Smiler rollercoaster at Alton Towers - carriage collision

Ouch, I was in a 20 MPH car crash and it hurt, I have also been in a 4-5 MPH shopping trolley crash, I would not want to be in a glorified shopping trolley as it crashed at 20 MPH.
 
K.C. Leblanc said:
I'm slightly surprised that they've closed the whole park, and aren't saying when they'll reopen.

Makes me wonder if they have concerns about the safety of other rides as well.
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My guess is that there will be a combination of causes to the accident, e.g. technical failures, maintenance deficiencies and human errors such as not following operating procedures or incorrect use of overrides. There's likely to be a big PR element to it, but they may be reviewing safety management and safety culture which would be common to all rides.
 
wonko said:
My guess is that there will be a combination of causes to the accident, e.g. technical failures, maintenance deficiencies and human errors such as not following operating procedures or incorrect use of overrides. There's likely to be a big PR element to it, but they may be reviewing safety management and safety culture which would be common to all rides.
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Quite,

It is just like a serious accident on a construction site. HSE will close it down and all procedures will be examined and checks made on the equipment.

It will be a sweaty time for the site managers who will need to justify safe operation and training regimes for the staff.
 
The BBC is saying there were delays calling the emergency services...

Emergency services were not called until 11 minutes after the Alton Towers rollercoaster crash, it has emerged.

Theme park bosses were informed of the accident on Tuesday at 13:57 BST but ambulance crews said the 999 call was not made until 14:08.

Crews from the West Midlands Ambulance Service arrived on the scene at 14:35 and they called the fire service at 14:41.

Fire crews were not initially requested by Alton Towers but the park's staff did put their own call in requesting their assistance at 14:45.
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Intriguing!! Surely a brake section couldn't just stop the carriage dead - it would probably have a pre-configured braking force meaning another factor could have come into play:

I know its been very windy/gusty the last few days. A quick blast of a 35-40mph gusting headwind as its nearing the crest could easily shed some speed off an empty cart. The brakes possibly did the rest (as the amount of braking force required to stop is exponentially reduced at reduced velocity)?

neil_g said:
@17:20

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I'm guessing confusion and panic is mainly to blame for the delayed 999 call. None of the staff have had to actually deal with an incident of this magnitude before. Do they not run safety drills? So everyone knows their part in an accident?
 
You don't need a safety drill to realise you need ambulance and fire services.
Seems operators don't even have common sense and management where in denial.
 
The BBC article states that Community First Responders were on the scene in minutes. They are trained for life threatening injuries and are supervised by the local ambulance service. They would have escalated for backup upon arriving at the scene. (Normally they are dispatched when control receive a red call via 999 but it looks like they are integrated to the First Aid support at the park).

Remember that it takes people time to run to the scene, get access to the ride, make sure it is shut down so they don't get injured too, and then see the state of the riders before they can escalate. Then the emergency services need to get access to the park and drive to the ride, probably over pedestrian paths.

There will probably be some improvements to make for the relationship with the emergency services (e.g. realising that Fire Engine support needs to be dispatched at the same time) but things of this nature is very rare at a theme park so understandable if they weren't automatically dispatched.
 
The scale of the incident has to be assessed first, so the paramedics would have called the fire brigade and police upon arriving at the scene.

You don't send an army for a scratched knee. :p

But obviously in this case all 3 where needed. :(

I am totally baffled and intrigued by this whole incident!!! :confused:
 
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this_is_gav said:
You don't need to be a nuclear scientist to run a ride at a theme park.
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Each ride has a 'manual' that must be learnt (memorised) before you are allowed to work as a 'ride host'. The 'ride operator' is trained to a higher level.
As a former employee I can guarantee that all workers will be trained. Those who are training will be fully supervised.

Humans being the weakest link? Well back then I was a student (now an engineer - yes a real one!) and on reflection I can't see how human error could have caused this.
The track will be covered in sensors, telling the central computer exactly where the trains are. The ride operator really isn't operating the ride in the sense that he/she is controlling it, it is more he/she is sending messages to the computer than runs it.

Time will tell!

Oh, and got to laugh at all the crud posted here! :p.
 
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