SFMM employee struck and killed by coaster today

I have to agree...chunks? Not likely. We're likely dealing with blunt-force trauma here. She was likely just knocked out of the way by the train, in a really bad way :(

I'm no expert, but I get the feeling we're being told a lot of speculation, rumor, and conjecture here!

Maybe Six Flags should require all employees to watch an orientation video about the dangers of standing next to or on a roller coaster track. As sad as it is, things like this could be prevented with some common sense.

If the girl that was killed was from another country and didn't understand English very well and that message came on, it might as well have been in Pig Latin or Vulcan.

If she did speak broken English I personally think she shouldn't be working the ride. How can a person be trained properly if the trainer speaks another langue. I just think it would be unsafe for both riders and the ride ops.

I always though Six Flags encloses the low clearance areas with a chainlink fence to avoid this kind of thing. So the ride has a fence sround it and the low areas have another fence. A park can only do so much with protecting employees and guests. The rest comes from the people protecting themselves.

It's sad someone was killed but if it was out of someones lack of common sense and pure stupidity I have no problem joking about it. Like is someone tries to cross a 6 lane highway at rush hour and was hit, thats funny to me. If it was a little baby that got hit not knowing any better thats just sad.

Every time there is a ride-related fatality, someone eventually cracks a joke. This leads to pages and pages and pages of arguing whether or not humor is an appropriate reaction to tragedy. Someday, I'm hoping we can skip the arguing part.

The "horn" your talking about only goes off when either the ride is turned on, the ride is restarted, or the lift turns on...and i believe theres one more. No horn goes off(except for the new horn that was installed under the station for having some employee incidents when the combs drop) when a train is dispatched. And when I said chunks, i wasnt refering to like an arm in row 1 and like a foot in row 5. I was refering to like the train comming back with blobs of blood, hair, pieces of skin. And they had to re-track the last 2 inversions to make sure nothing was left. Such as teeth and more skin. Its what I heard from a Scream crew member that was on the safety ride train.

And to when he said that the spiels arent usually done correctly, he speaks the truth. I personally am guilty of turning on power at X with only a 1 minute and an immidiate warning. X is the only ride that requires a 5 minute spiel counting down till immidiatley. So 5,4,3,2,1 then immidiate.

you can only understand sfmm if you work there thr park management is corrupt they seem not to care who they hire for these rides and when you hire like that you are playing roulette with the proper operation of the ride.

i have a story never heard to the public its when i worked at goldrusher. i had some employees know as fast breakers(16 and 17 year olds for poorer la schools usually mexicans that spoke about 60% english)alot of them worked fine but on this day there could of been another employee death. i was on the second lift during block check and i had a certified fast breaker on block break when the train came by her it stoped at BB and she reset as planed but she didnt let the train pass her before she started walking back down to panel and the train caught on to her jacket and dragged her around the hourseshoe then dropped her,she landed 2 feet away unto dirt not injured. when the train recycled the jacket was still hanging there from the train.
she kept it too herself and she told me on the last day of her employment.

i think it is part six flags fault but common sence would help too. it needs to be left up to six flags to screen these people they send to rides.

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Zero-G said:
MaribaGuy, I find humor in all things, and if you don't, then that's fine.

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Don't be an ass. You, as a ride op of all people, should be able to appreciate the tragedy of losing a ride operator to an accident like this.

If that's the 9-year old attitude you're going to have, you have no business working on Raptor, or any ride, anywhere.

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bk170 said:
people you haft to understand that she was a global and more that lickly didnt speak english very well...

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Can't say much for the locals either if you speak the way you write.

There's no question that this is a needless tragedy. The procedures you need to follow are so straight forward, and they can't be deviated from at all. When the guy was hit at Lake Compounce a few years ago it was the same thing. Training and clear cut procedure should prevent this from ever happening.

It's going to be tough on that crew as well.

I'm *guessing* here....but doesn't the HORN sound when a ride is being re-started from a lock-out situation.

I've never worked at a park, so this is PURE conjecture on my part...but if the ride was NOT properly "locked-out, tagged-out", then the ride isn't really being *re-started*....and if the horn does NOT sound, then all the warning you really get is the roar of the train, which (as others have mentioned) can get easily lost in the surrounding noise that is typical of an amusement park...

Sad situation....but it really all comes back to what Jeff JUST said: "The procedures you need to follow are so straight forward, and they can't be deviated from at all." AT ALL....

People just need to remember coasters and rides are heavy machinery, same thing as a crane, back ho, or a machine in a factory. They need to be respected and operated properly or this is they type of thing that happens. For the most part almost every single accident is due to either ride op or rider error.

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coasterpunk said:
For the most part almost every single accident is due to either ride op or rider error.

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Uhmm, like BK170 said, you need to actually work at MM to understand everything. Clearly none of the numerous accidnets aboard X, Deja Vu, and Goliath are released...

Rollergator, I believe the horn that you are talking about is when the ride is restarted. Its a series of horns (i think 7) that go off when the ride is restarted during an involuntary break down.

Today Scream opened with some supervisors and higher archy personnel in presence during the block check. I can only imagine the awkward silences in the station during block check.

http://server5.uploadit.org/files/iowndejavu-scream2.JPG This train is still there. If you look to the right of this mess, there is a fence. That fence is what lets you into the helix. As you can clearly, see its a restricted area. Usually no one goes in here in the mornings. In the mornings the gates are checked for what like BK170 described is a gate walk. Conducted every morning. You dont need to go inside the gates, just make sure the lock is locked, period. Again, like on everyone elses mind, what was she doing in there? Who knows. The only times I know this area is entered(and other restricted areas around the Scream track) is for the nightly track walk for lost items reported throughout the day.

In all respect, Jeff just got owned by Zero-G.....

Sure once again it is INSENSITIVE to humor a death, but also this is a message board, where different messages/thoughts are expressed. This "going back and forth" humors me as well and displays how these times have made people extremely cautious in what is said in public...on a side note, God Bless the FCC! *** Edited 4/13/2004 1:59:25 AM UTC by mike.s.*** *** Edited 4/13/2004 2:00:39 AM UTC by mike.s.***

lnknprk4eva03 if you dont mind send me a private message i think i might know you possibly also can you keep me updated on the park details. or hit me up on aim: briank170.

i think that globals and fast breakers should not work in rides. also i think the minimum age to be a lead at sfmm should be 18.

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Jeff said:

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Zero-G said:
MaribaGuy, I find humor in all things, and if you don't, then that's fine.

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Don't be an ass. You, as a ride op of all people, should be able to appreciate the tragedy of losing a ride operator to an accident like this.

If that's the 9-year old attitude you're going to have, you have no business working on Raptor, or any ride, anywhere.

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Well, what happened is certainly sad, but it's not a big deal to me. People die every day and there comes a point where one has to stop caring. Jeff, you aren't too far away. Come up here, study some biochemistry at Case, work at University Hospitals, and you'll see what I mean. The most important thing to do is to be happy in life, and I don't think that your constantly ridiculing others on this site provides happiness to you. So before you die like thousands of other people do each day, live a happier life!

Zero-G is an excellent person who is a good ride operator. I worked with him for once season and he believes and acts on Safety, First last and always. In a world, where some operators don't follow safe practices, be assurred that Zero-G will continue the tradition of quality guest service, cleanliness, courtesy, and safety that Cedar Fair is known for.
Good luck Zero-G!

DollywoodRideOp

I concur with the sentiments of Zero-G and MagnumAllan. When this type of thing happens it doesn't register with me as a big loss because I didn't personally know who they were. People who sympathize with the victim then bring up the hypothetical situation that would involve one of my friends or family members to see how I would feel if the same thing happened to them.

I don't follow along with this scenario because I would rather live my life without dreading over all the death and despair in the world than sit around and ponder some horrible fate bestowed upon those whom I am close to. It's not healthy to let these kind of occurrences bring you down. These kinds of things happen every day, and if it had to happen, I'm just glad it didn't happen to me. Call it insensitive if you want, but that's the way I live my life.

It's unfortunate that this happened since it was so preventable, but there's not anything we can do about her death now...perhaps there will be some changes in policies by Six Flags to hinder this kind of thing from occurring again. But ultimately it will come down to those working the rides to remain safe even with all of these procedures in place.

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MagnumAllan said:
People die every day and there comes a point where one has to stop caring... So before you die like thousands of other people do each day, live a happier life!

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Don't tell me how to live. I'm perfectly happy. I'd just like people for once to have a little ounce of compassion and common human decency for a change. You remember respect, right? If you can't take a moment to care about other people and their families when something like this happens, go post on some other site or keep it to yourself. This community can be a real embarassment. One of these days it's going to be someone you know, and I'm sure you wouldn't want some moron talking crap about your dead friend.

Can you all save this bullcrap for Oprah people? So he joked about death, big deal...Jesus. Some of you went completly off topic.

It isn't about you... it's about being sensitive to other people. What might be funny to you is clearly not funny to those involved. Go laugh at someone's funeral and see what happens to you. It's exactly what you're doing here in a public forum.

Everyone here spends a lot of time being angry....Why don't you have some fun for once?