Is the 1" of seatbelt slack required?

I am sorry if this question has already been asked somewhere but, are they requiring 1" of slack on dragster also?

Yep. I heard it straight from 3 Dragster ride ops on three separate occasions yesterday.

Laura

They required it on Sunday while I was there but some ride ops aren't too strict. I saw one op pull up on a guys belt and was like, OK that is good enough. It depends on the person checking you.

I was there on Sunday also and they made me provide an inch of "slack". I just barely made it.

I called a ride op an a$HO*!E yesterday. Because he would not let me in line. I actually had to walk away and wait for rotation before I could get in line. Nobody said anything to me the second time around. I was P.O.ed. The thing is I rode the day before and I told him that. And I also had about an inch of slack on the test seat. The conversation went something like this = The ride op asked me if I have ever rode it. I said "yes, yesterday." He still asked me to try the test seat, so I sat down and buckled the seat belt. He than said "Oh, The policy has changed, now the ride hosts are not allowed to touch the seatbelt". I responded with "They do not have to touch the seatbelt because you just watched me sit down and fasten it myself". He than said "You also have to have 1 inch of excess belt". So I pulled on the seatbelt as hard as I could and yanked about an inch through. He than said "I am sorry I cannot let you ride." So I got out of the test seat called him an a$H*le and than walked away. Just thought I would add my two sense, Since cedar point is upsetting a lot of people. Intamin should have a clause. "Warning if you spend 25 million on this coaster for your park you will piss off a lot of your guests." Does anyone know yet why this makes the ride safer? *** Edited 6/9/2004 11:12:33 AM UTC by mikey1981***

This guy sounds like an a$$ did you get his name

Yeah, calling him names I'm sure made everything better.

Let me add my 2 "sense".

You get about 1 inch. Not entirely 1 full inch, but almost one inch. Then you call the ride op names, after he does his job and apologizes. I'd say it is you who are the a$$.

...and people complain about the workers at the entrance seeming "cold" at times when working with someone in the test seat. You rank up there in the same catergory as the guy I watched scream at the worker, yell at his girlfriend/wife until she took pictures of him not fitting in the test seat, and then ask who he could email them too.

I don't think there's any excuse for that kind of behavior from an employee. I think this 1" rule is silly. It's one thing to change the restraints on the S:RoS coasters, b/c the death was on one of those, but for other states to require other coasters (Xlr8r, S:tE) to modify their restraints, and for CP to require 1" of slack when a person is perfectly safe as long as their belt fastens correctly, is pure stupidity.

It's not the employee, it's the man. You know, the man.

What kind of behavior are you talking about? An employee doing his job? Saying "I'm sorry"? Erikjc, the employee did nothing wrong. CP does not require 1" of slack. Intamin requires the seatbelt to have one inch of slack in order for it to be considered fastened correctly.

If I'm not mistaken the 1" of slack is an Intamin mandate not a CP one. All of this bitterness directed at CP is totally unfounded. They have a simple choice, follow the ride manufacturer's rules or don't operate the ride at all.

Some of you need to get the proper target of your aggression straight.

I understand the feedback about me being an A$$. And I knew that I was going to get that. But What I don't understand is why am I allowed to ride the ride one day, and another day I am not. I know that the employees have different views on who should ride and who cant. Where is the training at???? If I am unsafe to ride the ride than why can I usually get on it. I for one do not want to fall out, and of course I do not want anyone else to fall out. So, why are the managers not doing there jobs. I love the ride and it sounds crazy but I am on a diet so I am safe to ride everything. It seems like less than 5% of the dragster employees are following the 1" rule. And I know it must be tough to tell someone they cannot ride after they waited in line for so long. i gotta go to bed before my brain explodes.

Rihard 2000 said-

What kind of behavior are you talking about? An employee doing his job? Saying "I'm sorry"? Erikjc, the employee did nothing wrong. CP does not require 1" of slack. Intamin requires the seatbelt to have one inch of slack in order for it to be considered fastened correctly.

Please tell me how does extra slack make it fastened correctly.

If Intamin requires 1 inch of slack why doesn't ExpeditionGForce have it, or why doesn't a whole lot of other Intamin Hyper Coasters have the inch slack rule. I'm pretty sure also that SRoS doesn't have the slack rule, they have ankle things. So I think that CP is enforcing this b/c if a dumb ass ride op. screwed up like the one at SFNE, they have a law suit so big, they won't be able to install another coaster for a while and give the title of having the most coasters in one park to SFMM.

Edited for spellcheck *** Edited 6/11/2004 1:50:11 AM UTC by sieve72***

It's simple, Intamin says if it does not have 1" inch of slack, then it is not correctly fastened. Thats not so hard to understand.

Sieve72, are you suggesting that there is some consperacy at Cedar Point and they are just blaming Intamin because thay think they can get away with it? I doubt that would be the case.

I don't know why the other Intamin Hypers do not have the slack rule. I'd assume it to be because there are differances in the train designs. If SRoS would have reopened without its current modifications, it most likley would have had the 1" rule also.

It has also been said that it is Ohio state law that park owners must follow the manufacturers recomendations. Perhaps the other Intamin hypers in question reside in locations that allow the park owners to do their own thing. That's just an idea, I don't really know. Perhaps someone else can help me out.

edit-typo *** Edited 6/12/2004 12:04:40 AM UTC by Rihard 2000***

Oh the humanity of all this seat belt crap -I'm so sick of hearing people talk about it, but it's completely understandable, of course. What a cluster.

I feel bad for the riders, the park, the ops, etc etc.

When will it end?!

Of course, this could just be the beginning...

No. Longer belts is what's causing the problem with S:RoS tossing riders.