If I'm reading correctly (and if the article is accurate), there are two seat belts per seat. Only one of the two is actually sensor monitored and actively locked by the ride system. That sensor-monitored seat belt
was unlocked between cycles --
after the girl sat down on top of the two fastened belts. And then it was fastened right back in place, with the girl still sitting atop the belt. Then the ride was dispatched.
This means operators failed to notice that she was sitting on top of that seat belt, not under it, on at least two occasions:
- When the first ride op tightened all seat belts, including the one she was sitting on; and
- When the second ride op subsequently unbuckled that belt and immediately refastened it, causing the ride system to clear the "belt was never unfastened and refastened between dispatches" alarm.
They were standing
right there both times.
Seems like this girl just pulled the tail end of the seat belt strap, with no buckle or locking rod on the end of it, across her lap after sitting on the fastened belts. She didn't know any better. She was six years old. She possibly had never buckled her own seat belt in her life. If her parents followed accepted child safety guidelines, then she was still sitting in a booster seat any time she rode in a moving car.
But it probably did look like she was actually wearing the belt, if one wasn't paying close attention. A black strap, across her lap. People allow themselves to fill in mental blanks all the time, when they see partial evidence supporting a conclusion they already want to make. These ride ops see possibly hundreds of riders per day. Mental lapses happen. These particular lapses were
really terrible. Still no excuse for them.
The detail about the first ride op accidentally pulling the free strap out of the girl's hands and
still not noticing the problem is both heartbreaking and infuriating.
Six Flags had an incident roughly 35 years ago on Lightnin' Loops (Arrow launched shuttle loop), in which a girl sat down
in front of the closed shoulder bar restraint. The restraints were all closed and locked; nothing seemed awry if you weren't paying close attention. Ops didn't notice the girl's situation, and launched the ride. She flew out of the seat within seconds and died. Six Flags ended up modifying their Arrow rides' restraints to have massive orange loop handles on them, so it was harder to sit in front of a closed shoulder bar and easier for a ride op to notice if something was wrong. More fundamental sensor/logic changes may have been made at that time as well. Not sure.
And for all the mistakes here... a rider who shouldn't be allowed to board a ride using that particular restraint system, some combination of lack of attention, training, shortcomings in the manual... ultimately the restraint system design is the biggest single culprit IMO. It is the last line of defense against the often-deficient natural tendencies of people, and it needs to be designed as such. If a rider can be in a completely unsafe situation yet successfully mimic a properly activated primary restraint (either accidentally or on purpose),
on a ride featuring dynamics that actively try to eject you, then that restraint system is inadequate for the task. Nothing can be made perfectly everything- and everyone-proof, but this system wasn't good enough to qualify for that line.
All my opinion above. I know nothing.