World's tallest waterslide being built in U.S........

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

This kind of thing sure does shake one's faith that these rides are properly regulated.

Apparently in many states they barely are:
A boy died on a water slide in Kansas—one of many states that barely regulate rides

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Wow. Just a tragic series of events, but it's pretty clear this should have been prevented. Can't even imagine what his older brother is dealing with having seen his younger brother decapitated.

Caleb Schwab, 10, Decapitated On World's Tallest Water Slide

[flere-imsaho]

Tragic, and also completely avoidable. Which makes it more tragic.

[JPhillips]

“It’s dangerous, but it’s a safe dangerous now,” Henry said in 2014. “Schlitterbahn is a family water park, but this isn’t a family ride.* It’s for thrill seekers of the world, people into extreme adventure.”

That's looks really bad when you then lower the age restriction to ten years old.

[PilotMan]

That whole article makes me want to puke. I feel sick now. The whole thing is a giant nightmare, and I've got 2 boys about that age gap, who would have done the very same thing. Ugh.

[flere-imsaho]

The world's worst lawyer could walk away with a huge settlement on this.

[CU Tiger]

I'm an engineer so maybe I am extra sensitive.

But everyone I know who has talked about this the last week takes one look at this and says, poor design. Not enough scrub area.

Im not usually one prone to over aggressive prosecution but this has to meet the threshold for criminal negligence

[larrymcg421]

The only design issue I really see are the velcro straps, which seem like a really poor idea. But other than that, it seems like they fixed and/or accounted for any other design issues.

This seems to be pure operator error. Based on what I've read, if proper operational protocols were followed at each step, then this wouldn't have happened. Even with the seatbelts, if those rafts had been taken out of circulation and fixed until used again, then that wouldn't have been a problem.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

This seems to be pure operator error. Based on what I've read, if proper operational protocols were followed at each step...

Then that's a design issue. Every engineer should know that 100% inspection is only 85% effective. You cannot count on a human to catch each potentially serious issue every time. That's very poor design. Velcro should have been seatbelts that don't allow the raft to proceed until connected. The raft including passengers should be automatically checked before the raft is allowed to proceed. Etc., etc.

[CU Tiger]

A design that requires a certain weight to prevent derailment with only 1 scale to measure weight is a piss poor design.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

A design that requires a certain weight to prevent derailment with only 1 scale to measure weight is a piss poor design.

Yep, that's the key. The whole idea that people have to find a way to fit a certain weight range to avoid having a raft fly off the tracks is a terrible design.

[bhlloy]

Surely there has to be a better safety mechanism than that thin ass wire and metal hoops holding it up as well? Just screams cheap and you would think there have got to be much safer ways to do that

[Honolulu_Blue]

Not to mention the fact that, if my experience at water parks is any indication, the people at the top who are responsible for doing the weight measurement and ensuring that the velcro straps are operating properly are likely kids working a summer job and earning just around minimum wage.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

A design that requires a certain weight to prevent derailment with only 1 scale to measure weight is a piss poor design.

Yep, that's the key. The whole idea that people have to find a way to fit a certain weight range to avoid having a raft fly off the tracks is a terrible design.

This. A ride should function properly with an empty boat/car on the tracks. If it can't, it shouldn't be run.

Strangely enough, it reminds me of the Rollercoaster Tycoon series where poor designs would send guests comically flying off the tracks. Except this time, it was real.

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Not to mention the fact that, if my experience at water parks is any indication, the people at the top who are responsible for doing the weight measurement and ensuring that the velcro straps are operating properly are likely kids working a summer job and earning just around minimum wage.

I've thought about this as well. As bad as it was for the kid's older brother to watch him decapitated, the guilt that the young ride operators much feel is an absolute nightmare. They're going to have issues for the rest of their life in addition to the numerous times they're going to recount the incident as part of the lawsuits that are likely to follow.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Schwab family speaks out on Verruckt horror: 'Someone was negligent'

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Schlitterbahn water slide death: Attorney general charges Tyler A. Miles | The Kansas City Star

[molson]

Crazy to read back how everyone saw this coming.

Of all the ridiculous things about this ride, the craziest might have been how they installed nets, apparently as a safety feature, but then the nets were supported by metal hoops, which meant that if the nets were ever needed, you were probably going to slam into metal and die. The kid would have had a better chance flying off the slide.

And, the settlement wasn't posted about here - it ended up being $20 million.

[korme]

Trying not to be insensitive but I don't think I understand why the "operations manager" is being indicted on 20 charges. This ride was completely fine until the tragedy. Seems unfair to pin everything on this kid.

[molson]

Originally Posted by korme

Trying not to be insensitive but I don't think I understand why the "operations manager" is being indicted on 20 charges. This ride was completely fine until the tragedy. Seems unfair to pin everything on this kid.

News media outlets almost never link to the actual charging document, so we're always just left with these vague, second-hand, laymen descriptions of what someone was actually charged with. So I'm always skeptical of how media reports on crime, police activity, what happened in a court proceeding, etc, unless I can find something closer to the original source. But, I did find a few more details about what the operation manager's alleged role might have been. This article still doesn't link to the indictment, but it does at least purport to take details from it:

There were previous injuries and incidents involving the ride that the company covered up, the ride did not comply with existing safety standards, the investigation was delayed by attempts to conceal evidence, employees knew that rafts were flying off the ride in testing when they installed nets with the metal hoops, before the ride was opened a consultant warned the company that the ride was unsafe and wasn't finished yet, the operations manager coerced a witness into making statements to help cover up what happened.

10 key allegations in the Schlitterbahn indictment | The Kansas City Star

In the article, the operations manager is only specifically mentioned in those last two allegations, but I'm guessing he has something to do with at least some of the other ones too.

And, according to another article, there were 13 injuries on the ride in its first 6 months of operation, including 2 concussions and one girl who went temporarily blind.

Indictment in water park decapitation says slide was a 'deadly weapon' that injured others - Chicago Tribune

[PilotMan]

Charges are dismissed.

USA TODAY: Charges dismissed in boy’s decapitation on waterslide

Schlitterbahn waterslide death: Charges tossed in Caleb Schwab's death

The court has grave doubts as to whether the irregularities and improprieties improperly influenced the grand jury and ultimately bolstered its decision to indict these defendants,” Judge Robert Burns said. “Quite simply, these defendants were not afforded the due process protections and fundamental fairness Kansas law requires.”