Anyone think that an inverted coaster could use lap bars that came from under the seat someday?
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We are the keepers of the sacred words, Ni!, Peng!, and Nuuuuuwwwom!
I mentioned that Boomerang incident somewhere, I don't remember whether it was in this thread or not and I'm too lazy to go look for it. The lift cable broke on the first lift, so the train tried to go through the first inversion with the catchwagon still attached. Because the catchwagon can't negotiate that twist, the train jammed in the inversion.
My personal opinion is that the only reason the Corkscrew had a shoulder bar on it was because the engineers at Arrow thought it seemed like a good idea. Heck, they did their testing with auto racing belts. My guess is that they never paid much attention to which belt was doing all the work...or, like virtually every Go-Kart driver I have ever seen, they had the belts horribly maladjusted. It's engineering versus conventional wisdom, and unfortunately, conventional wisdom won out, setting amusement ride design back about 30 years in the process.
Regarding law: For the moment, at least, most ride-related laws defer to engineering. If the ride manufacturer says a lap bar is OK, the law will generally agree.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
