Six Flags Over Georgia (SFOG) Discussion Thread

[packfanlv]

^Don't worry, I saw another article that did mention five or six other incidents in the companies history, so they aren't missing their chance to take a shot!

[utila]

Last year there was a similar accident on the B&M Katun at Mirabilandia in Italy.

 

http://themepark.nl/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=465592#Post465592

 

The guy climbed over some fences to get his hat he has lost.

A girl in the frontrow hit his head with her leg. Her leg broke, and so did his head

Really horrible and unbeliveble stubid these accidents.

Since then i only go in my skiboots on inverted coaster.

 

Utila

[knowit]

Just because this kid was with a "Christian" Group does not mean he himself was a Christian. Churches do outreaches like this sometimes tfor the community. Who knows what this kids background is and for people to outright say that the "christians" are the worst groups out there is like me saying all muslims are terrorists.

[Little Coaster Girl]

Headline news just had a witness on that said the ride picked him up and he flew against one of the support beams, she said they heard a pop and that was it. He just laid there. They still didnt have an update as to why he actually did it.

[TheRapidsNerd]

Well since it's at Batman we could incorporate The Joker played by Heath Ledger (now deceased) and the Headless Footgrabber (also deceased) for the most controversial TPR Photoshop contest ever!

 

Tempting, but think I'll pass on this one.

 

Many years ago, when I went with my buddy's Jewish youth group to KD, they were really fun, laid back, and well behaved. I did get a ribbing for being the lone Catholic, but it was a great day out with them.

[mcjaco]

That's where you are wrong. If the family sues Six Flags, then Six Flags will almost definately win. Why? Because the park could not have done anything about it. And their rep is in the toilet for the GP, so they need the money and good press. If Six Flags loses the impending suit, it will be just one step closer to their demise.

 

Which will cost Six Flags thousands to defend. And it'll be a Georgia jury (no offense, Joe), but ugh.

 

I guarantee they'll settle this before trial because of the cost implications, not the principle. It's the unfortunate way the legal system works here, and as much as I hate to say when I handled liability claims, "Christians" were the worst. It was their defense for everything, "I'm a good Christian, this has to be someone else's fault." As a Christian myself, I found that just revolting.

 

Religion doesn't dictate liability or ignorance.

[verticalzero]

I can't understand how some people are so dumb, climb 2 fences and get something which is in a path of a coaster train..

 

It's like sunbathing in the middle of a wooden coaster track, wait for the train to get near and lift your head up..

 

The fences need to be 8-10ft high and have barbwire at the top.

[Lee]

Actually...it looks insanely easy to get into the ride path from the parking lot.

[Ccron10]

The reason why the news is saying that he tried to get his hat is to make him sound as a less-stupid person. I kinda think that the family tried to make up that story to make him sound as a innocent kid just going to get his hat.

 

I still think the first version of the story is more accurate since it said that he was coming back to the park and was outside the park fence.

[woah_killa]

Headline news just had a witness on that said the ride picked him up and he flew against one of the support beams, she said they heard a pop and that was it. He just laid there. They still didnt have an update as to why he actually did it.

 

I just saw that also.

[ScubaSteve442]

Maybe I'm cold-hearted, but I don't feel bad for the kid or his family.

 

Perhaps if the parents of the deceased had taught him the simple concept of obeying rules / posted signs, he would have behaved in an appropriate manner. Simple self preservation instinct should have taken over when the train rushed towards him.

 

But then we couldn't gossip or opine about the whole thing, could we?

 

Oh, and as much as I want him to be a Darwin Award Nominee, he is ineligible, being a minor at the time of the incident.

[TheRapidsNerd]

The fences need to be 8-10ft high and have barbwire at the top.

 

I respectfully disagree here. The real answer is people need to remember that everything we do has consequences, good or bad. We need to use good sense, and take responsibility for our actions.

[Sgt. Fox]

My guess:

 

The family will file a wrongful death suit seeking unspecified damages with Six Flags, B&M and the Christian Church/Group responsible for the trip all named as co-defendants.

 

Six Flags' insurance carrier will settle for nuisance value just to avoid trying the case ($30k?), B&M will get dismissed out or win on a motion for summary judgment, but that Christian Group has some serious liability for not supervising the kids. Remember, he was a 17yo minor in their custody for a trip. Oops, that's about a $1M mistake.

 

Of course, if it turns out there was inadequate fencing or it was left open (which it doesn't sound like so far), then Six Flags could have much greater liability.

[dammie16@vt.edu]

Seeing this on the news this morning made me so angry. Angry at the stupid way America has about reporting these things. They say words like "Victim" to make us feel bad, and Victim is the right word but used for the wrong person. SF is the victim of a stupid teenager. I'm sorry but I feel no remorse for this kid and I will not feel for the parents if they sue.

 

I'm 90% sure they will sue because parents can NEVER live with a dead child unless they have someone to blame. They can't blame and punish their child because he's dead so they will blame the park or the church, both of which are wrong.

 

I can't stand how Americans (myself included sometimes) get sucked into feeling bad for the "Victims" of these "tragedy's".

 

I for one am glad that he will not be able to breed more people of his intelligence in life situations.

 

Lastly when I saw it on the news this morning they were APPALLED! the park was open today rather then closed for investingation. WEll Batman is closed today and car factories don't close when a dumb teenager crashes one of their cars so yeh good for you SF stay open and don't settle, these parents don't deserve ANY money from you or the church.

 

/end rant

 

Edit: For reference I consider a tragedy in situations of death to be when the person that dies has no control over their death (faulty ride, hit by drunk driver, murdered). This is by no means a tragedy in my mind, just a stupid kid with an invincibility complex who deserves what he got for pretending like he could do anything without a thought for his own life.

[knowit]

I can hardly see these people suing the park. it may happen, but if they were true Christians, they wont sue. The park did nothing wrong. They're 17 old son (who probably has his drivers license) JUMPED A RESTRICTED FENCE INTO THE PATH OF A COASTER! He broke the law by tresspassing in a restricted area. Where I live you have to have a fence around your pool. This is to protect people from getting in your pool withiout your permission. It also protects YOU from lawsuits because you have to concisely make a decision to go over the fence. This kid did the same thing. It ended badly.

 

I also disagree about naming the kid a "Victim" of an accident. The only victim here is Six Flags. The only way this kid is a victim is if he's a victim of his own stupidity.

[dandaman]

I would certainly hope, at the age of 17, one would understand the meaning of the word "DANGER"

 

Yeah... "challenge".

 

I'm the guy's age, and I pretty much hate/distrust/*other* my generation as it is. Teenagers think they're invincible and own the world, (old man rant etc. etc.), and I feel for everyone but the kid in question.

[PURE]

I don't know why anyones surprised with how the media is treating this event, have any of you been around for the past ten years?

 

They're like this with everything: Weather, "Breaking News," World Disasters, War in Iraq, Politics, Pop Culture, the list goes on and on. Dumb people with no education plop in front of the TV and think the things that are said and done are all "reality" and truth-and all it does is make them dumber. More people are watching TV now than ever before, and all its doing is creating a very uninformed, disillusioned society. A society that is molded to think and believe exactly the way they want you to!

 

The best thing to do is look for consistency in the facts, and base your own educated opinion off that. I can't watch TV for more than 5 minutes anymore without wanting to unplug it and throw it out my freakin window.

 

In terms of the actual event: I'm sure most of you are familiar with the Batman cars and the horizontal brace that keeps the seats from swaying left to right. I highlighted the braces in this photo.

 

 

It sounds like the seat brace under the car snagged him under the chin, carried him for a bit while decapitating him, then flung him against a support after a change in direction. I imagine the people in the first car saw it coming, and the people in the second car saw the actual event happen right in front of their eyes.

 

If anyone should be sued it should be the parents of the dipsh*t that hopped the fence, by the people that had to witness the event and get to see it in their nightmares for the rest of their lives.

 

As for the invincibility playing a factor, I think we've all gone through that and some of us still are. People tend to forget it doesn't take a lot for a minor mistake and a catastrophic event. In general, I think people think they're too safe all the time. Even if they don't do stupid things, the false sense of security is a dangerous thing, and can lead to disaster if you're not thinking ahead.

 

I guess the only plus to all this is that its lead to a quite an ironic situation. He definitly won't be needing that hat anymore.

[Flyingcoasterfreak]

He got what he Urned.

[deguy123]

I also feel bad for the people that were on the ride. I mean I know if I saw something like that (no matter if the guy was stupid) it would bother me for a while. I also feel bad for the family and even the person. I mean he was stupid but some people for some reason think bad things wont happen to him....but it cost him his life.

[pacoasterrider]

I have a feeling that Six Flags will have to put up barb wired chain link fences around every ride once this is over.

[arrowfanman]

And who says B&M's never kill people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are incredibly low clearances in the Batman track areas. Adds to the fun of it all. I'm just glad that nobody onboard the train got hurt. Physically, at least.

 

-Jahan

[DallasAlvey]

This was on Screamscape.

The news has been buzzing since last night over the decapitation of a teenager at Six Flags over Georgia, but the strange thing is that no one report still has the clear story on just what happened or exactly why he entered the restricted area under Batman: The Ride.

The updated facts we do know is that he was 17 years old and visiting the park as part of a church group from Columbia, South Carolina. We do know that he scaled not just one, but two tall fences covered with warning signs to gain access to the area under Batman: The Ride. As confirmed by the park, the fences in question are 6 feet tall so this was no easy task. One was a wrought-iron perimeter fence and the second was a chain-link fence that blocked off the Batman: The Ride restricted area itself.

Several of the reports also claim that a “friend” scaled the fences with him but avoided being killed by the coaster. So far there has been no public statement from this “friend” for the reason why he did it. While some of the later news reports have speculated that he may have been trying to retrieve a ‘hat’ he lost, this goes against the early reports that he was trying to grab someone’s legs hanging down from the coaster. There is also the common sense factor (that went out the window when he jumped the first fence…) that someone just trying to get a lost hat would have at least waited until the coaster was not in the area before going after it. Someone only after a hat would not have been trying to get as close to the coaster as possible, so I suspect something else may have been going on here. News reports have now mentioned that he climbed into the Batman area from the parking lot side of the park. It seems the group had left the park to have lunch in the parking lot. In this case… since he was clearly outside the park, it’s not like he just got off the ride and lost his hat, so the lost hat story makes even less sense. In fact another report also mentions that they believe the victim was trying to make a ‘short cut’ back into the park and chose to climb over the two fences rather than walk around to the main gate.

While this wouldn’t be the first death of this type, in previous cases the victims were usually killed by being struck by the legs of the riders. In this case, there has been no report of him being struck by a rider because that would have caused a second injury and been mentioned. So we can only assume that either the riders managed to see him and lifted their legs to avoid him.

In the end he was struck by the coaster itself (not a rider) which apparently sent him flying up and into one of the ride’s support posts where he was decapitated by the impact. Batman was closed for the rest of the day and will remain closed today, but the park expects to reopen the coaster by Monday. As for that Darwin Award I mentioned… it looks like the kid has already been nominated

[Ccron10]

Seeing this on the news this morning made me so angry. Angry at the stupid way America has about reporting these things. They say words like "Victim" to make us feel bad, and Victim is the right word but used for the wrong person. SF is the victim of a stupid teenager. I'm sorry but I feel no remorse for this kid and I will not feel for the parents if they sue.

 

I'm 90% sure they will sue because parents can NEVER live with a dead child unless they have someone to blame. They can't blame and punish their child because he's dead so they will blame the park or the church, both of which are wrong.

 

I can't stand how Americans (myself included sometimes) get sucked into feeling bad for the "Victims" of these "tragedy's".

 

I for one am glad that he will not be able to breed more people of his intelligence in life situations.

 

Lastly when I saw it on the news this morning they were APPALLED! the park was open today rather then closed for investingation. WEll Batman is closed today and car factories don't close when a dumb teenager crashes one of their cars so yeh good for you SF stay open and don't settle, these parents don't deserve ANY money from you or the church.

 

/end rant

 

Edit: For reference I consider a tragedy in situations of death to be when the person that dies has no control over their death (faulty ride, hit by drunk driver, murdered). This is by no means a tragedy in my mind, just a stupid kid with an invincibility complex who deserves what he got for pretending like he could do anything without a thought for his own life.

 

You hit it right on the money. I feel no sympathy for the family. They should've taught their kid to know better and why should we show any sympathy for them if they try to defend their kid and say it wasn't his fault?

 

I don't know why anyones surprised with how the media is treating this event, have any of you been around for the past ten years?

 

They're like this with everything: Weather, "Breaking News," World Disasters, War in Iraq, Politics, Pop Culture, the list goes on and on. Dumb people with no education plop in front of the TV and think the things that are said and done are all "reality" and truth-and all it does is make them dumber. More people are watching TV now than ever before, and all its doing is creating a very uninformed, disillusioned society. A society that is molded to think and believe exactly the way they want you to!

You got this right also. A lot media (TV and newspapers) are clearly rewriting news stories to support another person or opinion and brainwash the public with their own strange and wierd beliefs. I'm not going to go deeply into this, but if you watch one news network or read one newspaper and read or watch another, you're going to get a completely different story and this is a great example of this.

The real story said that he wanted to see if he can touch the rider's legs, but now we're hearing that he wanted to get his hat. They kind of wanted to make the story sound like it was no big deal and that it could happen all the time, but IMO this has to be the stupidest person ever involved in a preventable ride accident.

 

I'm done.

[pacoasterrider]

It's like jumping in front of a car on a highway, then blaming the driver.

 

How on earth could someone blame Six Flags on something like this, even a highway doesn't have a warning sign or a fence but you should be smart enough to avoid the area.

 

I feel bad for the kid and family now, but if they start blaming the park then the remorse feeling is as good as gone for me.

 

 

Yet we all know Six Flags will be blamed.

[Goliath513]

^ Your analogy was perfect!

 

It all comes down to the greedy, f***ed up American court system.

 

As heartless as it sounds, I feel no sympathy for the kid or his family. The kid had it coming.