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If I’m reading this correctly, the ride opened in 2014 but the kid was decapitated in 2016. So not only did they rush its construction but they had two years to fix it and chose not to. Incredible.
Or, in two years, they never realized that they needed to fix it. You decide whether that's better or worse...
if you search "verruckt" on youtube there's a number of point-of-view camera recordings of people riding the thing, before it was shut down. reading the indictment, it seems like the general sort of design that could be implemented safely if they had just hired a ride-engineer with expertise in dynamic forces. the main problem looks like they were sending rafts with unspecified weights down the chute. overly light ra…
Another way of looking at it is that the main problem was putting netting above the track; one roller-coaster engineering principle I've seen mentioned that this ride broke was "no obstructions in the path of the rider" - catching air and slamming hard into the ground may have been less dangerous than hitting a hard overhead obstruction mid-air at high speed.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Another way of looking at it is that the main problem was putting netting above the track; one roller-coaster engineering principle I've seen mentioned that this ride broke was "no obstructions in the path of the rider" - catching air and slamming hard into the ground may have been less dangerous than hitting a hard overhead obstruction mid-air at high speed.
Yeah, when it first opened and I saw the netting... that was a huge red flag. If you have to put netting up it's not safe end of story. The whole ride is just a lesson in what not to do, and hopefully other parks will learn from it.
If that situation occurs for which the netting is there, it follows that the riders are hitting those hoops at full speed at an oblique angle. You're not going to somehow nicely land between those metal hoops and be caught just by the netting alone. (If that were possible, it doesn't seem safe, either, for that matter).
A much more appropriate restraint (if we can even discuss such a thing here) would be for that section of the track to be a fully enclosed, smooth tube.
The full indictment [1] is well worth reading. The most relevant sections for HN, in my opinion: > 35. [Designer Jeffrey] HENRY compared the construction of Verrückt to an arms race against rival waterparks. > 37. HENRY admitted that he was ignoring established industry safety standards because he felt he could redefine those standards with his own achievements. While describing his vision of how Verrückt would chang…
A few other horrifying details:
* Riders were restrained by Velcro straps. These frequently came loose. One rider broke several toes after his restraint came undone during a ride, forcing him to dig his feet into the corners of the raft.
* The brake system on the ride was completely nonfunctional when the boy was killed, and had been that way for several weeks. Evidence suggests that the park planned to delay maintenance until the park closed for the season.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Park -- aka "Class Action Park"
Surprised the park hasn't gone totally bankrupt from the amount of class-action suits available here.
This is in Kansas, where most folks aren't as sue-happy as the coasts of our country. Out here, if you get a minor injury, rub some dirt on it and treat it like a hill - get over it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is in Kansas, where most folks aren't as sue-happy as the coasts of our country. Out here, if you get a minor injury, rub some dirt on it and treat it like a hill - get over it.
How do you rub some dirt and get over a decapitation? Maybe if Kansans held each other to higher standards of accountability they wouldn't kill a kid on a water slide.
Surprised the park hasn't gone totally bankrupt from the amount of class-action suits available here.
From the indictment: 19. HENRY and SCHOOLEY lacked the technical expertise to properly design a complex amusement ride such as Verrückt. Neither of the two men possessed any kind of technical or engineering credential relevant to amusement ride design or safety. As SCHOOLEY admitted, "If we actually knew how to do this, and it could be done that easily, it wouldn't be that spectacular." Full text: http://www.kansasci…
The same logic applies for a majority of cryptocurrency and gig economy startups.
if you search "verruckt" on youtube there's a number of point-of-view camera recordings of people riding the thing, before it was shut down. reading the indictment, it seems like the general sort of design that could be implemented safely if they had just hired a ride-engineer with expertise in dynamic forces. the main problem looks like they were sending rafts with unspecified weights down the chute. overly light ra…
Or even just the constant UV exposure in the sun @.@ yikes.
The full indictment [1] is well worth reading. The most relevant sections for HN, in my opinion: > 35. [Designer Jeffrey] HENRY compared the construction of Verrückt to an arms race against rival waterparks. > 37. HENRY admitted that he was ignoring established industry safety standards because he felt he could redefine those standards with his own achievements. While describing his vision of how Verrückt would chang…
They use to happen all the time before we started focusing on safety standards for cars. There's a great 99% Invisible episode about the shift from believing injury from car accidents was unavoidable/the fault of the driver to making cars safer in impacts:
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/nut-behind-wheel/
Stories like this seem to be a step backwards. Regulation can sometimes hinder some industry (usually when one industry lobbies for it to keep competitors), but it also has an incredible track record of making things safer.