News Rider Dead After Being Thrown from Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia

[northdetective]

I remember these - went on Nitro opening year. Didn't create issue at all and worked super fine. Wonder if B&M will need to reimplement if it indeed is a manufacturer issue vs. staff/user error?

They seem super unobtrusive compared to a regular seatbelt given that they attach to the restraint instead of going around the rider's body, and I would assume the belts lock in length in a way that keeps the primary restraint in place, instead of traditional seatbelts which don't do much if the main restraint unlocks. I heard they were removed to speed up loading, but if we have to see redundant/failsafe restraints return, it looks like a good option to me

 

[MAZ]

I have been riding these things since they were introduced in the 90’s. The clamshell restraint has always been my favorite of all. This is truly frightening. Even as a 50 year old, I still make trips to ride these things. I haven’t posted here in years, but it’s the first place I visited when I found out about this. I can’t find any record of this type of restraint ever failing. Ever. But I truly believe that is what has happened. There is always a first time for everything. For a design of this nature to work flawlessly for thirty years, protecting literally millions and millions of riders over and over, its failure crushes me. My heart hurts for this man’s children and family. Sadness is all I feel for this whole situation.

 

[SixFlagsIssues]

I feel like I need to share how widespread this news is. It's been like 24 hours, and BOTH of my parents have independently said something about it. We are quite far from Georgia and neither of my parents are coaster enthusiasts.

 

[GASM]

My best friend is no coaster enthusiast (she wants to like them but also lives nowhere near a park and our Carowinds trip this year was poorly timed after her accident) and she’s the one that told me while we were at the mall yesterday.

We (thankfully, until now) hadn’t had an incident like this stateside in the era of everyone being glued to their phones and social media being as prevalent as it is now. This was bound to reach circles that the New Texas Giant and Ride of Steel ejections never did.