This is horrifying. Supposed to be a press conference soon with more details. Rumors seem to indicate it happened on the Verrukt, the world's tallest waterslide.
1. There is a minimum and maximum weight for the ride. You are weighed at the bottom and again at the top before you board. Lightest in front, heaviest in back. Minimum is 400lbs and allegedly boy was with 2 females... potentially underweight?
2. You wear 2 velcro straps. Lap belt and around chest. Workers check straps before you are released. Rumors that his straps failed.
3. Essentially weight and straps keep you from flying off when cresting second hill at high speed. There is video showing test rafts going airborne. They installed nets supported by metal hoops to catch flying people. Pictures of bent metal hoops at the previously mentioned crest. So he was launched airborne at high speed (60+ mph?) into a steel bar.
4. Also heard Kansas has a cap on lawsuits of this nature of $250k. [Reply]
Originally Posted by jspchief:
Some info I've come across:
1. There is a minimum and maximum weight for the ride. You are weighed at the bottom and again at the top before you board. Lightest in front, heaviest in back. Minimum is 400lbs and allegedly boy was with 2 females... potentially underweight?
2. You wear 2 velcro straps. Lap belt and around chest. Workers check straps before you are released. Rumors that his straps failed.
3. Essentially weight and straps keep you from flying off when cresting second hill at high speed. There is video showing test rafts going airborne. They installed nets supported by metal hoops to catch flying people. Pictures of bent metal hoops at the previously mentioned crest. So he was launched airborne at high speed (60+ mph?) into a steel bar.
4. Also heard Kansas has a cap on lawsuits of this nature of $250k.
Stuff like this makes me worry that all new rides are going to be those terrible computer screen ones where they show a video of a roller coaster and then make your stationary chair vibrate and move. Those things are the worst. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rain Man:
Stuff like this makes me worry that all new rides are going to be those terrible computer screen ones where they show a video of a roller coaster and then make your stationary chair vibrate and move. Those things are the worst.
Roller coasters aren't going anywhere, as they are relatively safe. The folks behind this slide didn't appear to have even a rudimentary understanding of physics. [Reply]
Originally Posted by jspchief:
4. Also heard Kansas has a cap on lawsuits of this nature of $250k.
That's a non-economic damages cap (pain and suffering). I'm not sure that it would include future earnings and things of that nature that could be included in a wrongful death suit. By and large, lost earning potential is considered economic damage, though it may also be considered too speculative to award.
And that wouldn't speak to a punitive damages cap, which is $5 million in Kansas. Given Schiltterbaun's size, $5 million would be doable, especially given their knowledge of the dangers the slide presented. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rain Man:
Stuff like this makes me worry that all new rides are going to be those terrible computer screen ones where they show a video of a roller coaster and then make your stationary chair vibrate and move. Those things are the worst.
Those rides make me nauseous. The real ones are awesome though, no problems at all other than the wait in lines. [Reply]
A lot of states are putting them in. Some states have struck them down as unconstitutional, others have not. Missouri struck theirs down; Kansas upheld it.
I mean, people are constantly bitching about slip and fall cases yielding windfalls through pain and suffering. They complain about wildly exorbitant jury awards. Well this was the legislative response; cap them and keep juries from going insane. And given the prevalence of forum shopping in Kansas, it makes sense (attorneys in St. Louis know about the generosity of Wyandotte County juries). [Reply]
Originally Posted by siberian khatru:
You bounce up and a small head could get in the netting or strike a support. At that speed, it's going to be traumatic.
The speed, and not to mention the weight with two other kids plus the raft itself
Originally Posted by WhawhaWhat:
Those rides make me nauseous. The real ones are awesome though, no problems at all other than the wait in lines.
I love coasters. Can't do Space Mountain though. That one freaked me out for some reason. Really bad. I was scared to death. And I was in my 30's when I rode it. The dark freaked me teh fuck OUT. It's hard to keep one's head on a ride like that.
