UPDATED: Man dies after being struck by Kings Island's Banshee roller coaster in restricted area

I'd love to understand how one climbs anti-climb fences. If you're clever enough to do that, I'd think you weren't stupid enough to enter the restricted area in the first place.

Reddit posts here indicate he went through an open employee door, negating the need for climbing skill...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Ki...ee_was_he/

Reddit posts there also indicate the employee door at the bottom of the stairs is frequently accessible/left ajar but it leads to a lock-out area that is fenced off.
Climbing skills requirement back on.

Yeah, guess he figured he was committed once he hit the lockout fence and learned quick. Still dumb though

So was he trying to get his phone or his wallet? Maybe his car keys.

I would never do that. Ever. But it seems to me if you asked me to retrieve an object in the restricted area, I could do it without getting hurt. Its not like the trains pass by at random intervals. Or that you never know when they will be near enough to the ground to hit you or where. Of the total amount of space in the restricted zones, what percentage of it is a place where you could get hit?

Seems like Darwin at its finest. One, who would enter the restricted zone. Two, how do you get hurt assuming you are dumb enough to enter in the first place. Its like getting hit by a RR train. Is not like they come out of no where with no warnings and at random places.

Yeah this one is a head scratcher as to why anyone would come to the conclusion that this is a good idea.
While I wish him the best, it's sad because the situation is completely avoidable.

GoBucks89:

how do you get hurt assuming you are dumb enough to enter in the first place

This is where my head goes every time one of these headlines comes up. Yeah, it's monumentally stupid to enter a restricted zone, but how difficult is it to make sure you're not in the path of an oncoming train when you're there? Makes me wonder how often this happens where someone exits the zone safely after retrieving whatever it was they dropped.

TFW you go to Google Maps to check out the area around Banshee and look at images of Son of Beast ...

Recently at CP, I had to wait an extra 20 minutes because Magnum went down to retrieve a loose article. As annoying as that is, I would bet that the Raptor incident is why they will decide to close a ride for this reason instead of telling guests that they have to wait until the end of the day. People are going to find a way, as dumb as it seems to us.

The person who retrieved loose articles ended up coming back with two or three phones.

My assumption is that a person who enters a fenced off restricted zone is in a state that renders them impervious to pain, or at least less pervious to pain. So that:

• climbing over barbed wire is relatively a piece of cake
• judging, or indeed thinking about, when a train will be speeding toward them, let alone how fast it will be going or how much time they have to evade it, let alone their ability to do so, may be severely impaired.

hambone:

...and look at images of Son of Beast

Agreed - they need to update their street view!

hambone:
climbing over barbed wire is relatively a piece of cake

I don't think they have barbed wire do they? That seems like something that I would remember seeing.

Its been too long ago for me to remember - was the person who was killed by Raptor several years ago impaired in any way?

A good reminder to me, I did things against the rules when I worked at CP the years I worked there, and that was the early 90s! I got away with my body, whole. That time I fell through the Blue Streak brake run... I was lucky. So many times. Hope this guys' family and friends recover, best to all involved.

Shades:

Its been too long ago for me to remember - was the person who was killed by Raptor several years ago impaired in any way?

No, not that I recall at all. Family lives about 12 miles from my house; he actually taught at my daughter's school. For a time the family was prepping to sue Cedar Point, but on what grounds I have absolutely no idea. Lots of articles and interviews around here just described the family as "dumbfounded" as to why he would do such a thing.

The guy was probably focused entirely on getting in, getting his stuff and getting out before security found him. That focus unfortunately pushed out other thoughts, like maybe I need to look out for the train...

I think we’re giving the gen pop too much credit when we assume they would be aware of what happens in the restricted area of a roller coaster. Just listen to first hand roller coaster experiences recounted by some of these folks and it will be clear how clueless they are. The other day I was talking about Cedar Point to someone I had just met and he said “We went on that one and I don’t know the name but it’s that really wild one that goes all twisty around like that. Anyway, we got to the top and it stopped. I thought we were gonna have to jump down”.
I swear it was all I could do. I thought “Sir, you and I can never ever ever be friends.”

As much as I know about coasters, having worked on them and been a general pancake geek, I still say that I could be absent minded and wander into the fly zone. It's not me (it is!) but maybe always looking at a phone... always looking away. Times have changed our movement and safety.

Yeah, but under normal circumstances, that is, not climbing a fence, you can't even get into those areas without going through the lockout procedure, which if implemented normally means you can't operate the ride if the lock isn't on the gate. I suspect Banshee is new enough that there are even sensors on the gates.

Not defending this guy in any way, but...

These accidents seem to usually involve Invert coasters. I read somewhere that it's possible that because the track is so high away from the ground, it gives the trespasser a false sense of security.

With the inverts, you are walking on the ground. Presumably people forget there is a train above them. Even though anyone going to retrieve something lost on said coaster was recently just on it. With other coasters, you are walking on the track which should make it tougher to forget about the occasional train that passes by. Like getting hit by a train standing on a railroad track. It didn't come out of nowhere.