News Top Thrill Dragster Severely Injures Bystander

[Crunchewy]

Yesterday there was a bad accident on TTD. A woman in line was hit in the head by a part from one of the trains. It was bad enough they called in a helicopter.

Roller coaster part falls, hits guest

Incident took place Sunday at Cedar Point

sanduskyregister.com

I'm also attaching the EMS call for a helicopter and it has some of those details that are not in the article. I did not acquire this. I don't know how you get something like this, but i imagine it is part of the public record?

It feels like this has been an especially bad year for coaster safety in the US.

 

[ControlsEE]

It feels like this has been an especially bad year for coaster safety in the US.

Or at least 18 year old experimental attractions...

 

[Crunchewy]

Eyewitness describes Cedar Point coaster accident: ‘It looked like a metal disc flying through the air’

A spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Agriculture said Top Thrill Dragster, one of the park’s most popular rides, last passed inspection on May 14, 2021.

www.cleveland.com

 

[Logang]

It feels like this has been an especially bad year for coaster safety in the US.

Really been bad for the whole world. Massive materials shortages, labor shortages, and most coasters sat dormant for a year. I'm honestly staying away from parks for right now.

 

[Jonesta6]

That's some Final Destination crap right there - I hope the lady is ok!

Also, I wonder what details will be released to the public about what even happened - was it a poor maintenance job or something that was unavoidable?

 

[I305Evan]

Top Thrill Dragster will be closed for the remainder of the 2021 season.

 

[warfelg]

😬😬😬

Wonder if continued cable issues will put it in the great scrap heap in the sky.

 

[GoHokies87]

If they cant fix it i wonder if they will close it and redo it like superman escape from krypton.

 

[Logang]

I wonder if this will affect other accelerator models?

Wonder if continued cable issues will put it in the great scrap heap in the sky.

Intamin hasn't made another hydraulic launch in 11 years, and pretty much every one of them has major maintenance issues that occur much more frequently than it should. I think a lot of them have their timers tickin' down...

 

[RollyCoaster]

The crazy thing is it wasn’t even the cable that caused any damages. I know of maintenance folk who work there and the 2 individuals that inspected the ride the morning prior had full confidence in the rides mechanics. Litterally nobody at the park at this point has an idea of what happened. Nobody has found “the bolt”, nobody has found any missing bolts/screws, and all eyewitnesses have different opinions on the size of the object.

Hope they recover quickly. I really do. Confidential photography I’ve seen looked really bad.

 

[b.mac]

There's a photo floating around on social media showing what appears to be either a bracket or some sort of mounting about the size of a person's palm that a guest picked up and took home with them after the incident. Can kind of see where eye witnesses were getting the idea of a phone flying off the ride at first.

I don't know if that was the specific piece or not, but if that was the so called smoking gun then I can see why this woman was in such serious condition.

 

[vacoasterfanatic]

from pictures ive seen from directly after the incident, it appears the catch car misaligned and struck a brake fin, sending things flying. this is a picture of one of the multiple parts that flew off of dragsters brake run.

 

[EdK]

This sounds like what happened when they were testing Kinda Ka at SFGA. That's why they moved the queue lines. From wikipedia -
On June 8, 2005, a bolt failed inside a trough through which the launch cable travels. This caused the liner to come loose, creating friction on the cable and preventing the train from accelerating to the correct speed. The cable rubbing against the trough caused sparks and shards of metal to fly out from the bottom of the train. The ride was closed for almost two months following the incident.[30] Damage occurred to the launch cable, which was frayed and required replacement, including minor damage to seals and brake fins. The incident caused stress on a number of fins, and Six Flags did not have enough replacement fins. Extra brake fins had to be ordered from Intamin in Switzerland, and the ride had to undergo thorough testing following the repair.[21] Kingda Ka reopened on August 4.[31]

 

[Alexandermbush]

Seems TTD is leaving the park? Signs are pointing to that as merchandise for the current season has knocked TTD off of the skyline imagery; and from Screamscape, the trains are gone too.

 

[Unagi]

Seems TTD is leaving the park? Signs are pointing to that as merchandise for the current season has knocked TTD off of the skyline imagery; and from Screamscape, the trains are gone too.

I'd hate to see it leave but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. These Intamin hydraulic launch coasters have so many issues. Xcelerator at KBF has been closed for months because they are having trouble getting a part to repair it.

 

[warfelg]

I'd hate to see it leave but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. These Intamin hydraulic launch coasters have so many issues. Xcelerator at KBF has been closed for months because they are having trouble getting a part to repair it.

Xcelerator and Storm runner seem rathe resilient for this model. But even Storm Runner has issues 2019-2021

 

[GoHokies87]

From the people I've talked to, everything points to the park still working towards reopening the ride as recently as this past weekend.

 

[Unagi]

Xcelerator and Storm runner seem rathe resilient for this model. But even Storm Runner has issues 2019-2021

Rita at Alton Towers has quite a bit of downtime herself. She's been closed a lot this season.

 

[horsesboy]

From the people I've talked to, everything points to the park still working towards reopening the ride as recently as this past weekend.

I am no expert but I would think given the description of how the accident occurred that they might have pulled to examine how they can best avoid an aliment issue in the future.

 

[DECoasterGuy]

Seems TTD is leaving the park? Signs are pointing to that as merchandise for the current season has knocked TTD off of the skyline imagery; and from Screamscape, the trains are gone too.

Given that screamscape is notoriously unreliable, and that the trains are most likely undergoing routine maintenance, this seems extremely premature. Everything I’ve seen points to an eventual reopening, which of course means the ride needs to be maintained