Teen girl falls from gondola ride, man breaks her fall

The video I saw, and there are several, was horrifying. The doofus with the camera had to say, and in an angry voice, "There's Six Flags without any device to rescue someone..." or something equally as charming. Mmmm... I'm thinking it wasn't their fault.

The main question is, what the hell was that child doing to slide down and out that way in the first place? We have a similar ride at the Ohio State Fair, the Sky Glider, and like on most the bar locks with a latch behind the riders. It can be reached by riders, but with difficulty. The bar is double bars, one low by the knees and one higher that acts as a grab bar, just like the one at Great Escape pictured in the article. There's "no way" to just fall out of that without some intentional doing.

And articles like this irk me. "No height requirement", things like that. This 14 year old girl was clearly tall enough to ride with her brother, so what gives?

I read something elsewhere that said her brother claimed that the girl was trying to touch the tops of trees with her feet so she may have been making an unusual stretch to that end, putting herself in that position.

We had a similar ride back in the day at Geauga Lake. I believe there were two instances of young people falling from the ride but I think in both cases they were kids with developmental disabilities who got scared and forced themselves out...riding with non adults that could do nothing about it. I think GL may have created a rule that an adult rider would have to ride with a person with a development disability after the second incident. The ride (which went nowhere other than out and back) was eventually removed.

Where was these kids parents is my question. I always look to the parents when kids do stupid things. There's an old saying , the Apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Forget amusement parks, there are countless ski lifts all of the world that handle considerably higher volume. This isn't a ride problem, for sure.

Yeah, but it is now, even if technically it isn't. Unfortunately, as another coaster source put it, "This is why we can't have nice things." Wouldn't surprise me if this is the end of this style of ride, at least at the major chain parks.

Safety of ski lifts:

https://www.nsaa.org/media/276290/Lift_Safety_Fact_Sheet_2016_Revised.pdf

She also wasn't hurt, was she? Doesn't seem to me you take the doom and gloom approach based on this accident.

She may have been unhurt, but we can't say the same for the guy who caught her...

He was treated and released.

So why is it stuff like this gets a ton of publicity and backlash, but the guy that fell from Brandywine ski resort's chairlift near Cleveland got edits of hollaback girl made with it?

Edit to add video link

Vast majority of people think that anyone who intentionally goes out in the snow when they do not have to deserves whatever ills come their way.

Then can someone who's better at computers than me make a video of the Skyride girl set to the Beastie Boys saying "Mmmmmm Drrrrrrrop?"

Lake Compounce's sky ride is closed today, and rumors have it *potentially* closing for good - can't necessarily pin it on this incident....but the timing seems to do that all on its own.

Knoebels' is operational right now. I'm a little hazy (it IS Friday) - did we decide during the PTC seatbelt advisory notice that KG self-insures? Kinda have to assume that insurers are playing a role...

gamerguy said:

Where was these kids parents is my question. I always look to the parents when kids do stupid things. There's an old saying , the Apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Being a parent myself, this is what I see people saying all the time. Not sure it's an always a blame the parent situation as is like to be regurgitated. Kids do stupid things on their own, in spite of good parenting. I am an addict in recovery, and parenting had zero to do with what happened to me. I'm just saying that good parenting doesn't always explain away what happened or justify your POV

I'll be the first to yell "Bad parenting" when the situation fits. I'll also be the first to yell "Stupid kids" when the situation fits. This is clearly a case of "stupid kids."

Using the "Bad Parenting" argument, the girls should have been riding in separate gondolas, a parent with each girl, supervising their behavior. Perhaps then the situation would have never happened, right?

These girls were 14. Perfectly fine age to be left alone at a theme park. I recently let my 14 year old son and his friend go off by themselves at Cedar Point and they were fine. At some point you have to cut the cord and trust their judgement.

gamerguy said:
Where was these kids parents is my question. I always look to the parents when kids do stupid things. There's an old saying , the Apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Neither does the kid apparently. *snicker*

The family is somehow trying to pursue litigation now. Amazing.

Tommytheduck said:
...These girls were 14. Perfectly fine age to be left alone at a theme park. I recently let my 14 year old son and his friend go off by themselves at Cedar Point and they were fine. At some point you have to cut the cord and trust their judgement.

Anybody else remember the qualifications for a "supervising companion" as described in ASTM F2291-16:6.4.2.2?

You know, where it says, "...meet all the criteria for riding alone and be approximately 14 years of age or older"?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Yes of course, we all know the ASTM regulations verbatim.

And I'm sure the parents will drop their lawsuit as soon as they recall the regulations.

[HUMOR ALERT]

You mean the park will drop their lawsuit against the parents for allowing 14 year old girls independence.

[/HUMOR ALERT]