PHAULTY PHYSICS

The History of Roller Coasters & Some Early Disaters

Roller coaster car derails

(December 31, 2010) - A roller coaster car derailed at a carnival in Timaru, New Zealand, leaving two people with minor injuries. The accident happened on a kiddie roller coaster. The injured were riding in the car when it left the track of the ride. They managed to escape from the car, which was left dangling from the track about four feet from the ground.

Girl, 3, killed inside kiddie ride

(February 6, 2011) - At a carnival in Moral de Calatrava, Spain, a 3-year-old girl was fatally injured inside an amusement attraction for children. The girl got caught between a moving cylinder and the wheel that turns it.
The location of the cylinder is inside the ride and not visible to the ride attendant. The girl remained trapped until her father noticed that she did not exit the attraction with the other children. Firefighters rushed inside and managed to free the victim, but she died in an ambulance on the way to a hospital.
According to El Dia newspaper, witnesses said that it appeared that a floor board either gave way or was missing, causing the victim to fall upon the moving wheel, where her head got caught.
The ride passed an inspection and was properly insured.

Man killed in fall from roller coaster

(January 30, 2011) - At Tokyo Dome City amusement park in Tokyo, Japan, a 34-year-old man suffered fatal injuries when he was ejected from a roller coaster and fell 20-25 feet. The accident happened on 'Maihime' -- a steel roller coaster whose cars spin as they roll along the track.
Tokyo Police are investigating reports that the victim may have too large to ride; that the victim's lap bar did not lock properly because of his size; that the ride operator did not manually check to ensure that the safety bar was locked; and that employees did not receive proper training.
According to investigators, the ride operator, a part-time employee, said that she did not manually check the victim's lap bar because it "appeared to be locked as it was positioned right on his stomach." The ride's lap bars are designed to rest and lock across riders' legs. Normally, a lap bar is not effective as a restraining device if it rests upon a rider's stomach, even if it is locked. Police suspect that the victim exceeded the size limit of a rider, and that he should not have been allowed to ride.
According to the Daily Yomiuri, the ride operator told police: "I told passengers to lock the safety bars, but I didn't confirm [whether they were in the correct position] with my hand. I thought customers would lock [the bars] by themselves because they're grownups."
The report also indicates that the operator was quoted as saying, "At the time of the accident I was looking at a staff assignment sheet, so I didn't monitor the roller coaster operation at all."
The ride has been ordered closed while police continue their investigation.