A group of founders who wanted to move fast, ignore industry regulations that they didn't personally understand the historical reason for, and chose to keep pushing forward even when they realized they were doing unethical or illegal things.....where have I heard that story before? I've heard such tactics praised often enough here on Hacker News.
Water Slide That Decapitated Boy Violated Basic Design Standards
121–130 of 145 posts
Re: Water Slide That Decapitated Boy Violated Basic Design Standards
#122The 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…
> that have been defined in the industry that we couldn't find good reasons for. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._K._Chesterton#Chesterton%27...
How on earth have I missed that encapsulation of a conservatism that is a good balance for liberalism (or progessivism)? When you can explain what that rule might have been good for, you can seriously discuss changing it.
Re: Water Slide That Decapitated Boy Violated Basic Design Standards
#123There is only one question that really matters in this story: will the managers do serious jail time or not.
Re: Water Slide That Decapitated Boy Violated Basic Design Standards
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
Holy shit. This is some Action Park [1] level irresponsibility here. 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 se…
My dad rode a cliffhanger type of slide at Action Park in the mid 80s. It had a plastic covering about 1/2 way down so you couldn't "fall off" the slide. I'm still amazed to this day he did it because he's afraid of heights. It was easily 50' high. Fortunately, the only downside was it was like getting an enormous enema. Those sled things that went down the concrete track, everyone has scars from those. Great memorie…
>Great Adventure (Six Flags) wasn't as much fun but we all came back in one piece.
Central Jersey dude here. Yeah I did the Action Park alpine slide. And saw that water slide your dad mentioned (I opted for the smaller one).
But not everybody was so lucky at GA. I was there the day a girl died falling off Lightning Loops. And the family with us also happened to be there previously the day a fire broke out in the Haunted House, killing several people.
In high school I volunteered at the local hospital. One of the patients was the guy who stood up on Scream Machine to impress his girlfriend and fell out.
Re: Water Slide That Decapitated Boy Violated Basic Design Standards
#125In any discussion about regulations killing business dreams, remember that this is the kind of business they are killing.
Re: Water Slide That Decapitated Boy Violated Basic Design Standards
#126In Canada, a certified Professional Engineer (a protected title not just anyone can use) would have had to sign off on such a construction. They would have had to certify it was safe. And if someone died because they ignored engineering principles and signed off on it anyway, they can be criminally charged and sent to jail. There's lesser charges for lesser offences of course- lose your licence, be fined, etc. There…
It's surprising it isn't the case everywhere; can you really open a ride in the US without a prior safety inspection??
Re: Water Slide That Decapitated Boy Violated Basic Design Standards
#127There is only one question that really matters in this story: will the managers do serious jail time or not.
> There is only one question that really matters in this story: will the managers do serious jail time or not.
What problem is solved by serious jail time?
Re: Water Slide That Decapitated Boy Violated Basic Design Standards
#128The 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…
Holy shit. This is some Action Park [1] level irresponsibility here. 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 se…
The Dollop podcast had an excellent episode detailing the history of Action Park (infused with their normal humor/horror reparte) - http://thedollop.net/wp/episode-87-dollop/
Re: Water Slide That Decapitated Boy Violated Basic Design Standards
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
... netting that is held together with metal hoops, through which you're shooting at high speeds. 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).…
Yes NASCAR and IndyCar oval tracks have catch fences around a at least part of the tracks. These are for the safety of the fans, not the drivers. Crashing into the fence will shred the car. This is how Dan Wheldon died.
Not to mention that both series design cars to avoid going airborne or rolling as much as possible (the fenders on the DW12 IndyCars, the arrestor flaps on stock car roofs).
Re: Water Slide That Decapitated Boy Violated Basic Design Standards
#130In Canada, a certified Professional Engineer (a protected title not just anyone can use) would have had to sign off on such a construction. They would have had to certify it was safe. And if someone died because they ignored engineering principles and signed off on it anyway, they can be criminally charged and sent to jail. There's lesser charges for lesser offences of course- lose your licence, be fined, etc. There…
It's surprising it isn't the case everywhere; can you really open a ride in the US without a prior safety inspection??
Amusement park regulations are state-based, and literally vary for every state in the US -
“Fifty states in the United States of America and no two inspect rides the same way. That’s wrong,” said Ken Martin, an amusement park safety consultant who has been one of the loudest critics of the nation’s patchwork of state laws. “We’re not close to being in the same book, state to state. We’re not even on the same page of the hymnal. We certainly aren’t singing in key.” [1]
"Twenty-nine deaths on amusement rides or water slides have been reported to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission since 2010, spokeswoman Patty Davis said."
To put that figure into perspective however, ~335 million people visit the 400 US amusement parks each year. [2]
So three deaths per year out of 335 million people or visitors (?), for a 0.000001% fatality rate. I'm not sure at that scale if you can get it from three down to zero no matter what you do. This water slide case is a clearly horrendous violation that should never occur. I'm going to assume that with that many parks and that many visitors, with the best case scenario of regulation, with accidents guaranteed to happen, some people will die out of 335 million visitors.
[1] https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2016/08/24/42...
[2] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amusement-parks-the-ride-of-a-l...