Accident History
A statement in a previous thread made me think of this question...What is the accident history at CP? The only thing I know of was the chain problem on Corkscrew last summer. What's the scoop?
Jason
Jason
I know someone died from the Wildcat before. Seizure, or heart failure, or something.
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Thank you for riding Raptor and enjoy your day here at Cedar Point, America's RollerCoast!
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Thank you for riding Raptor and enjoy your day here at Cedar Point, America's RollerCoast!
A girl died on the Wildcat due to heart compiclactions a few years ago. She was there with her school. It was some 2 day thing. I remember this because I was there when it happened. The students slept on the floor, and I had to step over them to get back to my room.
There also was a man that had been working at Cedar Point most of his life. He was leaning over the bottom chute of WWL to check something when a car came down the hill and struck him in the head. I don't belive he died. I read it in a Sandusky paper the day I left.
I remember reading about an accidet in Cedar Point The Queen if American Watering Places. Something about a youg man being thrown from a car on a rollercoaster that esscapes me at the time.
Cedar Point probably has the best safty record in the industry today. After such a bad year for saftey in park, and Cedar Point only having a broken chain on Corkscrew. The first 2 accidents were not Cedar Point's fault. I'm guess that the one on WWL waas Human Error or a mis-communication. I love Cedar Point and I think we should applaud all the people that make our day at the Point a happy and safe one.
*** This post was edited by Magnum 89- on 2/9/00. ***
There also was a man that had been working at Cedar Point most of his life. He was leaning over the bottom chute of WWL to check something when a car came down the hill and struck him in the head. I don't belive he died. I read it in a Sandusky paper the day I left.
I remember reading about an accidet in Cedar Point The Queen if American Watering Places. Something about a youg man being thrown from a car on a rollercoaster that esscapes me at the time.
Cedar Point probably has the best safty record in the industry today. After such a bad year for saftey in park, and Cedar Point only having a broken chain on Corkscrew. The first 2 accidents were not Cedar Point's fault. I'm guess that the one on WWL waas Human Error or a mis-communication. I love Cedar Point and I think we should applaud all the people that make our day at the Point a happy and safe one.
*** This post was edited by Magnum 89- on 2/9/00. ***
I have to agree that they are a safe park, but two summers ago me and my girlfriend were riding mean streak. When about half way threw the ride her lap bar flew up. I did the only thing I could do and held on to her. Luckily nothing happened and she was fine, but we told one of the ride operators what just happened and they told us, "dont worry about it it happens all the time" and shrugged it off! Well the idiots that we are, we walked back on again. (it was late, no line) And No BS, Again it happened different train, different seat, different part of the ride, but to her again not me. Again, i told the operator, and she said she would just close off that line for the seat. (just chain off that section, No red tape) Oh if that wasnt enough, the rude little girl had pink eye.
But on the brite side, at least there was no line! *** This post was edited by Tmsnake on 2/9/00. ***
But on the brite side, at least there was no line! *** This post was edited by Tmsnake on 2/9/00. ***
I seem to remember hearing about an accident on the Corkscrew a long time ago. Is my mind playing tricks or did something really happen?
Cedar Point has never had a fatal accident, as far as I know. That's not counting existing health conditions.
Regarding the Corkscrew thing... that's hardly an accident. The chain broke. It happens. The anti-rollbacks did what they were supposed to. The only problem with that incident is that the chain piled up in front of the car. You'll notice that when it reopened the chain "track" had "lips" over the side to hold in the chain.
I'm sure there have been tons of minor things. I'm sure you've probably read about the Cyclone and how people used to lose teeth on that ride!
The truth is, Cedar Point has a history over a century old. I don't think it's fair to judge anything that happened prior to the formation of Cedar Point, Inc. (that was the company name, right?) and Cedar Fair, LP. Many of the people who ran the park in the modern era still do.
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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Regarding the Corkscrew thing... that's hardly an accident. The chain broke. It happens. The anti-rollbacks did what they were supposed to. The only problem with that incident is that the chain piled up in front of the car. You'll notice that when it reopened the chain "track" had "lips" over the side to hold in the chain.
I'm sure there have been tons of minor things. I'm sure you've probably read about the Cyclone and how people used to lose teeth on that ride!
The truth is, Cedar Point has a history over a century old. I don't think it's fair to judge anything that happened prior to the formation of Cedar Point, Inc. (that was the company name, right?) and Cedar Fair, LP. Many of the people who ran the park in the modern era still do.
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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Let me think...
The only equipment failure incidents (with passengers) I know of that resulted in injuries are...
o Disaster Transport, 1990: A bit of scenery fell into the trough and was struck by a car. (whiplash)
o Corkscrew: Broken lift chain (scratches)
o Snake River Falls: Engineering problem with drop pull-out (minor injuries)
I have heard of broken axles on both Corkscrew and Magnum, but I have not confirmed either, and I don't believe either resulted in injury.
To the best of my knowledge, there have been *no* rider fatalities since 1970 (arbitrarily selected date) caused by either equipment failure or horseplay. There has been at least one rider fatality which was not related to a ride accident; that was described earlier in this thread.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
The only equipment failure incidents (with passengers) I know of that resulted in injuries are...
o Disaster Transport, 1990: A bit of scenery fell into the trough and was struck by a car. (whiplash)
o Corkscrew: Broken lift chain (scratches)
o Snake River Falls: Engineering problem with drop pull-out (minor injuries)
I have heard of broken axles on both Corkscrew and Magnum, but I have not confirmed either, and I don't believe either resulted in injury.
To the best of my knowledge, there have been *no* rider fatalities since 1970 (arbitrarily selected date) caused by either equipment failure or horseplay. There has been at least one rider fatality which was not related to a ride accident; that was described earlier in this thread.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
The corkscrew thing I was referring to happened way back in the early eighties. We were on a family vacation and we had just left CP a day or so before. We heard on the radio about Corkscrew crashing or something like that. We were thinking that we had just missed being there when it happened. Maybe it is my imagination.
I knew CP had an exemplary safety record. I was just curious as to any accidents or anything of the past that might have been noteworthy. Considering it's over 125 years old, I'd say they've done an excellent job. Heck, it was my homepark last season that started the rash of accidents with the deaths at SFoT on the Roaring Rapids ride. Oh well. Thanks for the info.
Jason
Jason
I remember the Corkscrew incident that millrace is talking about. It did happen in the early 80's and the failure was a hitch pin in a coupler, which caused the train to separate into two parts. Either no one was injured, or the injuries were very minor. I saw an interview with two of the riders involved on the TV news. They were just fine, but had to answer inane questions like “will you ever ride a roller coaster again”. In short, this incident wasn’t a big deal.
*** This post was edited by Pete on 2/10/00. ***
Hey if you guys want to see a list of accidents check this out: http://www.rollercoaster.com/roller_coaster_accidents/. CP is only listed once in there under 1994 I believe and it doesnt even go into detail about what happened. Also just look at some of the accidents that occur in other parks. That just goes to show that CP does a great job with maintenance and safety.
Ahh, thanks for filling me in Pete. I knew I wasn't going crazy.
(*note* last time I rode Corkscrew it *felt* like it was going to crash)
(*note* last time I rode Corkscrew it *felt* like it was going to crash)
The early '80's Corkscrew accident was in 1977, I was at the controls of a nearby ride at the time...it was a broken axle--and the most horrible noise!! but as you mentioned, no injuries reported, just the usual fright!!
Dinosaur, that must have been an earlier malfunction. I distinctly remember the newspaper article saying that it was a failure of a hitch pin that caused the incident I mentioned. Or, could the hitch pin be part of the axle assembly? This may be it, as two cars on the Corkscrew share a common axle assemply in a kind of trailer arrangement.
If that accident happened in 1977 then it means that I was 2 1/2 at the time. Do I get the memory award on this?
Dino you and Pete are both right. I can confirm the Corkscrew incident Pete refers to as being the Summer of 81 (I believe it was early season -- Mid May). The first car separated from the rest of the train in the loop. NO ONE WAS INJURED. I cannot confirm Dinosaur's incident but I am sure she is correct.
I know this isn't really an accident but it's along the same lines of what you are talking about here. I had a teacher in the 5th and 6th grades who said that she had a sister who rode the Corkscrew the first year it operated and when she was riding it the ride got stuck upside down in one of the loops. Does anyone know if that incident is true or is it just a rumor?
I've read a bunch of accident reports from Amusements parks and I've only heard of two coasters getting stuck upside down. One was somewhere in Australia and (I think) the other one was the Vampire at Six Flags? Cedar Point has an incredible record compared to other parks. If you don't believe, look up their record compared to Kings Island's record. They've had a bunch of accidents... (even though most of them weren't their fault.) I think Jeff's right though, I don't think there has been any fatalities since the 1970's except from natural causes.
The Vampire at SFKK didn't get stuck upside down. It valleyed in the middle of the boomerang element. The Demon at SFGAm, however, lost the rear wheel assembly in early 98 and got stuck in a vertical loop.
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Scott W. Short
sshort@mediaone.net
http://welcome.to/midwestcoastercentral
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Scott W. Short
sshort@mediaone.net
http://welcome.to/midwestcoastercentral
I remeber one time i was reading the news paper the morning right befor i headed to Kings Island and there were three or two deaths in the same day. One was that a drunk ladie was on a ride and was to drunk to put on her safty stuff and fell of the ride and was killed. And the other one or two, cant remeber, but a guy feel into a pound and was eletricuted so his friend dove in to save him and was eletricuted to.
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