Accident at Alton Towers
- Thread starter silenthillXD
- Start date
Howie
Donkey in a hat
Is the area covered by CCTV? There's bound to be more footage of the ride in the moments leading up to the accident, surely?
Not that I want to see it or anything - the aftermath clip was chilling enough - but to help uncover what happened/ what went wrong.
The BBC, for example, are still using the Daily Fail's story that the second car stopped at the top of the inversion!
Be nice if that myth was put to rest...
Not that I want to see it or anything - the aftermath clip was chilling enough - but to help uncover what happened/ what went wrong.
The BBC, for example, are still using the Daily Fail's story that the second car stopped at the top of the inversion!
Be nice if that myth was put to rest...
silenthillXD
Hyper Poster
According to family there's been reports of leg loss on BBC Radio 4, considering they don't read the mail, I am assuming it's becoming widely accepted by most news sources as fact.
CCTV would be property of Alton Towers, at at their discretion to share with the public. Given that the investigation of the accident is still ongoing, it would be short sighted to release evidence of the accident until all details have been sorted out.Howie said:
This is probably a dumb question, I don't know that much about how roller coasters work.
But if you watch a POV of Smiler is there not a set of brakes between the lift and where the collision occurred? Or could they not be used to stop the car are they just designed to slow it before it heads into the next inversion? I'm just curious.
Also where is the source for it being held on the lift as I can't find that anywhere but I know from a friend who was in the park that it had been stuck earlier in the day on the lift.
But if you watch a POV of Smiler is there not a set of brakes between the lift and where the collision occurred? Or could they not be used to stop the car are they just designed to slow it before it heads into the next inversion? I'm just curious.
Also where is the source for it being held on the lift as I can't find that anywhere but I know from a friend who was in the park that it had been stuck earlier in the day on the lift.
nemesis_guy
Roller Poster
ems991 said:
You're correct, the brakes before are there to slow it down slightly and cannot stop the train.
Also, welcome to the forum
Interesting point on the article by the guardian that the operators room is completely enclosed and in no view of the track whatsoever - relying on a control panel to tell you where the trains are etc. Perhaps a practice that should be stopped asap. The operators need to see the ride they are controlling to keep on top of the job?
nemesis_guy
Roller Poster
wakey1512 said:
Good point there but they have many CCTV cameras monitoring the ride which I assume can be viewed in the control room. Obviously the cameras are not going to get every angle and I've only spotted them on the first lift hill and a couple of other spots. Wonder how much they can show.
Mysterious Sue
Strata Poster
But on long rides, you are never going to be able to see the whole length of the ride from one spot, even if the control booth is open air. Look at Helix for example.
GuyWithAStick
Captain Basic
^It's going to be closed for a while for inspections. I'd give it a good 1 or 2 months before you can ride it again.
SilverArrow
Certified Ride Geek
I feel like as time has gone on the media in general hype all things up more and more with the oversharing culture that we have. There has been an increase in the number of media outlets that exist (anyone can create a website or twitter) and create hype because people will see it mentioned again and again and thus the incident will seem like a bigger deal to people.Ben said:
I follow the zoo industry as well and a lot of recent negative zoo press incidents have been a lot more prominently reported than I think they would have been in the past (e.g. Marius the giraffe, Longleat lions, Colchester wolf escape etc). The child that fell at Chessington caused a big stir too with people publicly claiming boycotts and things. Twitter and Facebook pages encourage people to comment, share and rant about stories as well. Stories get stolen and reposted again and again as everyone is fighting for page views. Integrity seems to have been completely lost.
It's an annoying fact of this age but it is applicable to screw-ups in any industry. Obviously the information should be there for us all to know but it's frustrating when half of it is incorrect and Joe Blogg's opinion off twitter is used as a huge talking point.
snes2 said:
Probably, it'll remain closed for a few weeks. Initially for investigation, then for a new set of measures to be implemented so that something like this won't happen again. They might also need a new train or two (or at least an overhaul of the existing ones), although I think that can be supplied within the year, if need be. In the mean time, the ride should have two other trains to use.
In the long run, though, I think it will remain operational. The story of the crash will continue to haunt it, but in the end it won't impact ridership much. If anything, it'll give the ride a spookily sinister reputation, which would make it even more attractive in the eyes of some people - I mean, imagine the bragging rights when you've been on a ride where several people died* all those years back?
*People love to exaggerate, almost as much as they love to believe in an exaggeration. Before the end of the year, at least some people will be referring to this as the "killer coaster", because people simply are that stupid.