News Girl Dies After Being Thrown from Ride at NJ Festival

[Gavin]

Girl killed after being flung from ‘Extreme’ ride at harvest festival

Police said the “Extreme” is a Wisdom Super Sizzler amusement ride that spins passengers in a horizontal circle.

wtvr.com

My condolences go out to the family. For those that don’t know what a Super Sizzler is, it’s just a scrambler built by Wisdom. Here is a video:


Having ran Scrambler at KD for a few seasons, I’m wondering what exactly went wrong.

 

[Jonesta6]

According to the article, it says they are holding off on rides until state inspections. I'm figuring that's a normal process after an incident, but curious if New Jersey requires rigorous testing and certifications for any carnival ride before it opens?

I believe Virginia generally does, though I do remember seeing expired inspection stickers from other states on some of the state fair rides, don't even want to think about county fair operations.

 

[DuelingGwazi03]

According to the article, it says they are holding off on rides until state inspections. I'm figuring that's a normal process after an incident, but curious if New Jersey requires rigorous testing and certifications for any carnival ride before it opens?

I believe Virginia generally does, though I do remember seeing expired inspection stickers from other states on some of the state fair rides, don't even want to think about county fair operations.

IDK, but I know Florida and most states do

 

[b.mac]

Virginia has designated county inspectors and the overwhelming majority of them just want to see the ride cycle without breaking and will sign it off.

Florida is not much better.

Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Connecticut have the strictest standards for amusement rides and require a full inspection of the ride prior to being certified if it has previously been disassembled for either transport or maintenance. This full inspection entails a deep check of all fittings, and metal to ensure there is no visible fatigue or damage to the ride from wear and tear.

After an incident involving an injury of this nature, the state (NJ, PA, and Ohio starting next year) is required to reinspect the ride prior to it being reopened. They also likely will conduct a private investigation into how the incident occured. Ohio is adopting PA standards after they had their own fairground incident that killed riders. New Jersey has been following the same inspection certification standards and criteria as Pennsylvania since at least 2001, but have their own additional rules and stipulations about various things best fit for another thread. Massachusetts and Connecticut have their own inspection standards independent of the PA standard, and their own set of rules with regards to ride inspections but they do require a similar amount of training in order to be certified as an inspector.

The scrambler in this incident was 18 years old apparently, and the operator of the carnival that owns it gave a statement that honestly makes it sound like either the restraints were not locked properly or the rider was misbehaving on the ride. He rambled on about the restraints for the ride, which was a big gripe I had with my time operating one in New England back in 2015.

Considering how simple the restraint mechanism is on a Scrambler, I would not be surprised with either outcome. It is very easy to miss over a restraint being locked properly when operating and it is also very easy for smaller riders to squeeze out of the restraint.

 

[b.mac]

Oh btw, elaborating a bit in a second post.

Virginia ride inspections are lax, but Cedar Fair and SEAS have operations standards that far exceed VA minimums due to their corporate guidelines. This is why you rarely see these types of incidents happen at major amusement parks.