Kansas lawmaker's son killed on world's largest water slide

[Roscablo]

That group might not have met the weight limit. The height limit who knows, but my 8-year-old passes it. The only thing with the age is you know the height and weight likely aren't going to be an issue. Maturity might not matter if it goes off track.

It's interesting because this gets the news it does especially because it was a kid. But you get three small adults together and the same thing could happen. They were playing with fire.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I hope to God he didn't have time to understand what was happening and that it was instantaneous. I don't know if people even have a moment of consciousness afterward. Hopefully not. Sorry to be ghoulish.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

One of the Nat Geo channels did a show where they follow around the planning and construction of "extreme" water parks, and it was with the designer of these rides - there are several across the country, I believe, and they showed him testing the getting one in Texas (San Antonio?) done.

It was the exact same ride as this one, and it took them the longest time to get it right, because the raft and mannequins they put on it kept flying off the slide.

That guy is a forking idiot. All he would talk about was making the rides more and more "extreme," taller and faster.

 

[Ace]

So not a win for smaller government and less bureaucracy?

 

[dixiehack]

From what I've seen online, they weigh the group collectively before it gets in the raft, but not individuals. A too small person could theoretically slip under the restraints. And while there used to be a minimum age, that was done away with and just the height/weight requirement remained.

 

[JohnHammond]

So not a win for smaller government and less bureaucracy?

You could argue industries like that largely self-regulate, because fatal incidents can lead to customers not going any more. Not staying which way is better. Regulation only covers so much, yet people still die, get injured, or get sick.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Great America in the Bay Area had a bad stretch about 15 years ago -- I want to say three deaths in two years or something. The reporting revealed that permanent amusement parks have much lower (i.e. basically zero) safety standards from the state, while the traveling carnivals are regulated much more heavily. I've always felt safer on the carnival rides since then.

Also I remember a new overtime bill in Missouri in the '90s that specifically exempted amusement parks from the 40-hour rule.

There is a powerful lobby in that industry.

 

[doctorquant]

Why do we always find out about lax regulations AFTER something happens?

Because if something bad happens, somebody in government could have prevented it.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

You could argue industries like that largely self-regulate, because fatal incidents can lead to customers not going any more. Not staying which way is better. Regulation only covers so much, yet people still die, get injured, or get sick.

Rand Paul could argue that.

 

[JohnHammond]

The ride has been plagued by issues. Where was government? There was some law or rule that could have shut it down.

 

[Vombatus]

Great America in the Bay Area had a bad stretch about 15 years ago -- I want to say three deaths in two years or something. The reporting revealed that permanent amusement parks have much lower (i.e. basically zero) safety standards from the state, while the traveling carnivals are regulated much more heavily. I've always felt safer on the carnival rides since then.

Also I remember a new overtime bill in Missouri in the '90s that specifically exempted amusement parks from the 40-hour rule.

There is a powerful lobby in that industry.

I won't ride those traveling carnival rides that typically show up at state and county fairs. They might be more heavily regulated, but the whole unbolting, moving, then bolting it all back together process, possibly done by some slack jaw numbnut, unnerves me.

 

[old_tony]

I won't ride those traveling carnival rides that typically show up at state and county fairs. They might be more heavily regulated, but the whole unbolting, moving, then bolting it all back together process, possibly done by some slack jaw numbnut, unnerves me.

I'd be more secure knowing the bolts were just done that afternoon, rather than the permanent ones, where the bolt was set three years ago and hasn't been checked since.