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Accident on Splash Canyon

I agree with Slayed.

Keeping people seated on rides is really tough. Even on a predictable and tame children's rides, people standing (or simply not being sat correctly) is a real problem. Log flumes bump into one another, antique cars can abruptly stop... These are things that can send you flying. There are so many reasons why people stand up, and more often than not it's excitement and vacant thought. The signs telling you to stay seated don't apply to you, because you're not an idiot, you won't fall.

Rapids are a completely different ball game. Like Slayed says, we're all guilty of wave dodging. It's part of their fun. But it's dangerous. Her age is irrelevant to me - all people of all ages stand up. I almost guarantee that every single person reading this is guilty of it.

The public do not look at rides as machines, they look at them as entertainment. Machines are dangerous if not used correctly. Care should be taken to ensure they are being used correctly, way beyond signage.

I think it's time that parks were more blunt about the dangers and I think it's been time rapids had seatbelts for many years.
 
I think it's time that parks were more blunt about the dangers and I think it's been time rapids had seatbelts for many years.
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I think I agree with this. it is going to reduce the likelihood of someone attempting to switch seats.

And let's just picture the scene from the dreamworld incident, in terms of the seatbelts v no seatbelts thing.

The rides finished and you're going up the (partially open) conveyor, you may notice that the boat before has got stuck - but I doubt if you'd notice the imminent danger and make an escape, you're probably thinking "HAHa - that one;s stuck look!", you recognise something's horribly wrong as your boat starts climbing the one in front (let's call this point x), within a few seconds the boats flipped over.

I'm pretty sure the outcome from point x will be similar whether you manage to jump out, get thrown out, or get sandwiched between the conveyors and and the tub.
 
Exactly. The supposed risk of a seatbelt trapping you in the event of the boats flipping is negligible. Risk of guest behaviour leading to person overboard - high. Risk of boat flipping - incredibly small and even if it does your hope of avoiding injury or death is probably helped and hindered equally by a seatbelt depending on the specifics.

Flumes are a different beast where I believe that unless they are tethered to the track at all times, seatbelts or restraints of any kind might kinder your chance of survival in the event of an accident. Plus the general risk of these rides seems lower, to me anyway.

I'm surprised more accidents like this haven't happened. But I can guarantee near miss events where it so easily could have occur at every park with a rapids multiple times a day.

And think, how often do people end up in the water but are uninjured? I've seen plenty of footage of people in rapids water.
 
Crazycoaster said:
What about a system where every other seat has a seatbelt, or something to that effect. Children under 14 have to be belted in.
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Why just under 14s? I'm sure people of all ages stand up on these rides to switch seats or to avoid splashes. If you're going to put a safety system like seat belts in, apply it to every rider.
 
Adults are bigger/stronger, understand the risks more than a child, generally stronger swimmers than children, don't need supervision unlike children etc.
 
The park have announced that they will be reopening tomorrow (13th May) with Splash Canyon & the rides overlooking it closed.
There will also be a reduction in ticket prices
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Crazycoaster said:
Adults are bigger/stronger, understand the risks more than a child, generally stronger swimmers than children, don't need supervision unlike children etc.
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The only problem I see with that is children thinking:
" Why do I have to wear a seat belt and everyone else doesn't"
Now I know that's a stretch and it's pretty obvious not every single child is going to think that but if children are forced to wear seat belts for safety but adults aren't they may wonder if there actually is anything dangerous since the adults look like they are having fun without worrying about seat belts.

I also know this can be applied to different scenarios where children or people under the age of 18 are restricted but if the only thing stopping a kid from breaking that rule is unplugging a seat belt then I can't really see it being as effective as everyone just wearing seat belts.
 
Well the amount of times I had kids mucking about in boats on dragon falls while opping was unreal, school trips are the worst because everybody would egg each other on.

Its something I did as a child, as nearly every kid did. Kids are kids.

A flume is different as we know because an E-stop will effect the ride quicker than rapids as you've got your boats rolling to the bottom of lift hills rather than gathering in a sump at the end of the ride.

You could go putting "danger of death" signs up everywhere on these rides but I think it could take a bit of the fun element out of visiting a theme park and unless the H+S executive suggests it, I can't see it happening.

It was a tragic accident that will stay in the minds of many for a long time, And as a regional park with most visitors from the midlands and black country it will remain a potent example of what could potentially happen if you misbehave on a ride.

I feel this will remain a strong a deterrent as any for as long as it remains in public memory.

Hopefully it doesn't happen again.
 
Rumba Rapids opened back up with staff members positioned around the ride watching boats. I wonder if this interfered with restricted areas and the lock down procedure?
 
I've always liked the "staff positioned around the ride" thing that the American parks do with their sprawling water rides. Presumably, all those watch towers have e-stops. Actual people can react better to an incident than someone watching CCTV, for one they have audio.

Drayton's handling of this has been stellar.
 
That’s rediculous, the Dreamworld rapids accident could be seen as manslaughter due to poor maintenance, inadequate staff training etc.. which caused the tragedy.

In this case as far as I am aware Drayton followed normal procedures and did nothing wrong, it’s just a tragic accident that was out of their hands.

If they get charged I wouldn’t be surprised if all rapids rides were closed in the UK, as the risk wouldn’t be worth it.
 
Surely though if Drayton made the necessary safety information accessible, which we all assume they did, then there's no chance of conviction? So hopefully there's nothing to worry about for the park/other rapids rides.
 
elephant58 said:
Surely though if Drayton made the necessary safety information accessible, which we all assume they did, then there's no chance of conviction? So hopefully there's nothing to worry about for the park/other rapids rides.
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I'd imagine so, but even if it went to court, the media would do their thing and it's bad for the park no matter the outcome really. I'd say as soon as people see the words "Drayton Manor" and "manslaughter" in a headline, the damage is done.
 
And actually, to perhaps a lesser extent, the damage might be done already. I've noticed that far less blame has been thrown at Drayton than Alton got, but maybe with this that'll change.
 
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