Seat belt lenght
Pretty sure he said family coasters not kiddie. Most people would consider Iron Dragon, CCMR, and even Woodstock Express (DT and Wildcat when they were still here) as family coasters. By todays standards you could almost include Blue Streak, Corkscrew, and Gemini in that list.
Don't get me wrong, no one is saying anyone should try riding TTD, or Millenium without a lap bar; but, the parabolic curves in the airtime hills of coasters are designed to "catch" the riders (not eject them to their death) back in their seat after gravity overpowers forward momentem. By design and in theory, inanimate objects still would return to the station safely on virtually every coaster at Cedar Point.
The PointGuru said:
davidw said:
... the person being ejected would slow down much faster than the roller coaster; they would not have the same forces being applied to them.In your opinion. Fortunetly, I doubt that you design coasters for a living. Coaster designers know otherwise which is why they focus on the heartline of the rider and they have computer simulations which take many factors into consideration to make sure riders have a thrilling but safe ride. In your theory, coaster designers are intentionally designing coasters to injure people. In your scenario, any rider that was ejected far enough from a ride that they could be affected enough by other forces to slow down so much faster than the train would likely have been injured by the restraint tryng to keep them in the train. Think Magnum in 1-3. The lap bar hurts when you go over the airtime hills; but, not enough to break my legs, or ordinarily not enough to throw something so far into the air that the train speeds away from it in the few seconds air time. I also refer you to Blue Streak before the new restraints and optional seat belts. Just because you don't agree with or understand the laws of physics does not mean they are not true.
You are right and wrong. If you did not use blanket statements, I would not say anything. You are right that some roller coasters do not need a restraint. Because some do not need it, does not validate your point that all are design that way. I talked to my sisters father in law about this yesterday (works with Physics at a pentagons shaped facility). he laughed an said "You would be flying out of a good amount of roller coasters without restraints."
James
I'm pretty sure I emphasized MOST coasters in several previous post. But thank your father-in-law for the validation. Perhaps I should have rephrased from the beginning the design theory of most coasters is to keep riders inside the confines of the train even without restraints.
Will it make you happy if I admit Maverick and WT are designed to utilize the restraint system? Maverick with its 95 degree hill defies the laws of physics. For a brief monent while passengers are weightless falling down the hill their body mass is redirected 5 degrees by the restraint system. This is also true on the downward fall of WT when the restraint system turns weightless passengers to follow the course of the track. It may be true on Magnum if one or more of the airtime hills are on a curve. Without the retraints in these cases, yes riders will fall out. These are clearly the exceptions, not the rule. As I said, MOST coasters follow the same principals to keep riders in the train for a smooth ride.
For the record, I am also saying that given the right circumstances, any rider whether intentionally or unintentionally, on any coaster, anywhere, could alter the intended ride plan of coaster designers enough to fall out without restraints. That is why they are part of a coasters design. ... and seat belts are not part of that design.
Mean Streak is another example for different reasons. It was just poorly designed. There should never be any reason for trim breaks at the top of the first hill on a coaster. It is my understanding that people were injured (not seriously or life threatening) by just riding the ride with no malfunctions or errors; plus the ride just tears itself apart or needs too much maintainance. That should never happen on a well designed coaster. There is no reason the ride should be as rough as it is. That is what makes it a bad coaster.
If complaining about the length of Cedar Point's seatbelts burned calories, everyone would fit on the rides.
The path you tread is narrow, and the drop is sheer and very high.
It is my understanding that people were injured (not seriously or life threatening) by just riding the ride with no malfunctions or errors;
Um, no.
Without the restraints in these cases, yes riders will fall out. These are clearly the exceptions, not the rule.
I would actually assume it's the other way around. I would not let my daughter on Woodstock Express without a restraint. She may not "fall out"...but she would get injured. I have to hold in her place practically.
How in the world did we ever even get on this tangent?
Promoter of fog.
If anyone still cares:
Seat Width = 19"
Belt Length = 23.5" (source: http://i.imgur.com/ACovbib.jpg)
I took a bunch more measurements, but those are the only two I can find right now. I'll update this if I can find my little notebook filled with the measurements.
NOTE: These are rough. I measured these in a hurry last year to a very nice and very patient MF worker. I went late in the day and got out of the way when people needed to actually, you know, try the test seat.
Last year, tired of being fat (pushing 300lbs) I built a MF test seat to gauge my progress. While I still can't fit my test seat and I doubt I'll fit the real thing come May, I'm still happy to be down to 267. I'm sure I'll be able to ride by the end of the season.
Anyway, hope those are helpful.
Thank you. I was hoping there would actually be some talk about the seat belts lengths in this topic again. That's a TTD seat, right? I'm trying to remember how the belt goes and if there's any extra length on if the buckle comes up a little or not. Hopefully I've lost enough weight that I'll be able to ride it and other close ones if I go opening day.
That's what I want to know, Rich. Yes, there are anecdotal complaints about different belt lengths, etc...but what is the reality?
UPDATE:
Just so I dont reply to my own post. :)
I thought some you seat-belt haters would be interested to learn that at Kings Island, both Flight Deck (think, a really fun Iron Dragon) and Back Lot Stunt Coaster (a launched hard to categorize coaster) actually had their seat belts....removed.
Promoter of fog.
^^^
But wait, how could they take the seat belts out without people dying or being injured? I don't understand? What would the manufacturer and non-existant OH state law say?
That is good to hear. Hopefully the trend will continue to CP.
Well at least they kept the restraints on the coasters. :) (rimshot)
Actually, it was almost shocking.
Promoter of fog.
Shocking yes. Still really weird given the parks are owned by the same company in the same state. It still must be somebody elses fault besides CP's management that the have seat belts that are different lengths and poor customer relations.
The PointGuru said:
Will it make you happy if I admit Maverick and WT are designed to utilize the restraint system?
You're suggesting Intamin came up with a couple restraint designs, then designed a couple coasters to utilize those? Your trolling is reaching new heights. Impressive.
It may be true on Magnum if one or more of the airtime hills are on a curve.
Or it's true on pretty much the entire coaster. Without a restraint system on Magnum, you'd end up very much out of the train by the time you reached the bunny hops.
As I said, MOST coasters follow the same principals to keep riders in the train for a smooth ride.
Still wrong. By using casual observation, it's clear that most coasters do not follow this rule. But since you've already done the research, what percentage of coasters fall into the category of not needing restraints? A full listing would also be helpful.
Brandon
I don't know if this was brought up in the previous 5 pages of whether or not the seat belts should be extended since I didn't read it, but I think it would be cool if all rides had some kind of seat belt extension. If the seat belt won't buckle, a ride host can go get a seat belt extension that clips into the one end, and locks into the buckle that is attached to the harness.
Like this: http://blog.zip-corvette.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/corvette-se...tender.jpg , but altered to accommodate each ride's buckle system
Which would be great if it wasn't for the fact that on most rides if the seat belt won't fasten it means you're too big for the lapbar/shoulder restraint to hold you in properly.
Closed topic.