The chief executive of Six Flags says the company will install seat belts on the Georgia roller coaster from which a rider fell to his death earlier this month. The company’s rides with similar restraints will also get the safety upgrade.
The theme park operator announced the extra safeguard less than two weeks after 42-year-old Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem of Atlanta died after being ejected from his seat on the Goliath coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia.
Wish it had more details about what actually happened and why that restraint. Wondering because I’ve never felt like that kind of restraint left room for falling out of it, even if I positioned myself such that there would still be room to move a bit after the attendant pushed it down. Though I’ve also only ridden rides with this restraint that were just a series of parabolic hills, which would probably be fine with just a lap belt, since the riders and train are pretty much both just following a ballistic arc.
Was this a mechanical failure that caused the restraint to release mid-ride? Unusual leg/pelvis geometry? Was the guy actively trying to get out, maybe not thinking he would succeed? Did he shit himself or something which added enough lubrication to slip free? What was the ride doing when he fell off, like just a parabolic hill or did it have something like a reverse bank on a turn or an inverse loop that creates forces away from the car?