MF Seatbelts...perhaps a redesign?

So, I've been doing study abroad in Tokyo this summer and this past Saturday night I made it over to LaQua (which is actually in the middle of Tokyo) to ride Thunder Dolphin. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it was made by Intamin and also has an elevator cable lift like the one on MF. It's unique in that it's right in the middle of the city (I got a GREAT view of Tokyo at night from the top of it) and it passes over and through a building and a hubless ferris wheel multiple times. It also has some awesome heavily banked turns and steep drops.

What really struck me about the ride was the restraint system. They have a lap bar, and a seatbelt. However, the seatbelt is a VAST improvement over the ones on MF and Dragster. The buckle section itself (the part that you buckle the belt into) is much longer, and is made of a rigid material like the ones on MF. The belt itself seems to be about the same length as MF but it has an elastic band holding it to its side of the seat (I think this is to make it easier for the ops to buckle the belts on empty seats). The thing about the belt is that because of the way it is designed, it buckles in the middle. Which is EXCEEDINGLY easier than buckling it in its current position on MF.

It's a little hard to see but here's a picture: http://cache.rcdb.com/pictures/picmax/p6270.jpg

I know the belts have become more forgiving since the change, but doing something like this could allow them to leave the belts the same length and still make them easier to buckle.

Part of the improvement there is also that it's the Dragster version of the seat and T-bar, with the bent bar that touches your thighs before your goodies, and the deeper seat that gets your knees higher than your butt.

^Good eye. I wasn't really paying attention to the seat as much as the belt itself. Still, do you think that the way the belt is designed on it that MF could benefit from a similar design or would it not make much difference?

DFMatt said:

It's a little hard to see but here's a picture: http://cache.rcdb.com/pictures/picmax/p6270.jpg

Ahhh!! No airgates! Call the safety police!

^Yeah but you see, Japanese people play by the rules and go where they're supposed to and don't stupidly jump out in front of the train to impress their friends...unless it's a commuter train. Then people jumping in front of them is quite common here, sadly.

That's an overly broad generalization. Most rides at CP opened without air gates, and you didn't see people getting hit by roller coaster trains.