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Accident at Alton Towers

^Yeah, Towers Times posted on their Facebook page this morning that there were quite substantial crowds queuing up to get into the park this morning, still quieter than what you might expect in the summer holidays but busier than recent weeks.
 
We were there Sunday, and queues were short for a summer holiday weekend, but substantially longer than the start of the summer hols.
 
Can we just call a spade a spade and point out there's no way they were on a date, and they're definitely not a close couple.

1. His eyebrows and hair
2. He studies fashion design
3. He's too tired from physiotherapy to travel three miles more than once a week to see her
4. His voice

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Am I right?
 
He did make my gay-dar tingle slightly...

Still, its nice to see a more positive story about the victims :).
 
"Two workers quizzed over 'human error ' in Alton Towers horror: Engineer turned off automatic safety lock then operator let truck slam into stalled carriage"


Clicky Clicky
 
I feel awful for the staff involved because, at the end of the day, they're human and like the rest of us they make errors, especially in stressful situations such as a ride breakdown... This quote in particular highlights a huge issue the industry faces from this accident...

"Our revelations – particularly the fact that staff are able to perform manual overrides at all – will raise disturbing questions about the safety features on the Smiler and other rides."

There's the assumption that the system should prevent human error, and for the most part - for the most REASONABLE part - it does. But in preventing human error, systems are inherently over the top and throw back faults before even CLOSE to a real problem to compensate for a billion factors that might nudge it over the edge. And sometimes, those very precautions CAUSE problems. You need to be able to reset rides that are claiming there's a train in the next block... when there isn't. The problem is, what if there is a train there and someone forgot to check? The answer I guess is make it mandatory for multiple people to check and sign it off with paperwork and do some special handshake to agree that it's deffo ok... And that's why coasters have ever reducing capacity as the years roll on and why simple breakdowns that would have just required a simple reset in the 90s now require 50 engineers and managers to turn up and oversee.
 
That leaves the question "why on earth didn't they wait for the empty car to return, or at least get to the second lift hill before the next despatch?"
 
And another question - I know at other parks, after a breakdown / putting a new train on, the ops have always sent several empty cars around - surprised they didn't do similar on smiler..
 
caffeine_demon said:
That leaves the question "why on earth didn't they wait for the empty car to return, or at least get to the second lift hill before the next despatch?"
Click to expand...

Common practice on multi-car/train rides not to wait for every train to come back, especially after a break-down and you want to get things going again...

Of course, it'll now be demanded that when testing all cars must be within the visible brake area...
 
Ya know, it would appear that the article is not official, its guesswork. Probably got all their info from enthusiast sites and ex staff.

Until the HSE report comes out, remain open minded and skeptical.

Re why didn't they wait till the train was back = they're human and humans make mistakes under pressure.
 
That's really poor from the Mail creating a whole article on guess work and making it sound like fact.

Other than that:

Joey said:
From the info in that article, it's safe to assume that my previous guess was correct. Following the breakdown an engineer reset the ride because it threw up a fault that he'd literally just reset a minute ago. Except this time, the ride wasn't lying. That's my bet. He's wrong for not checking, but he's also human acting on instincts, emotion and accumulated knowledge.
Click to expand...

I still think this is the most likely out come once the HSE report comes out.
 
At the end of the day, I don't think we should be commenting on the people involved in the accident unless it's in relation to their injuries. It's irrelevant what we personally think of them.

So back on topic, please.
 
Going by some pictures that have been doing the rounds this week, it appears that work is taking place on The Smiler. Looks like it could just be some additional safety features, sensors and/or other electrical stuffs.

Scarefest opening maybe?
 
Gosh I would highly doubt it. I'm surprised they're doing anything - where's these pics? Are we sure it's not part of the investigation?

Rattlesnake isn't even open yet, I highly doubt Smiler will be before next season.
 
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