Six Flags Over Georgia Goliath Incident (12-Oct-2026)

[bratcurry]

Here's a pretty graphic retelling from eyewitnesses who were hit by the man's body while on the train:

Note that they didn't mention anything about the man being too large to fit which they surely would have in case he was and the OPs were struggling to get the restraint to close.

 

[CanobieFan]

Sorry but what is all this rubbish about 'two clicks, three clicks' are ride operators supposed to manually watch every guest push their restraint down

Most of the B&M hypers have a line painted at the bottom of the lat bar pole that needs to be visible. If the restraint is not clicked enough the line is not visible.. Mako has a red one (as well as sensors that show on a display screen green or red for each individual seat notating the, bar is down far enough)

 

[Underthisduvet]

This is shocking.His son was sat next to him too.I don't know how anyone that was witnessing it could even begin to process something like that.
Am not sure if the man was overweight or not but I do feel like with coasters in general there should be more things in place with restraint and seat design to accomodate larger riders,in the same way that people with glasses should be considered.
I really hope the familys privacy is respected during this time.The media don't always show enough compassion towards familys.

 

[Crazycoaster]

Am not sure if the man was overweight or not but I do feel like with coasters in general there should be more things in place with restraint and seat design to accomodate larger riders,in the same way that people with glasses should be considered.

The issue is that the more you do to accommodate obese people on coasters, the less you can accommodate smaller guests, especially on the more extreme coasters. Then it becomes unfair against those people, who can’t ride because the seats and restraints are too large.

I’m not sure how you’d do more to accommodate someone with glasses, other than making them wear glass straps.

My first theory with this accident was that the man “one clicked”, or brought his body forward during the check so that the restraint would give him more room, however the restraint would have locked closer to his body during the high g force sections of the track far before the ORP.

It’s an interesting and alarming thing, and I hope the investigation will bring light to what went wrong.

The “three clicks” isn’t something that the ride ops have to arbitrarily count, and something that the system will indicate. If all three clicks haven’t been clicked, the system flags up the row and the attendant then has to check all seats are down fully clicked, or the person has to walk if they can’t get all three.

 

[lukpac]

Sorry but what is all this rubbish about 'two clicks, three clicks' are ride operators supposed to manually watch every guest push their restraint down and count the number of clicks now? Surely if the ride system shows a green light and safe to dispatch then it's good to go, and if it isn't good to go then it can't be dispatched?

If that ride has allowed to be dispatched then the restrain system has met requirements. The only way this could be put back to negligence is if the guest has somehow managed to manipulate the system by not sitting in the seat correctly and therefore not being restrained effectively.

Even if the lap bar is at its highest locked position and the rider has tons of room under it, it's still not possible to fall out. The geometry of the seats and clamshells means your legs would have to break for you to fall out. You may fly up out of your seat several inches, but no farther.

That's assuming you aren't 1) below the minimum height requirement, 2) an amputee, or 3) Gumby.

 

[Screaming Coasters]

Thing is with B&M Clam Shells, I'm used to the park pushing them down until they are a click lower than the sides of the seat. Not sure how they're operating this as I've not experienced Goliath, but these types are usually very restrictive. Shambhala for instance turns larger riders away almost every other train. Would be interested to see if the sensors have been tampered with or operators are authorised to override their PLC's.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Spoiler: On Ride Photo, showing restraint only, rider is blacked out.

The restraint is open.... May be mid travel during this shot, but it's 100% open... Look at the angle of the vertical pole vs the closed one...

(P.S Since I covered everything but the two restraints for comparison purposes, I hope this image is ok.... It's widely circulated now anyway... I just covered things out of respect more than anything.)

 

[Squrmyweesl]

The restraint is open.... May be mid travel during this shot, but it's 100% open... Look at the angle of the vertical pole vs the closed one...

(P.S Since I covered everything but the two restraints for comparison purposes, I hope this image is ok.... It's widely circulated now anyway... I just covered things out of respect more than anything.)

The relative angles are a bit hard to judge in the onride photo, but comparing with this screenshot of a different train being evacuated, it may not be open as the released ones in the second row are tilted back towards the seat backs noticeably at their full range, with the clamshells pointing up in the air. Comparing the one in the ride photo with this picture, to me it looks a bit more like the seat on the rearmost row far left, where the pole looks almost vertical in a locked position...? Or the third person along in the front row, whose restraint still appears to be locked but again looks almost vertical?

 

[CloudRuben]

Thanks for covering the image. I do follow the discussion here, but try to avoid the image. It's just something I prefer not to see is I can avoid it. The description of what happened is enough for me..
It's just horrible news... I feel horrible for everybody involved. At the same time I also wonder how this could have happened.

 

[Underthisduvet]

The issue is that the more you do to accommodate obese people on coasters, the less you can accommodate smaller guests, especially on the more extreme coasters. Then it becomes unfair against those people, who can’t ride because the seats and restraints are too large.

I’m not sure how you’d do more to accommodate someone with glasses, other than making them wear glass straps.

My first theory with this accident was that the man “one clicked”, or brought his body forward during the check so that the restraint would give him more room, however the restraint would have locked closer to his body during the high g force sections of the track far before the ORP.

It’s an interesting and alarming thing, and I hope the investigation will bring light to what went wrong.

The “three clicks” isn’t something that the ride ops have to arbitrarily count, and something that the system will indicate. If all three clicks haven’t been clicked, the system flags up the row and the attendant then has to check all seats are down fully clicked, or the person has to walk if they can’t get all three.

WIth glasses thing what I meant was people sometimes aren't even allowed on rides with straps on their glasses so have to spend whole ride squinting.Have seen people talk about it a lot of places online,in Vlogs too.
There are seats for bigger riders from time to time so it must be possible but I see where you're coming from.Sometimes Coasters don't even have test seats.I feel like some of it comes down to not wanting to spend money

 

[cookie]

If anyone’s curious if any of the non-Six Flags B&M hypers have shut because of this, apparently Mako hasn’t opened yet today. Silver Star, Shambhala, and Hollywood Dream have all been running, however. Hersheypark’s closed on weekdays so jury’s out on Candymonium at the moment.

 

[bratcurry]

I firmly believe, that the restraint in the ORP is unlocked.

The relative angles are a bit hard to judge in the onride photo, but comparing with this screenshot of a different train being evacuated, it may not be open as the released ones in the second row are tilted back towards the seat backs noticeably at their full range, with the clamshells pointing up in the air. Comparing the one in the ride photo with this picture, to me it looks a bit more like the seat on the rearmost row far left, where the pole looks almost vertical in a locked position...? Or the third person along in the front row, whose restraint still appears to be locked but again looks almost vertical?


View attachment 43488

Your photo is taken while the train is stationary with no positive G pulling an obviously unlocked restraint a bit down. I think the train's are pulling around 3G where the photo is taken on Goliath:

 

[Nicky Borrill]

The relative angles are a bit hard to judge in the onride photo, but comparing with this screenshot of a different train being evacuated, it may not be open as the released ones in the second row are tilted back towards the seat backs noticeably at their full range, with the clamshells pointing up in the air. Comparing the one in the ride photo with this picture, to me it looks a bit more like the seat on the rearmost row far left, where the pole looks almost vertical in a locked position...? Or the third person along in the front row, whose restraint still appears to be locked but again looks almost vertical?


View attachment 43488

Come on now.... this is not 'but angles'

Those two restraints are on the same row, look at the difference in gap size between the restraint and seat of them both... the gent on the right is also, without being too rude, no slim Jim himself...

Spoiler: On Ride Photo, rider blacked out, circling observational piece of the lapbar.

¬

If that isn't enough to convince you, look how the restraint is obscuring the view of the person on it's left... That's not normal locked / operating position...

Maybe the seat is still moving forward at this point, maybe it's only just opened, hence the other things this image depicts when uncensored... But that is absolutely NOT a normal locked position for clamshell restraints.... As a fatso myself, I can say with certainty, that gap between the seat and restraint should be almost non existent, even for us 'on the edge of what is allowed' fatties...

 

[lukpac]

Come on now.... this is not 'but angles'

Those two restraints are on the same row, look at the difference in gap size between the restraint and seat of them both... the gent on the right is also, without being too rude, no slim Jim himself...

View attachment 43490¬

If that isn't enough to convince you, look how the restraint is obscuring the view of the person on it's left... That's not normal locked / operating position...

Maybe the seat is still moving forward at this point, maybe it's only just opened, hence the other things this image depicts when uncensored... But that is absolutely NOT a normal locked position for clamshell restraints.... As a fatso myself, I can say with certainty, that gap between the seat and restraint should be almost non existent, even for us 'on the edge of what is allowed' fatties...

Not to mention that other riders have indicated that it was fully up.

But yes, even at it's highest locked position there's almost no space between the lap bar and the side of the seat. There are clearly several inches in that photo.

 

[dfisher]

I saw pictures of him and there is no way that restraint was that far high when the ride started. He was a larger guy but not that big. I doubt that high would come close to touching his stomach yet alone his thighs.


I also have no clue how it would come undone though. A physical release is needed so it should stay locked if it malfunctions. It also releases the entire train at once so it shouldn't have opened just one. They also use multiple pawls so if one breaks there is another to keep it in place.

 

[JoshC.]

I can't even begin to imagine how people on the train reacted to that. The confusion, the stress, the fear. And how the staff working on the ride must be feeling too.

Obviously we as enthusiasts understand how uncommon something like this is. But it won't do any favours to the Six Flags in chain in particular, given the 'ride that causes brain damage' has been spoken about a lot recently.

 

[Hudson_Woodlief]

This is such an awful event. A true tragedy. Same thing happened with Stardust Racers where at first is just people pointing fingers and the GP just genuinely lying. Can't tell ya how many news articles I've seen just straight up lie. I get it, get your clicks.. but as I've advised to people who've personally asked ME: Don't believe anything you see online until the official details come out. For now.. just take my word when I say that roller coasters are safe lol. It's the fact that events like these are so rare that when they DO happen, they are heavily publicized. Correct me if I'm wrong but I can't think of a significant ejected-related death since New Texas Giant back in 2013. Since I've been an enthusiast, I've never seen an accident to this degree, especially as publicized. F**k the thoosies who are clickbaiting and spreading lies on social media for nothing but their own selfish sh*tty gains-- as a community we need to hold ourselves accountable for the bullsh*tters.

I truly feel awful for his family and the witnesses who had to watch and experience such a traumatic event. This isn't me complaining about the accident, I have nothing but sorrow and sadness for those involved. It's the public and media response that pisses me off.

It'll be interesting to see the changes that come in play. I have no idea what will happen next.

 

[Squrmyweesl]

Come on now.... this is not 'but angles'

Those two restraints are on the same row, look at the difference in gap size between the restraint and seat of them both... the gent on the right is also, without being too rude, no slim Jim himself...

I think these images are too grainy and unclear to do armchair forensics on tbh, at least for anyone who is not personally familiar with the limits of a clamshell... I couldn't find any that clearly showed their normal locked range. But @bratcurry made a good point that apparently the train is pulling significant positive Gs at the ORP point, which seems like the most plausible explanation of how it could have unlocked but not be fully extended in the photo. Can't believe someone might have been failed by a B&M restraint, it's awful.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

I think these images are too grainy and unclear to do armchair forensics on tbh, at least for anyone who is not personally familiar with the limits of a clamshell... I couldn't find any that clearly showed their normal locked range. But @bratcurry made a good point that apparently the train is pulling significant positive Gs at the ORP point, which seems like the most plausible explanation of how it could have unlocked but not be fully extended in the photo. Can't believe someone might have been failed by a B&M restraint, it's awful.

To be clear i am NOT speculating on the cause of the restraint being open, that would be wrong... I am merely commenting on the obvious fact that it is not in a safe locked position when this image was taken... You don't need expertise for that, just eyes... I am not at all saying that the restraint 'failed.' For that anyone would need more information, and I'd need a level of expertise I don't have... There is more than one thing that could cause a restraint to be in an unsafe condition during the ride, not just mechanical failure...

The fact that the restraint is not in a safe locked position in this image proves nothing and tells us nothing about the cause, merely that the restraint wasn't in a safe locked position when this photo was taken. Investigators will do their job and hopefully discover the rest.

This is all reminding me of poor Tyre though... I would almost say that I want it to be a freak mechanical failure rather than a human element.

 

[zazobo]

If anyone’s curious if any of the non-Six Flags B&M hypers have shut because of this, apparently Mako hasn’t opened yet today. Silver Star, Shambhala, and Hollywood Dream have all been running, however. Hersheypark’s closed on weekdays so jury’s out on Candymonium at the moment.

Looks like Mako is temporarily closed due to the incident. We’re due to be at Seaworld on Thursday, travelling from London. It’ll be interesting to see how things pan out.. maybe seatbelts in addition? Who knows.. all so sad.