar to how (one of) the Son of Beast incident was described.

From what others claim, this "pothole" has been developing for a bit of time now since it reopened. Did maintenance never think to get it repaired before it went from bad to worse? Maintenance negligence?

I will say, when at Lake Compounce a few years back there was a valley near the end of Boulder Dash that jarred the lights out of you. Rest of the ride perfectly fine, but that one small section was bad enough that I question who decided it was OK to even open the dang thing. Worse than any Son of Beast roughness, to put into perspective.

Two strikes for El Toro?

Sucks.

I just read the Post for the comments section. Riveting stuff.

“If you puked on the Rotor it came back in your face”- comment out of nowhere.

Wait, if we buy a prefab wood coaster we still have to maintain the track?

RCMAC:

“If you puked on the Rotor it came back in your face”- comment out of nowhere.

To be fair, it did.

Very unfortunate. El Toro was a great ride (though it's been 15 years since I rode it). Key thing is hopefully everyone ends up OK from this accident.

The question I have. After the last accident, it seems as if there were concerns related to track gauging and design under load ( - assuming this video is accurate), which is somewhat of a design related issue. I don't think there are any other coasters with the same tech here in the US, but have any of the other pre-fab wood coasters had issues like this or needed retrofits? El Toro was somewhat breaking new ground when it was built now 15+ years ago.

The weird thing about this story is that depending on where you look, there are two completely unrelated threads about what allegedly happened. One is that the train hit a major pothole, and the other is that a train moved in the station while riders were boarding or getting off. Both are being reported by the mainstream media. The park's statement as well as substantiating evidence (such as footage of employees walking the track with flashlights) supports the former but it's interesting to me how the reporting and alleged first person reports have diverged.

“Always pronounced grayduhvencher, one word”- comment out of nowhere.

In the link above (https://westchester.news12.com/amusement-park-at-least-5-injured-on...-adventure), the video shows an empty train sitting directly outside of the station, in a position trains don't normally stop. There are drive tires here until the cars start turning towards the lift.

This screenshot shows the rear of the 2nd train in the station, almost at the home position.

This is interesting because the programing on this ride is to NOT advance the train into the station until the first one has completely cleared the drive tires in front of the station. So we certainly have some evidence of a blocking violation.

Build rides that's purpose is making you feel like you are being flung out and... ?? I know I know... 'they finally build the wild ride you want' let me clarify. Raven with buzzbars, good. Texas Cyclone with buzzbars, good. Flying up 6 inches from my seat on Conneaut Lake Blue streak, then landing safely back in my seat, good. Feeling like I'm going to be flung to my quick death on Cyclops at Mt. Olympus when it had buzzbars? Good?

Feeling of having all the brains sucked out of the top of my head on El Toro? not good.

El Toro is frigging incredible.

Regarding the possible block violation that FUN has laid out above, is it possible that the ride was e-stopped or manually moved (by maintenance called to the scene) to get the train with the injured guests into the station without sending the other train around the circuit?

I believe when the SOB incident occurred the train was e-stopped on the lift because it took that long for the train to get from the block brake to the station (and for the staff to identify that there was a train full of injured riders).

There have only been a few times during my riding career that I was grateful to be stapled in, and my rides on El Toro counted amongst those. And I was miserable- the bar had to be pushed down against my gut making it impossible to breathe. I was especially sad that I could only manage two trips around on a slow day. I walked away with a long face, but also with the feeling that I had somehow survived one of the most intense coaster experiences ever. I think Lightning Rod and Steel Vengeance are other rides that come close in extreme negative forces- the kind that make you know the lap bar is the only thing between you and certain death.
There’s a lot of talk of Six Flag’s negligence in the matter and I’m not convinced we know that for sure. If indeed they’ve been ignoring needed or recommended maintenance then that’s a shame. There’s potential that they will lose a one of a kind, world class ride.

https://nypost.com/2022/08/25/multiple-injured-on-el-toro-coaster-a...adventure/

Well, it’s the Post, so take it with a huge grain of salt, but other articles were less specific but did report back, mouth, and tongue injuries. Yikes.

I am wondering exactly what changed so much since last year’s damage that could cause this kind of brutality. Toro was always intense, yes, but it was also incredibly re-rideable.