Intamin and Cedar Point.

[raptorrvnge4928]

This weekend, my roomate and I went to Cedar Point and I had realized just how god awful a ride-op's job must be. Now I am just considering CP here. I would hate to be a ride op on either TTD of MF, thanks to the new restraint bar/seatbelt issue.

To catch some of you up to speed here, CP has implemented a new design change on MF and TTD that involves shortening the length of the seatbelts in result to a death on Superman: Ride of Steel, another Intamin coaster. They had shortened the length on these seatbelts and require slack in the seatbelt of a length of one inch.

Well I praise you Cedar Point ride ops (as well as others who have to deal with similar design changes), as you guys are dealing with alot of flack with people who had decided to wait in line to ride either of these rides, just to realize they cannot. I personally found myself pretty close to the threshold of not being able to ride (which has reeeeeeaaaallllyyyy resparked in interest in the gym, but thats a different story), whereas my roomate was able to ride MF 3 out of 4 times.... why not the 4th you ask? The ride-op couldnt get that final inch of slack. Obviously, this really upset him... as I am sure it would for anybody who waited that time and was asked to leave for safety reasons. Well of course he complained to the ride op, he said he was just doing his job, and finally he left without much incident. This made me think: We give CP flack for making such changes-we give such people flack for trying to induce such changes. Could it possibly be because we are trying to put thrills in front of our safety? I understand that some of us wont be able to ride MF or TTD this year thanx to the change, but what is it going to take for us to realize that these rides arent safe for certain people? Is it going to take a 250 lb guy falling out of MF for us to wake up and realize that maybe they arent safe?

My Sophmore year of college, I had wrote a term paper against all the legislation Ed Markey was trying to pass at the time regarding rollercoaster safety. I had gathered statistics regarding safety figures and logic, in all trying to debunk his ideas. I am an enthusiast, of course that makes sense. But the one thing I never considered was this: Granted many of you will argue he is doing this for political reasons, but could it not be that he sees something that we dont? Just because we play RCT and ride a few rollercoasters at out theme parks, it doesnt make us rollercoaster experts. Just because there is not much of a trend, doesnt state there is not a trend to worry about.

In final thoughts, perhaps the deaths on SROS and such is an industry related problem, perhaps it is a manufacturer's problem, a ride attendent's problem or maybe a park's problem. But to whomeverthe blame is ultimately passed onto, it is the park goer's problem.

CP workers, you guys are doing a great job this year, and I commend you... granted you could use a few more people over in Soak City, but no big deal.

[Harpo]

I'd like to comment that the problem I've got with Ed Markey is that, in my opinion, he places too much of the blame on the ride designs, ride speeds, and G forces. Based upon my observations, I feel that much more focus should be placed on operations. Most of the accidents are due to human error rather than mechanical malfunction. On top of that, many of the mechanical malfunctions could still be avoided through human intervention. For example, the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad accident at Disneyland could have been avoided if the operators took the train off the track when they first heard a funny noise, rather than waiting. (From what I understand, they had decided to remove the train the next time it arrived in the station. Unfortunately, the train didn't arrive back in the station, because their decision came too late.)

I'm all for added safety. That's why I've been quite vocal with parks where I found issues. But, based upon the evidence and my personal observations, I really believe that the primary focus should be on operations. Heck, even with automobiles, that's starting to be the focus -- states are considering "distracted driver" laws because that's where the biggest danger lies.

Apparently, my concerns to Six Flags are not getting through. On Saturday, my girlfriend and I visited Kentucky Kingdom, plus we went to Holiday World. Holiday World was great -- no complaints there!

As for Kentucky Kingdom... On Twisted Twins (ignoring that only one "twin" was running), the team lead hopped into the train for a ride, leaving one other station attendant and the controls operator behind. It became a bigger issue when the train returned, missed the mark, and the lapbars in half the cars (including the one containing the team lead) failed to open. The person remaining on the platform apparently was uncertain of what to do, so the team lead had to provide instructions while sitting locked in the train. It's a good thing it was only a minor incident that didn't directly threaten anyone's safety.

When I get around to it, I'll post a picture of Incident #2 on Thunder Run. Here, the team lead was busying himself by trying to disassemble the ride. When the train was in motion, he was standing in a safety box on the platform. While standing there, he was prying nails out of the board at the top of that box, paying absolutely no attention to the operation of the ride. (He successfully removed one nail and was working on a second one while I was waiting to ride. The first one flung out fairly violently -- fortunately, it didn't hit anyone.)

Both of these incidents were inappropriate actions by team leads. I would think they would be the ones who would be most important in watching and monitoring the operations of the ride. It's very disturbing that they would be seen doing such actions. That's the sort of thing I'd much rather see Markey address, as these types of inappropriate actions are far more likely to lead to safety issues.

[pnkfloyd12]

Harpo, it's nice to see you enjoyed your visit to Holiday World. We were there a week earlier and had a blast even though Splashin' Safari was closed for the majority of our 2-day visit.

[Harpo]

Yeah, I like Holiday World. I wish I could manage to get there more often! (It's about 8 hours away from my home, and that's a bit too long of a drive to do frequently!) Unfortunately, we got there a bit too late to make any use of the water park, but we did two rides on Raven and three on Legend -- both are super coasters! (Also rode Howler once.) It's also nice that Holiday World provides a very significant ACE member discount.

[raptorrvnge4928]

Well maybe Mr Markey is starting to address this issue, now that his new campaign is that all ride ops must be 18 and up, even though CP has been following that for years, so Ive heard.

And I have another question, this one is for you Mr. Harpo. You claim that more responsibility, if not blame, should be given towards the operators. But here is my question: Why would you not take on the responsibility yourself as the rider? It's been the riders who have done idiotic things, such as loosening the seat belts to gain airtime, while having the lap bar higher than suggested. In the case of SFNE, it was the rider (theoretically) that couldve saved his own butt, had he not had cerebral palsy. Perhaps he couldve gotten ahold of the ride ops when the train left the station, or perhaps put it down himself. And if this person is unable to do such things, perhaps he shouldnt ride it at all. I think it all boils down to the saying "let the buyer beware". Your life should never depend upon bythe actions of another person. Though I understand once the ride begins, essentially it is in the hands of the main control op. But there are things guests can do to reduce the chances of getting hurt, such as actually obeying the rules and checking restraints.

If anybody believes they go to a theme park, as a fullproof way to have thrills and 100% safety, they should reconsider.

So my final question is this: Harpo, why do you continue to visit Six Flags? On numerous occasions you bring up dangerous situations that have occurred at these parks, yet you do choose to visit them. Why? Are these in fact minor events? I dont mean this in a insulting way, but why do you do it? If I had seen some of the things you had described, I would never visit that park again. But the things you describe are company wide issues... why do you continue to visit?