Safety concern on kiddie ride

Hey there... I have long been frustrated by the slow loading times due to the extensive safety checks on the kiddie rides. At the same time, I completely understand why they run through so many procedures and I'm grateful because they keep everyone safe. However, my son was recently riding the swings and all of the sudden my Dad pointed out that his legs were not secure. If you look at the attached photo, the chain should have been between his legs to secure him. I'm lucky that my son is 4 and most likely would not wiggle out of the seat. It terrifies me though if this was a smaller child who could easily fall 10-15 feet onto cement. I went over to the operator to tell her and from what I could understand she just told me that he was fine :( Thoughts? ps- I know that people are human and mistakes happen but it just surprised me with how strict CP is on all of their rides. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/814/swings.jpg/

That is the correct seating position for that ride, it's a 2 person swing.

JTaylor, yes it is a two seat swing but the chain is supposed to be in between the legs for both riders. There is no other restraint on this ride other than the bar that goes across. You can see what I mean if you look closely at the other riders.

Cedar Point's Rider Safety Guide, under Lolli Swing, states:

"Seatbelt must be fastened securely between the legs of each rider at all times."

As this is my daughter's favorite ride, I can promise you that the chain is supposed to be between the legs. This is hard to imagine, actually, as the person always checks and double checks us each time, and I have ridden this ride about 200 times now. Literally. :)

It is possible that the rider moved his legs, as well, once the ride started. I have watched kids do that as well. So before we all point fingers, let's agree that no one knows whether or not this was the attendant's fault, or the child's.

Regardless, I don't find this terrifying, as I also make sure my child is strapped in properly.

I agree with you that a parent needs to be vigilant as ultimately we are responsible for our own child's safety. Unfortunately in this situation I was in the restroom next door while they loaded and my father pointed it out when I returned. I am surprised that the operator told me he was fine, but perhaps she was caught off guard and knew the ride was a short one. It could have been a dangerous situation but luckily nothing went wrong. Again, I'm just surprised that this happened after all of the safety checks.

By the way, I am also not "blaming" the child either. Or you. :)

Like you, I am quite dumbfounded as to how this could have happened. Like you, I am sometimes (while thankful for them) exhausted by the litany of safety checks on the children's rides.

My favorite has to be the Peanuts 500 on a sunny, hot day...to those of you who do not know, both parent and child get locked in the vehicle, and it runs atop a metal surface, which heats up to a comfortable 678 degrees. Then, one by one, you wait patiently in your vehicle as the exhausted ride attendant slowly and carefully has to unlock, one by one, each person in every car. Pray you are first.

Based on our experiences there, I would chalk this up to a complete fluke that you happened to get documented.

So you took a picture instead of yelling and screaming about it? Or demanding to have your kid taken off the ride?

It's called don't be stupid. Sit and enjoy ride. Don't be an idiot and try to jump out.

You would actually blame a 4 year old for falling out of a ride after he was improperly secured by the ride operator?

If u sit in the seat ur fine.

Please don't reproduce.

+1

More like a plus 7.

Kevinj said:
Please don't reproduce.

Does anybody else find it odd that we have to take tests for everything in life, but anybody can have kids?

Coaster23 said:
It's called don't be stupid. Sit and enjoy ride. Don't be an idiot and try to jump out.

You gotta be kidding me. Tell a 4 year old that.

So somebody messed up, either the ride operator or the kid.

But really, now...

The forces on that ride are such that at no time is the rider shoved forward out of the seat. From what I have seen, even a four year old has enough of an innate fear of falling from heights (even small ones) to not intentionally slide out from under the lap bar. And if that bar were not there at all, odds are extremely good that the kid would be fine when the ride was over.

The bottom line is, the scenario we see in that photo is not *inherently* unsafe. In fact, when you look at the way the kid is riding in that photo, I think it is fair to say that *for that particular kid*, riding in that fashion presented absolutely no danger at all.

That said, the improper securement *is* wrong. Somebody messed up; of that there is no doubt. The result is that there is a definite possibility that the kid can, without taking deliberate action to defeat the restraint, take a simple and deliberate action to exit the seat. We can see that in the photo. But it isn't going to happen as a consequence of the ride. And again, this particular kid appears unlikely to drop out on his own.

Wrong, yes. A big deal? I don't really think so.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Kevinj said:
Please don't reproduce.

You stole my reply. :)

Here's the problem, Dave. Kids gets scared, and they do dangerous things. In fact, if I can generalize about any one thing that kids do when they're scared, unhappy or otherwise not getting their way, it's wiggle off of a seat, out of your arms, etc., until they're on the ground.

In fact, this is exactly what Simon did last weekend, or attempted to do, when he decided he had enough of Tiny Toot at Silverwood. Granted, he'd be safely contained in the "box" of the floor of the train if I let him do it, but it's the same way my three-year-old niece reacts.

So yes, this was inherently unsafe.

What baffles me about this is that NOWHERE in your post did you mention you brought this concern to management's attention. I just worked the county fair last week on a kiddie ride and at least 3 times a day, I personally observed children under the age of 5 undo their safety restraint. My gut instict is that is what happened in your case.

I echo Jeff on this one. If you were TRULY concerned, you should have demanded to have the child removed from the ride immediately.