Corkscrew got seatbelts.

RideMan said:
Who is Cedar Point's Director of Ride Operations (or whatever the official title is), anyway?

Matt Ozoskey. Mr. Safety Science degree.

Isn't Matt Ozoskey (Oz) just the top Manager of Ride Operations and Bob Wozniak (Woz) would technically be the "Director" of Ride Operations (and waterparks) now?

I don't really know who is the driving force behind these changes. I don't know if it's someone higher up pushing it and it might be unfair to blame one person, but I can tell you that Oz (Mr. Safety Science) really rubbed me the wrong way last year when he came up on our platform and said that the way we were standing (the same way Magnum hosts had stood for 16 seasons) was unsafe and that we needed to stand off to the side of the pillars and that the person on unload 1 had to stand at the back of the first car instead of the front of it ("so that someone couldn't grab him and pull him out of the station with the train"). I could see the direction things were going and I was really surprised they didn't paint little squares on the ground for us to stand in at all times last year. As it was, we would go up and down on the load side after the train left and pair up riders and check for loose articles. I was surprised he let us do that for the remainder of the season.

But I'm also surprised that they'd have hosts standing BEHIND pillars (where they can not see eachother or the train) in the name of safety. Whoever is behind this stuff really needs to get a clue! I mean honestly - that ride is far less safe now than it was.

And on the topic of Corkscrew - I remember a few years back, there were a lot of incidents with the restraints falling back down on people as they were getting in/out. I believe that was fixed (to begin this season I think) by doing something to the restraint system so they'd stay up like many other Arrow Corkscrews out there. Now they install a ghetto-rigged seatbelt that will hit people in the face as they get in or out. Brilliant! I've never heard of a restraint failing on an Arrow looper. If something happened at CP, I'd look toward bad maintenance. CP has been getting in the habit of putting a band aid on things and not fixing the real problem. I think that's what is happening here and it has destroyed the operations of what was the 7th most ridden ride in the park.

The Corkscrew restraints did indeed get fixed so that they open up and stay up by themselves this year. I did find that to be really nice, but now with the belts, it just opens up and swings a metal buckle into your face.

Lawsuits may not come from being hit in the face with a seatbelt, (not a lot anyway...) but a lot of complaints at Guest Servies certainly will. If coaster enthusiasts are having trouble with these things, just think what the general public will go through.

I'll wait for the newspaper headline telling readers that a guest had their eye poked out by a wild belt buckle on Corkscrew.

I'm probably answering my own question here, but if the ride ran fine for 29 years without them, why add them now? I'm sure if I was in Operations for the park, I would know this answer (*ahem*insurance?*ahem*), but right now it just boggles my mind.

I'll admit, I haven't read every post on this thread. That being said, the biggest problem with this needless "safety" addition is the ride ops are not supposed to check the belt themselves. They need to ask each rider to "tug" on the seatbelt to ensure it is fastened properly.

Yay bump

I didn't notice that being posted either, but I didn't feel like posting it because it woulda been a bump. The first time I rode it with the belts, it was very near closing and I thought the hosts were just lazy, but then I rode it with my mom in the day (her favorite ride besides TTD) and they were doing it for everyone.

Kinda stupid, really.

*** Edited 7/15/2005 12:57:35 AM UTC by GeeForce***

I can't imagine the seat belts having any real effect on the safety of Corkscrew. I'd definitely side with those who think that these stupid changes make the rides not only less safe, but also less efficient. Both of which will lead to guest complaints/dissatisfaction. I'd never been "injured" on a coaster (minus the occasional bruise) until I rode CS last Sunday. When the restraints flipped up, I got hit right in the mouth with the metal buckle, and I seriously thought it had chipped my tooth. It turned out that it only cut my lip a little bit, but it's only a matter of time until the buckle does chip someone's tooth, knocks a bracket off of their braces, breaks a pair of glasses, or causes some other damage that was unheard of before the seatbelts were added. I'm all for safety precautions, but whoever's making these crackpot decisions needs to have the saying, "If it's not broken, don't fix it" branded on their forehead.

Or if something *was* broken, why not fix it right rather than put a bandaid on it?

Worst case was that restraints failed sometime earlier this season. If that is the case, why not actually fix what was wrong with them rather than let them open again and hope the seatbelt holds?