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Man with no hands not allowed to ride rollercoaster!

Ian

Ian

From CoasterForce
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SHOCK!

After the chap with no legs died at Darien Lake, is it any surprise?

Anyway, the chap with no hands has been to the press!

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Six-Fl ... 99375.html

I feel sorry for the bloke to go through life without hands, but surely a little common sense can be applied.
 
I do feel very sorry for him, but, I'm so glad that they've now started to take a more direct enforcement of safety regulations.
 
When I was in first aid at Thorpe in March, there was a girl there who had knocked a tooth out on a ride (Rumba Rapids I believe). Her Mum was being furious, threatening legal action and all sorts. Chances are, it was all because she wasn't holding on, and therefore, the park was not negligent.

My point is, although it doesn't always seem like its necessary, signs/announcements around rides telling you to "hold on tight and brace yourself" are there for a reason. The accessability guidelines for most rides usually say that guests need to be able to brace themselves or they will not be permitted to ride. It seems pretty reasonable for a park to make the call that a man with no hands is unable to do this adequately.
 
Nic said:
When I was in first aid at Thorpe in March, there was a girl there who had knocked a tooth out on a ride (Rumba Rapids I believe). Her Mum was being furious, threatening legal action and all sorts. Chances are, it was all because she wasn't holding on, and therefore, the park was not negligent.
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Was it on the CF Live Swarm Trip? I was in the queue for the rapids on that day. She was with a group of girls about her age, and the boat was near the bottom of the lift. And when they hit the boat in front of them, she was moving seats at the time, and we saw her faceplant on the steps at the side of the raft. All of her friends were really serious and looking at her mouth. It was a green boat, so be exact :)

That day was a good day! But not because that happened...

What I don't get is, surely it doesn't matter he has no hands because many people ride with their hands in the air anyhow! I think it is ridiculous.
 
Ethan said:
What I don't get is, surely it doesn't matter he has no hands because many people ride with their hands in the air anyhow! I think it is ridiculous.
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The difference being, the people with hands in the air, are actually able to grab hold of the car for restraining if the worst case scenario ever happened.

Plus, you're actually not actively encouraged to raise your hands at most parks, it's actually against a lot of park's policies to do so.
 
^ But surely if he can drive and rock climb, he is strong enough to 'hold' on to something?
 
Ethan said:
^ But surely if he can drive and rock climb, he is strong enough to 'hold' on to something?
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And the guy with no legs at Darien Lake said "I'll be absolutely fine and can hold myself in"...

The ride-op isn't qualified to make a judgement about how fit a person is to ride. He can only go by guidelines - guidelines that will now be much tighter than before.
 
And the ride says "you must hold on tight at all times"...

Your point?
 
The weirdest thing is, that he has been allowed to ride roller coasters for 20 years, and now that suddenly is a problem. This reminds me of 1 time when I was in Mirabilandia with my schoolmates. There was also a boy who is very short in our group (he was just around 120 cm, 12 years old). The first time there was no problem for him riding iSpeed, the second time, they've measured him, and said it's OK to ride, and the third time they said that he is too short to ride, so he needed to stay at the station, waiting for us.
So in the end, it all comes up to how strict the ride operator is.
 
furie said:
And the ride says "you must hold on tight at all times"...

Your point?
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Thanks for putting it into terms he might take notice of, Ethan, as I said, parks don't encourage you to raise your arms, you're TOLD to hold on..
 
sfot_4_10.jpg

This sign is in the queue a few times, if he didn't read it then it's his own fault.

On another note if you are missing both hands and the worst thing that happens to you in life is not being allowed to ride a coaster then you are really damn lucky and should quit whining.
 
Lofty said:
furie said:
And the ride says "you must hold on tight at all times"...

Your point?
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Thanks for putting it into terms he might take notice of, Ethan, as I said, parks don't encourage you to raise your arms, you're TOLD to hold on..
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Ok I don't know if it's coming through the wrong way, but these responses sound kind of harsh. I just didn't see the problem at first... thats all.
 
They're strict on their lapbars! I know it's only got a lapbar and is fast and steep but surely a bit of a gap would be fine.
 
You've got to remember it's not just about being able to ride safely, it's about being able to evacuate safely as well in the event of a problem. There's always going to be an issue if you can't hold on to railings if you have to be evacuated from a train on the lift hill or a mid course brake.

I've seen the criteria for disabled access to rides at several UK parks - they're full of statements such as "must be able to walk unaided down steps" for precisely that reason.
 
For those of you who have read my trip report of Hershey you'll see that I had an argument with a man in the queue for Great Bear, a B&M invert, because he was encouraging his daughter to sneak on the ride past the ride op with the measuring stick. I did try to explain that the height restriction is there for a reason, ie so his child doesn't die/is safe, but he seemed to think that parks just put the rule there purposely to spite his daughter? I think people just don't understand that the rules are there for your safety, not to ruin your day!

I appreciate that it must be frustrating to be turned away from a ride you want to go on, but at the end of the day what is more important, having a good time on a coaster and risking your life or being safe?
 
Ethan said:
Lofty said:
furie said:
And the ride says "you must hold on tight at all times"...

Your point?
Click to expand...
Thanks for putting it into terms he might take notice of, Ethan, as I said, parks don't encourage you to raise your arms, you're TOLD to hold on..
Click to expand...

Ok I don't know if it's coming through the wrong way, but these responses sound kind of harsh. I just didn't see the problem at first... thats all.
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No, I'm nor being harsh to you, I just explained something to you on the first page, but it seemed that you didn't want to take on board what I was explaining. :)
 
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