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If the kid fit and the BRACE (not harness) locked, I don't see what was a "stupid mistake."
This had never happened before and I'm sure no one anticipated it.
But it revealed a hidden design flaw. No one is to blame.*
*given the facts as we know them to be now.
It wasn't a design flaw if there was a height/weight restriction on the ride that was ignored.
It's like buying a camp chair with a 150 lb weight limit and then suing the company when the chair collapses beneath your 250 lb weight and you get injured.
It wasn't a design flaw if there was a height/weight restriction on the ride that was ignored.
It's like buying a camp chair with a 150 lb weight limit and then suing the company when the chair collapses beneath your 250 lb weight and you get injured.
So your saying the fourteen year old boy is responsible for not reading a warning?
At best, this is situation where you compare the fault of the amusement park in not getting the harness on sufficiently against the alleged fault of the boy in not reading the warning sign.
But to our knowledge, there wasn't. I said the facts as we know them.
Including the fact that the brace (not harness) was "on sufficiently."
However, that brace is obviously insufficient, as was shown...
The brace was sufficient for the other riders but it was not sufficient for a person of that boy's size.
Again, maybe the park didn't have height/weight restrictions posted. We don't know. We do know that the boy had been turned away from other rides because of his size.
I hate to say it, but just like parks have signs saying you have to be this tall to ride, I think they're going to have to start installing signs saying you must be below this height and this weight to ride for similar safety reasons. I simply do not trust that a teenage ride operator will get the harnesses secured 100% of the time or adequately screen every person who is trying to get on the ride. I personally would not feel safe placing my life in the hands of a teen whose brain isn't near to finished developing.
They had already turned the kid away from every other ride he tried to go on. This was actually the first ride he had been allowed on.
The brace appears to have been locked and not moving. Reports are the kid did attempt to push up on it and it would not move. Because of his size the brace was up near his ears when it should have been resting on his shoulders or breast bone. Other riders have been reported to say the kid was terrified and knew something was wrong with the way the restraint fit. It's either a design flaw, operator error or both. Just have to let the investigators do their job and report back. Looking at the lack of redundant safety restraint on that design I would never ride the thing. Too much can go wrong. You take a risk when you set foot on a ride, it's your choice to accept the risk or not.
That doesn't look like muscle. Looks like muffin top.
I'm sure there's muscle under that fat, and elsewhere on his body. Have you ever watched football players train and practice? They are worked out like crazy. He had fat for sure, but he was also strong and muscular or he wouldn't be able to do those workouts or have the stamina to play.
It was a question of, pardon the expression, trying to fit 10 pounds of sugar in a 5 pound sack. There is nothing wrong with the sack, but it wasn't designed for DOUBLE the sugar.
It locked securely - as it was designed to do - but the "bulk" of him was spilling out of it.
These jobs are given to teens because teens work cheaper than adults do. A secondary consideration where I live is that work in amusement parks is seasonal work. They need a summer work force and the onl employees available at the salary the park wants to pay are high school kids. The park isn't doing anything illegal. However, if it chooses to hire an immature and inexperienced work force it has to take responsibility for their careless actions or inactions.
I personally would prefer that there be some minimal age for doing this work such as perhaps 21 years of age. I think you'd see fewer accidents.
Yes, it doesn't have to even be on all the rides. Let young teens work the little cars and motorcycles that go around the track for little kids or the merry go round, and more experienced workers (maybe experience more important than age) work the big ones. But there should be a protocol that they check everyone's belt/harness/whatever before the ride leaves. I said earlier I can't remember ever going on a ride like this where they didn't pull up on everyone's harness to make sure it was locked. They walked down the line and checked everyone. I mostly went to Six Flags in NJ though because it's close, and they had a girl fall out of lightening loops because her harness wasn't locked, so maybe they instituted that protocol and other parks didn't, IDK. Seems like it should be standard though.
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