Although the safety of any amusement ride or attraction is mostly the responsibility of the ride manufacture or the parks maintanance and operations department, the guest riding the roller coaster or other amusement park attraction plays an important rule. The following is some advice for any one planning to ride any roller coaster or other ride at an amusement/theme park.
1. Restraints:
a) The restraints are a very important component to the safety of the ride. Make sure the restraint is very close in contact with your lap and that it is at a comfortable but secure level. One click rides, in my opinion, regardless of the size of the ride or the amount of negative g's (airtime) is not an acceptable level to have a lapbar at. Also people who are not very large do not need only two clicks but should place the lapbar or shoulder restraint several clicks down, so it is secure and will function the way the restraint was designed for.
b) Also make sure there is nothing between you and the restraint. This includes coats/jackets, bags, or large stuffed animals. The restraint can not properly restrain the rider if there is something between it. The recent speculation going on (The Sun Newspaper) about the death of the young girl on Oakwood's Hydro Giant Flume, was that her jackat was between the restraint and see tried to remove the jacket and possible removed the safety belt (shoulder strap). Although none of this has been confirmed, it still shows how important it is to have nothing between the restraint and the rider.
c) Don't remove any restraint (lapbar, seatbelt, shoulder restrain) or free yourself from the restraint at any point during the ride. Only when the ride has come to a complete stop at the station can you remove any restraint. I know some roller coaster enthusiasts will complain about seatbelts and how some coasters with PTC trains have added them recently. However the seat belt restraints are there for your safety, really do not restrict the ride experience, and at most cause a slight decrease in capacity due to longer loading times.
2. Follow all rules for any ride:
This goes for any rules posted or verbally stated by any official sign or park employee. So if an employee statest that the lapbar must go down two clicks, the guest should follow that instruction without any hesistation. Or if the sign says no smoking in line, then a guest should not even think about smoking in line. Also if an employee tells a guest no picture taking or video taking during the ride, that should be followed and a guest should not try to be tricky and take pictures or videos on the ride when no one is looking.
3. Follow height and size restrictions for any ride.
Height restrictions are a very important rule that must be enforced by the park and followed by any guest for any ride. The manufacture of the ride and the park, decide based on the restraints used in the ride, and the overal intensity among other factors to determine the height restriction. These height restrictions should be followed for any ride (including kiddie rides that have a limit to how tall you can be). Also large guests should be extra careful when deciding to ride a roller coaster or other amusement rides, because certain rides have restraints that are very tight fits and might not accomendate large guest. After a few recent incidents of accidents with large guests, large guest should make sure that restraint is secure and comfortable, and that the restraint feels like it is in a proper and secure position.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. Safety is an important issue. As a former ride operator, I take safety very seriously and do not want to see any more accidents this year.
Have a safe and fun summer riding! *** Edited 4/18/2004 8:06:09 PM UTC by Beast Fan*** *** Edited 4/19/2004 4:35:03 PM UTC by Beast Fan***
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