Perilous Plunge Restraint update?

The state and the park were stupid, if you ask me. I'm not a safety or an ergonomics expert, but by every account it sounds to me like the perfectly acceptable existing lap bar would work just fine for people who don't tote 300 pounds. I would think the solution would be to not let people board if they can't be restrained by the existing, working, restraint.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
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No, with the restraints, 90% of those under 12 can't fit, nor can some adults/teens. But fat, 320 lb people can.

I guess the real question becomes, "Is the ride *now* more accomodating to 'super-sized' guests?" Because if the answer to this is no, then this was a very stupid decision.

I'm with Matt, use the "Six Flags" method of avoiding bad PR with a ride...move it to another park!

lata, jeremy

"Sunshine, daisies, butter-mellow! Turn this stupid fat rat yellow!"

Capacity isn't really an Issue 90% of the time. The line is usually 30 minutes on all but the hottest days, AND IF YOU RIDE PRIOR TO 11AM, I GUARANTEE YOU NO LINE.

How can PP and Revolution have such overdone restraint systems when something like Chiller and SRoS can run completely safely with just lapbars? Ridiculous. Why has the state of California got such ridiculous rules?

Sounds like PP has been as good as ruined; If guests are 'overly big' then just tell them that they cannot ride until they go away and lose some weight. Luckily we have Hydro; Unluckily it is cold and wet in Wales most of the time!

I don't think the State of California demanded this system. California only noted that the existing system was "clearly inadequate." The State agreed to the changes (which is interesting as it was implied that the manufacturer did not...which makes me wonder who is liable if somebody is hurt by the new restraint).

From what little bit I know about the ride, I am almost certain that the problem could have been solved and the restraints approved by the state through some far less dramatic changes to the ride vehicles. But I wonder...if the park had implemented such 'stealth' changes, would the ride suffer from people mistakenly believing that the park hadnt done anything?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Rideman , I'm inclined to agree with you. The incident generated a massive amount of press out here. While I haven't seen the new restraint system yet, I am familar with the mutipoint racing harness. To say that it is overkill would be an understatement. IMO CF's safety people probably oppted for the most visual restraint the could come up with.They can point out to the press that"nothing can get out of that" and everybody is happy.

Belmont Babe and I rode PP for the better part of six hours for a Discovery Channel shoot the spring before the incident. With the belt fastened snuggly and the lap bar all the way down (not stapled) there was no excessive movement. I feel that the lapbelt and the lapbar were more than adequete for the parameters for which it was designed.Is it possble that this is merely a stopgap measure untill new boats could be built with a different restraint system? The way they are built may make it difficult to retrofit horsecollars.

I have to agree, being a larger rider, but I think the big boy seats on the b& m's make the most sense redesign one of rows to handle the big boy row and everyone would be safe.

Dutchman: Visibility has to be a big part of it. And I think you know me well enough to know I don't think a shoulder restraint of any kind is an appropriate answer on this ride. After a couple of rides on a certain New York roller coaster, I think I have an idea of what might have gone wrong and how it could be fixed. Trouble is, such a fix (implemented, by the way, on Millennium Force) is not obvious enough to convince the LA Times and the O C Register that anything significant has changed. I wouldn't be surprised if the harnesses are quietly changed a few times and eventually disappear over the next decade or so. But that's only my theory.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

What happened with the lady that fell out was her seatbelt was undone but the ride operators couldn't tell (her fat was covering it) and so it wasn't the rides fault, but rather a operator fault. Capacity can and is a problem 10% of the time, Speedy, and that is enough to where changes should and will be made.

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www.EverythingRollerCoaster.com
~Hypersonic XLC, the most fun you will have in 1.8 seconds!

They smell terrible.

Her seatbelt was done, it just "didn't do any good wrapped around her six pack" (paraphrasing from the Xcelerator boarding instructions). In sense, her "pear shaped body (AKA humongous ass)" wasn't able to be held in by the restraints, and she fell out. She might have turned around on the drop though.

You guys are pretty cold.

The woman did nothing wrong. And the horror of her poor kids who watched her fly out right in front of them.

I would still be having nightmares about that.

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Coming in 2003-The Spawn Of Magnum!
Yes Virginia, I am Santa Claus!
I AM WITTY!

Some of you guys have to be the most insensitive bastards I've ever met. May God take pitty on you if you ever gain a few pounds.

All I can say is that I'm happy I had a chance to ride it the way it was intended by Intamin, and just a couple of weeks before the incident too. At 6'3" and 250 pounds, even with the new restraints, I don't think they would let me ride in the back row, and very few rides are much fun when you're stapled to begin with.

I think that what KBF did was an unfortunate knee-jerk reaction that has a much better solution. Let's face it, if you are 5'2" and 300 pounds, you have to realize that there are certain things you are unable to do. Rather than cause an uproar by the first obese person to take offense, the rest of the riding public now must suffer.

Since people come in all shapes and sizes, weight and height are not the measuring stick to be used for this particular ride. Give the ride ops a hula hoop to check rider girth, or better yet, if the restraint is touching belly rather than the muscular part of the leg(this is what actually keeps you restrained), then you can not ride.

Until KBF realizes that there is such a thing as being too politically correct, we should change the initials to KVF for Knott's(Not) Very Fun. No one wants to be stapled, please don't make everyone pay for allowing someone on a ride who didn't belong there in the first place.

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Jim Hansen
Number of coasters ridden: 227

All I can is that, when we were in the First Aid office after Elissa got hurt on that ride the woman there told us "We've had more and more injuries since they put those stupid things on the ride!"

Go figure...

--Robb

I wonder, if it happened at, say, Dorney Park would they react the same way.

Robb, what are you doing on the boards? You're supposed to be finishing up your 2002 video so that I can get my winter coaster fix. I'm assuming it's in the mail, right?

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Jim Hansen
Number of coasters ridden: 227

I've only ridden Perilous plunge with the new 4 points and I have to say during dispatch and loading it does bother me but once you get up at the top it becomes the least of your worries, come one people even with this set back it is a great water ride, the drop makes you feel like you are going to die. I think the ride itself makes up more then well enough for the crappy restraints.

I have to agree with Rideman and Dutchman. Bad PR can kill a park, and your run of the mill journalists are going to need something that they can actually *see* as changed before they let up on the park.

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