Witness Reports of S:ROS Accident

A lot of documents concerning the accident on S:ROS at SFNE earlier this summer have been posted online.

I found it very interesting what some of the witnesses had to say. First of all, they all seemed to be in conjunction with one another. It's not that the witness reports WOULDN'T be, I just noticed that the reports were certainly similar.

Of course this accident has been blamed on many things. From the ride ops, to Intamin, to the man himself. I know all of us here at CoasterBuzz have debated the situation and it's consequenses at other parks many times. One of the things that these reports brought to my attention were the reactions of the ride ops.

One person said,

"...I screamed 911. After repeated screaming someone finally called. Then no one moved. I then pleaded to the crowd to go help this man...Finally after 3+ minutes park security WALKED over."

I kind of chopped out parts of that statement but that witness also said that when he pleaded with the crowd, some people DID go and help him. However, these people were not staff from what I gather.

A statement about how the ride was "checked" also caught my attention.

"They pushed down the right side but did not push down the left side. This is the side the man was on and my daughter too. I pushed my daughters side down tight since they didn't push hers down. I did not see them push any of the seats on that side down."

I know there was one more quote I wanted to post. It talked more about the response of the ride ops after the accident. I can't seem to find it right now.

Here is the link to the main page. I JUST realized that there are 3 pages of witness reports. I've only read the first one so far. They should be interesting.

http://masstort.org/masstort/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=4

I apologize in advance if this is, in any way, a violation of the TOS.

*** Edited 11/5/2004 5:19:31 PM UTC by rentzy17***

Someone submitted this as news, but it's not really that new.

Anyone surprised by a pattern of neglect and indifference to safety?

No...but after the inspection, I still don't understand why the restraints were found to be at fault, after reading the witness statements. I've always felt that the restraints were never to blame, and this confirms it for me.

What truly bites is even though the restraints were more than likely not the fault, Intamin issued that hummdinger of a directive about the seat belts. What a stupid reaction to a problem that wasn't even there. It was rider/ride op error. It can also be argued that the ride itself needs some type of sensor on it to let the controller know when a lapbar isn't in the right position. (they may already have that I don't know) all you can say is stupid...stupid...stupid!

It depends on how you define fault. I personally think you can't put total faith in machines, and that people ultimately have to make some kind of judgment. The view from the other end is that the restraint shouldn't allow any room for interpretation. The logical thing to me is somewhere in the middle. The Xcelerator answer seemed like a good solution, though that ride's seats, the newer type, already make more sense.

I'm not sure I see the difference between Xcelerator's seat and S:RoS's seat, except for the headrest on Xcelerator. It also has a little bit of padding on the diagonal side bar, but I don't see how that would make a difference.

*** Edited 11/5/2004 5:38:40 PM UTC by Vater***

The ones on Xcelerator are deeper. Also, the T-bars on Xcelerator are bent. They push more into your lower stomach than rest on your thighs.

It would be "ideal" for all three S:ROS's and MF to get Xcelerator / Dragster type seats. They definitely admit more large riders than the original seats do.

Actually, the newer seats touch your thighs before your stomach, which is the problem on the Superman rides, and also Millennium Force. Much more man-friendly.

The deeper seats prevent you from straightening your legs, and in fact angle your upper legs up and away from you. If your legs can't get even remotely straight, you can't come out unless you break them.

Another difference with Xcelerator (since the SROS accident) is that the triangular sidebars (which can be seen in the picture above) extend several inches further now.

I've never ridden S:ROS, but I found it odd that this man could make it all the way through the whole ride until the very end before falling out. Isn't there a great amount of airtime even before the end?

Funnily enough, I was at SFOG 2 weeks ago and witnessed a Mind Bender train sent out of the station with several people's lap bars still fully up. None of the ride ops checked the restraints. Granted, Mind Bender isn't an extreme airtime machine and one could probably ride it without the lap bar down, I just found it surprising that this type of stuff still goes on at SF even after this accident.

http://www.mass.gov/dps/Six_Flags_Superman.pdf

^ The official account of the accident. At the end their is a graph with all the g forces. *** Edited 11/6/2004 1:21:01 AM UTC by GIGAFORCE01***

Thrillerman...he fell out at that point because of the bunny hill immediatly follwed by a speedy banked turn to the right while you are still out of your seat a bit. Also, I remember a witness account from the girl who sat behind him that said he was getting major airtime throughout the ride and she eventually noticed that he was getting way too much air and that something was wrong. He worked his way out little by little during the ride and that last turn proved to be too much. The girl behind said she grabbed on too him and was screaming for help as she tried to keep him in his seat but she could not hold on any longer. I feel really bad for her. She is probably traumatized and feels she could have saved him but failed. That's horrible. *** Edited 11/6/2004 1:46:27 AM UTC by MrX***

Most of the people stated that the ride was running as it always does.

However, one person said they felt as though the last couple bunny hills were faster than normal. I doubt that was at all correct.