[carowinds4ever]

I sure hope you didn't ride the skytower.... that thing is over 300 ft high with ABSOLOUTLY NO RESTRAINTS what so ever!! Not even a seatbelt.
Sacasm couldn't resist!

These aren't fair rides here. If you feel unsafe they don't ride, the restraint system will not change anytime in the near future. It sounds to me like your one of those guys that just "looks for problems" when there are not any at all. You need to just enjoy the ride and relax a little bit. I honestly feel like i am safer on the ride, then exiting the stairs from the station, getting knocked down by other teenagers anxious to get back in the line. Not trying to be mean, or rude.

[chargercrazy]

As everyone else has provided information about the restraints, I'll tackle the Glock issue.

Another good analogy is the Glock pistol. It has a "safe action" trigger. Meaning that there is no external saftey on the firearm. You're simply expected to keep your finger off the trigger. Well this hasn't stopped many user error of negligent discharge.

A "safe action" trigger just means that you have to actually pull the trigger to discharge the weapon. This is so there are no accidental discharges if the weapon is dropped.

If you have to rely on a safety to not shoot something with a firearm you are not practicing firearm safety.

1. Always point the gun in a safe direction
2. Treat every firearm as if it is loaded
3. Don't put your finger on the trigger unless you are ready to shoot
4. Be sure of your target and what is beyond it -- you are responsible for every projectile that leaves the barrel of your firearm.

[bobbyfoster]

Soooooo, now we're in Firearm Safety???? What's next week topic?

[Chris]

The only death to ever occur at Carowinds was when someone got shot in the wavepool because of an illegal shooting range a mile away from the park. Basically, you have a "better" chance of being shot than dying on one of Carowinds' coasters.

[CarowindsFan]

The only death to ever occur at Carowinds was when someone got shot in the wavepool because of an illegal shooting range a mile away from the park. Basically, you have a "better" chance of being shot than dying on one of Carowinds' coasters.

I don't think this is true. Didn't a kid get killed in the 80's on the Rapids? http://carowindsconnection.jonathanhawkins.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1574&start=30

They were definitely doing things they shouldn't though and amusement park rides are MUCH safer than the ride in the car you take to get there.

[RollerBee]

To the best of my knowledge, there was the mentioned death in wavepool and a drowning in the lazy river. No deaths to my research has happened on any amusement park ride at Carowinds.

[bbarr]

I just want to say that you all can disagree with safety man if you want but I do agree with him considering that a woman was killed yesterday in Texes an the Texas Giant and if the ride had seat belts along with the t-bar than maybe she wouldnt have fallen out and she had told the operator that he restraint did not click 3 times like everyone elses did that it only clicked once and the person checking restraints told her that if it clicked she would be fine. She was fine alright with her son beside her she flew out of the ride as it started down the big drop. I have been to carowinds my whole life and when I first seen the intimidator I knew right then I would never ride it because it does not look safe. My husband on the other hand did ride it and he said he didnt feel safe at all and we both love roller coaster and will ride any of them but when I ride a ride I want to feel safe. I mean who wouldnt. When you are on vacation you dont want to worry about dieing!!!!

[coasterfreak]

Ok, here's the deal. Rocky Mountain Coasters have been in the game literally 3 years and B&M has been around 20+. There has never (that I'm aware of) been a fatality on a B&M coaster utilizing the T-bar. RMC will change their restraint design and all this will soon be yesterdays news. It is a tragic thing knowing a coaster was the cause of a death, but when put into perspective, the car you drive is far more dangerous.

[RollerBee]

Intimidator wont dispatch without the correct number of clicks. No one has said New Texas Giant's lapbar returned to the station in the unlocked position. For all anyone knows, she could have wiggled out on the lift trying to escape, besides Intimidator is a completely different design.

[SafteyMan]

Sad incident happened today at the Texas Giant.

I would like to include she was overweight as I predicted these type of things would happen.

I have been assured that intimidator is safe on these forums and I found new evidence to disagree with this.

I found a source (unverified) of a mans restraint coming undone on a B&M coaster. The superman in Sixflags.

Here is an excerpt from it. **

I was on the Superman in San Antonio and my restraint came undone while going up the first hill. My father and I scrambled to get it fixed and did so just as we were starting our decline. It was terrifying and I never really enjoyed roller coasters again. I always look back wishing we had reported it but we were so shaken by the experience that we just left and never spoke of it again.

**

http://www.reddit.com/r/texas/comments/ ... xas_giant/

This too.

As somebody who may or may not work on that ride, the restraints do come undone sometimes.

Ultimately it's up to you
If you think it's safe so be it. But my family and I have all decided not to ride it again (they legitimately didn't enjoy the ride due to fear of the restraints)

It's odd that nearly all rides in the park have belts but not intimidator..

[RctWeekly]

As far as the statistics go an estimated 270 million people visit theme parks every year, and out of all those right around 7,000 people end up injured. I'm sure of these injuries they vary from minor injuries to the more serious ones including death, but death as far as amusement rides go are rare. The chances of you being injured on a ride are .00259 percent based on current studies. As far as I am concerned about the unconfirmed B&M story of someone saying their restraint failed is very very unlikely, and I'm unsure how the ride would be dispatched due to the fact that the B&M ride system reports back the status of restraints closed and opened. Negligence is the main cause to injuries on rides by the guest for breaking park rules and for diagnosed and not diagnosed medical conditions. Then negligence also ties back to the park based on not doing inspections or maintenance when scheduled and upon ride operators. In case your curious ASTM F 2291 is the "Standard Practice for Design of Amusement Rides and Devices" and this entails the standard practice for the creation of rides. ASTM F 2291 includes this as far as restraints goes, "In its guidelines for "Class 5" restraints, calls for restraints that are either redundant or fail-safe, and calls for a secondary restraint. The secondary is not required if the primary is redundant."

[Rosko97]

This is what I've been commenting on YouTube about the Six Flags incident:

"I believe the employees are to blame. Whenever a rider's size restricts how far down the restraint can go, they are required to ask the person to exit due to the possibility that something like this would happen. Especially with a ride like this that has no back up belt under the restraint. They could have saved her life by simply asking her not to ride. Every other park does this."

I see Intimidator staff escorting large passengers off the ride all the time. Because of this I am able to put off the fear of this kind of incident. If I know the employees want the highest safety for me, why should I believe my safety is in question?

It is obvious Six Flags' staff couldn't care less that two less clicks would increase the possibility of that woman's restraint from releasing. They are not like Intimidator's staff.

[bobbyfoster]

Hello,
I want to ask a question to all of those who have a concern bout the T-Bar. It's a simple question.

The question is, What is safe?

[carowinds4ever]

I may be a jerk here, but nothing is absolutly SAFE. Maybe a padded room in a mental institution, but then again the building could catch on fire, the door lock could jam making impossible to get out, the possibilities are endless if you are gonna nit-pick.

I mean you look at birthdays, why do we celebrate them? Everyone is gonna die anyway, we celebrating 1 year we made it through not dying? You can have a heart-attack at any minute, you can't control another driver from falling asleep at the wheel and coming into your lane. Again possibilities are endless!!

Truth of the matter is no ride is absolutly safe, however ride manufactuers do the best job they can in makeing rides safe. I saw the photo of the lady (don't know how recent) she looks to large to be riding the ride to start with. (my opinion) But i do not know all the facts, was the lap bar actually locked? Did the ride return with the lap bar unlocked? And a few other questions.

My heart goes out to the family, and sorry for your loss. I was not trying to be harsh, but simply stating reality. I still believe the odds are in my favor when riding amusement park rides.

[Jonathan]

Just a reminder, the incident that occurred on New Texas Giant is being discussed in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3902