News Guest dies, found unresponsive after riding Stardust Racers

[mergatroid]

It seems to me this is easily tested with crash dummies with shock watches on them.

I'd be amazed if something like this isn't a legal requirement to get a licence to open an attraction. They use crash test dummies with sensors for most forms of transportation so why not for a roller coaster.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I'd be amazed if something like this isn't a legal requirement to get a licence to open an attraction. They use crash test dummies with sensors for most forms of transportation so why not for a roller coaster.

The state of Florida allows amusement facilities with more than 1,000 employees to opt out of state inspections and self-regulate their ride safety process. Universal, Disney, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Legoland have all elected to self-regulate. As a condition, the parks report all ride related injuries to the states which publishes them on a quarterly basis.

 

[Jwhee]

WESH wrote the guy had a pre-existing spinal condition and then went on the attraction 6 times within the same day

 

[DisneyHead123]

Most/many new inverted coasted don't. VelociCoaster is another, holds you in at the waist. Safety restraints have come a long way, and are seen as better than the over the shoulder predecessors.

What is your source on this? Honestly I am quite skeptical of this idea. It would be like lap belts somehow being safer than carseat harnesses, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I did a quick search and I see references to comfort, ride experience, body shapes, etc., but I didn't see anything about the new designs being safer than over the shoulder restraints.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

It reads that several posters are making out that if you pass out or lose consciousness that the attraction operators then hold no responsibility to any damage that your limp body receives as though that's just bad luck and nobody is at fault other than the victim? Surely they must be designed so that even if a person is unconscious that there's enough padding to stop a person being literally banged about until the point of death? If a person fainted or lost consciousness through a heart attack I can't see there being no responsibility from the operator over what happens from that point onwards.

Surely all rides must be designed so that if a person loses consciousness that it's still in theory safe enough for that person to complete the ride without literally be shaken to death? Multiple blunt force trauma deaths shouldn't be a possible result from merely passing out on a ride and then have people say in essence "It's their own fault for passing out". That's how some of the comments seem to be assessing this situation.

I’m not sure about this, I’ve only been on one hang and bang suspended coaster and vowed to never ride one again, I was fully awake and actively trying not to hit the restraints and still banged my head so hard I had a headache the rest of the day, had I passed out I think my head would have bounced between the restraints dozens of times during the ride, not sure if that would be enough to kill someone but I could see it causing major trauma.

I got off that coaster wondering how they were ever approved and how dozens of parks had agreed to buy and build one. Horrible.

 

[Tom Morrow]

I feel awful for the man and his family.

I’m also worried about the repercussions of this as a roller coaster enthusiast - there’s an awful lot of very aggressive coasters out there that employ just a lap bar type restraint, and every single one would become a significantly worse experience with shoulder harnesses.

 

[lazyboy97o]

What is your source on this? Honestly I am quite skeptical of this idea. It would be like lap belts somehow being safer than carseat harnesses, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I did a quick search and I see references to comfort, ride experience, body shapes, etc., but I didn't see anything about the new designs being safer than over the shoulder restraints.

The term “headbanger” in reference to roller coasters generally refers to people hitting their heads on the side of over-the-shoulder restraints.

 

[Jrb1979]

What is your source on this? Honestly I am quite skeptical of this idea. It would be like lap belts somehow being safer than carseat harnesses, it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I did a quick search and I see references to comfort, ride experience, body shapes, etc., but I didn't see anything about the new designs being safer than over the shoulder restraints.

Over the shoulder restraints and these new lap bar with shin guards offer the same safety.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Over the shoulder restraints and these new lap bar with shin guards offer the same safety.

Again, do you have a source? This is completely opposite of what they tell you in a car, where lap belts have not been used for a long time.

 

[mergatroid]

The state of Florida allows amusement facilities with more than 1,000 employees to opt out of state inspections and self-regulate their ride safety process. Universal, Disney, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Legoland have all elected to self-regulate. As a condition, the parks report all ride related injuries to the states which publishes them on a quarterly basis.

I would guess that the manufacturer of the ride would do tests when designing it with regards to the seats and harnesses initially though (just a guess I could be wrong and welcome factual corrections). Otherwise if when Universal erected the attraction and added the ride vehicles and put dummies in them, if they are got smashed to pieces then it would seem a strange way of buying a designed coaster with no knowledge of whether it was actually safe or not before purchase? Also it would delay opening the attraction if it were only at this late stage that the safety aspect was tested?

So whilst I'm happy to accept that any park with over 1,000 employees can self regulate and report on themselves would they do the safety testing during the original design and development process when the ride vehicles were being created for the attraction? I get that they would test the product on site and could design a cast member guide book following purchase but would they be responsible for testing the vehicles when they were original made or is that the responsibility of the company designing and building it?

All I was saying was that I assume that crash test dummies must surely have been used regardless of whether it be by the company that designed it, the company that purchased it or both of them.

 

[Comped]

The state of Florida allows amusement facilities with more than 1,000 employees to opt out of state inspections and self-regulate their ride safety process. Universal, Disney, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Legoland have all elected to self-regulate. As a condition, the parks report all ride related injuries to the states which publishes them on a quarterly basis.

And all of these companies routinely collaborate to make sure that no state they operate in implements state inspections, never mind federal ones. To the point of wining and dining legislators and officials at state and local levels. A former professor of mine who used to be involved in this effort bragged about it with a friend of his, neither of whom worked for Disney (but said Disney participated).

 

[Jrb1979]

And all of these companies routinely collaborate to make sure that no state they operate in implements state inspections, never mind federal ones. To the point of wining and dining legislators and officials at state and local levels. A former professor of mine who used to be involved in this effort bragged about it with a friend of his, neither of whom worked for Disney (but said Disney participated).

If you're implying they do that to skirt the rules and bypass safety, I have no words. These are major theme park companies and ignoring safety wouldn't be good for PR.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Again, do you have a source? This is completely opposite of what they tell you in a car, where lap belts have not been used for a long time.

I don’t think you can compare a seatbelt to a rollercoaster restraint, one is designed to keep you in a seat in a controlled environment, the other is designed to limit injuries in a catastrophic accident.

If you were on a rollercoaster that is stopping from 70mph to 0mph in a millisecond a shoulder restraint would be a necessity, even the most violent rollercoaster in the world should never expose you to forces 1/100th that strong though.

I loathe over the shoulder restraints, I’ve never been “beat up” by a lapbar but OTS restraints often leave me sore and banged up.

The newer OTS restraints are far better than the old ones but still less comfortable than lap restraints.

 

[lazyboy97o]

And all of these companies routinely collaborate to make sure that no state they operate in implements state inspections, never mind federal ones. To the point of wining and dining legislators and officials at state and local levels. A former professor of mine who used to be involved in this effort bragged about it with a friend of his, neither of whom worked for Disney (but said Disney participated).

Except that for all of them their other major presence is in California. You’re also pretty much describing IAAPA.

 

[Comped]

You’re also pretty much describing IAAPA.

One of those two may have been IAAPA high level leadership at one point....

If you're implying they do that to skirt the rules and bypass safety, I have no words. These are major theme park companies and ignoring safety wouldn't be good for PR.

I believe that state/federal regulated inspections would be stronger than the checks done internally, if that's what you mean.

 

[DisneyHead123]

I don’t think you can compare a seatbelt to a rollercoaster restraint, one is designed to keep you in a seat in a controlled environment, the other is designed to limit injuries in a catastrophic accident.

If you were on a rollercoaster that is stopping from 70mph to 0mph in a millisecond a shoulder restraint would be a necessity, even the most violent rollercoaster in the world should never expose you to forces 1/100th that strong though.

I loathe over the shoulder restraints, I’ve never been “beat up” by a lapbar but OTS restraints often leave me sore and banged up.

The newer OTS restraints are far better than the old ones but still less comfortable than lap restraints.

I realize they aren't entirely comparable, but if someone just died from blunt force injuries from having his upper torso slammed around, they might be comparable enough. (I realize that's not a delicate way to say it, but I say it to highlight the seriousness of what happened, not to be disrespectful to the victim here.)

That said, we don't know what happened yet. If it turns out this was from something like a malfunction on the ride (lap bar coming up and hitting him in the head for example) then ok, maybe I can accept that a coaster is that much more controlled that the need for higher level restraints isn't there. For me it depends on whether or not this was due to his torso being unsecured. If it was in fact due to an unsecured upper body - I think that's a no brainer, lap belts don't cut it for a ride like this. But again, that might not be the case.

 

[Disstevefan1]

This is a tragic thing that happened.
Please don't destroy me for asking questions.
I am not stating an opinion or spreading false information.
I am just asking questions -

Is it true the rider was living with a spinal injury before riding?
Is it true the rider had rode it 6 times that day?
Is this just Reddit misinformation?

 

[mergatroid]

This is a tragic thing that happened.
Please don't destroy me for asking questions.
I am not stating an opinion or spreading false information.
I am just asking questions -

Is it true the rider was living with a spinal injury before riding?
Is it true the rider had rode it 6 times that day?
Is this just Reddit misinformation?

I've seen the pre-existing spinal injury thing confirmed on an Orlando news site and 'heard' that he 'allegedly' rode it 6 times in one day

 

[lazyboy97o]

I realize they aren't entirely comparable, but if someone just died from blunt force injuries from having his upper torso slammed around, they might be comparable enough. (I realize that's not a delicate way to say it, but I say it to highlight the seriousness of what happened, not to be disrespectful to the victim here.)

That said, we don't know what happened yet. If it turns out this was from something like a malfunction on the ride (lap bar coming up and hitting him in the head for example) then ok, maybe I can accept that a coaster is that much more controlled that the need for higher level restraints isn't there. For me it depends on whether or not this was due to his torso being unsecured. If it was in fact due to an unsecured upper body - I think that's a no brainer, lap belts don't cut it for a ride like this. But again, that might not be the case.

Stardust Racers has lap bars but you keep referencing lap belts.

 

[Jrb1979]

An update according to WFTV

Report, dispatch audio shed now light on Epic Universe roller coaster rider’s death

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office has released the incident report on the man who died after riding the Epic Universe roller coaster Stardust Racers.

www.wftv.com

The report says Zavala had a spinal injury that required him to be in a wheelchair.

If that's true then he shouldn't have been riding the coaster.