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Accident on Adventureland's Raging River

Matt N

CF Legend
Ooh dear, that doesn’t sound good. I hope everyone turns out OK in the end.

Second major accident in the last 5 years also doesn’t bode too well. Could this see the ride getting removed, or at very least modified?
 

bmac

Giga Poster
For whatever the reason, despite the history of these types of rides, parks continue to operate them and some even feel the need to build one in this day and age.
 

Nitefly

Hyper Poster
Sounds very unpleasant.

“Second major incident in last 5 years” is a wholly factual but a slightly tenuous statement. The first incident was (apparently) a ride OP falling into the ride’s conveyer belt, which is obviously horrific and tragic but at face value to me it doesn’t necessarily warrant linking the two incidents together for the purposes of the article, unless the conveyor belt was involved again… perhaps it was, but I doubt that was in contemplation at the time the parallel was drawn.

I love rapids rides and log flumes - they offer typically the biggest laughs at a theme park and I would be very disappointed to see them phased out due to poor public perception caused by inept management. I struggle to believe that they cannot be operated safely and confidently.
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Sounds very unpleasant.

“Second major incident in last 5 years” is a wholly factual but a slightly tenuous statement. The first incident was (apparently) a ride OP falling into the ride’s conveyer belt, which is obviously horrific and tragic but at face value to me it doesn’t necessarily warrant linking the two incidents together for the purposes of the article, unless the conveyor belt was involved again… perhaps it was, but I doubt that was in contemplation at the time the parallel was drawn.

I love rapids rides and log flumes - they offer typically the biggest laughs at a theme park and I would be very disappointed to see them phased out due to poor public perception caused by inept management. I struggle to believe that they cannot be operated safely and confidently.
There aren't that many forces on a rapids ride capable of overturning a raft full of people. Merely butting into another raft won't do it, as they are designed to just bump around when they collide. They need to be lifted out of the water to flip around. In other words, I'd consider it pretty likely that a conveyor belt was involved, as that was what happened when that raft was flipped at Dreamworld in Australia back in 2016. Here's a picture from the investigation of that accident, showing how one raft was "conveyed" on top of another, then tilted over because the raft in front was stuck:

ThunderRiverRapidsDreamworld.jpg


It's still unknown whether this accident was like the one at Dreamworld, but it is likely that there are similarities, as it takes a lot of external force to tip a raft, and the conveyor belts provide plenty of such force.

And, well, I'd say that river rapids are pretty dangerous all in all. Falling out of a raft is up there with "climbing over the ride fence to retrieve your hat" and "running across the parking lot with your eyes closed" as one of the riskiest things to do at an amusement park. They've got torrents of rushing water, where unlucky swimmers have no means to fight the current (or even orient themselves during the shock of falling in). The trough may be slippery from algae growth. Water may be very deep in places that look deceptively calm and shallow (this sadly claimed the life of a girl who fell off a raft at Splash Canyon at Drayton Manor a few years ago - other riders saw her appear to have shaken off the shock and was heading for a way out, but then she slipped into deeper water and drowned). One may be struck by the rafts floating around (or heavens forbid, trapped underneath one). The water trough also contains all sorts of unseen, underwater, moving machinery and pump intakes that can snag people, drag them under, and pin them in place (or worse ... ). It's really not a place you would want to suddenly find yourself.

That makes it all the more important to prevent people from falling out, and doubly important to ensure that the rafts won't ever fall over. It's one thing if a disobedient rider stands up and falls out of the raft, but if the raft somehow ejects people that behave exactly like they're supposed to, then something has gone badly wrong. If a raft flips, its riders are in mortal danger. If any circumstances can cause a raft to flip, the whole design of the ride should be in question.
 

Matt N

CF Legend
Rapids rides do seem like some of the more accident-prone rides out there. I think all rapids rides that open brand new in the future will probably have to be more like Infinity Falls/Mystic River Falls, with seatbelts and at least one big drop.
 

Nitefly

Hyper Poster
@Pokemaniac - yes, the Dreamworld incident was exactly what I had in mind. I was principally commenting on the article drawing on two seemingly unrelated incidents to deliberately invoke an emotional response of ‘obvious danger’.

Yes, I would also agree that they are relatively dangerous compared to other attractions.

I did find the absence of widely publicised information on the Drayton incident quite notable. From what I gather, the children were let onto the ride without a supervising adult, which should not have been permitted (if only in hindsight) and then there was a woeful response in the aftermath of the victim being ejected. Details beyond that, in relation to the actual ‘ejection’ from the ride, seem quite scarce so I can only presume it was a tragic and wholly undue result of innocent mischief (e.g. standing up or similar).

I would hope that enough would be known about the risks of these rides to enforce strict rules and basic safety precautions. I dread to think what dire mismanagement it was this time. As you say, the raft should never be able to flip.
 
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chainedbanana

Hyper Poster
Rapids rides have been around 40 years - and have an excellent track record if you think about it - and I'm sure a good percentage of accidents that have happened have been the results of people standing up - and that of those - most were non-serious/fatal.

There 'seems' to be a 'spate' of rapids accidents of late, but is this amplified by social media/ modern media/news streams? why after 40 years are all these accidents seeming to happen?..... or is that part of the problem - these rides are now 25-40 years old and not running as well?

have there been many notable accidents or deaths prior to the Dreamland and Drayton incidents over the last 40 years? I know Thorpe had a famous case not long after it opened in 1987 where a boat capsized and one of the boys lost at ear - I'm not sure how Thorpe rectified the situation to make the ride safe for the next however many years..... some say the water used to be faster when it first opened!

You always think when a situation like Dreamland happens - it's ramifications will be felt around the world in protocol as a 'never again' response... so it always makes me nervous when another incident happens..... is it down to the how it's run/the venue more than the systems?
 

CanobieFan

Strata Poster
SFOT had a flip + death. Riverside (SFNE) had a flip, no deaths, Visionland/Alabama Adventures... had *2* flips, no deaths
 
I would hope that enough would be known about the risks of these rides to enforce strict rules and basic safety precautions. I dread to think what dire mismanagement it was this time. As you say, the raft should never be able to flip.

The problem with trying to enforce the rules on water rides like these is that there is pretty much nothing you can do beyond yelling at people. I suggested a cricket bat on a pneumatic arm just above head height to deal with anyone who refused to sit down, so the last thing they would see for a few hours would be a lump of wood with "stay seated" printed on it.

The water trough also contains all sorts of unseen, underwater, moving machinery and pump intakes that can snag people, drag them under, and pin them in place (or worse ... ). It's really not a place you would want to suddenly find yourself.

Believe it or not but there is actually very little in the way of equipment in the channel. The drives for the wave machines etc. are well above the water and sit outside the channel.
You are right about the slipperyness though, in the places where the water is fairly slow, it can be like trying to walk on ice. But the water depth during normal running is only about a foot all the way from the station plaform to the bottom of the lift conveyor. So if you do find yourself without a boat, my advice is to go with the flow and don't try to stop yourself or otherwise fight the current. When you get to a slow section your best bet is to try and get back into a boat.

In my opinion, I can see free floating water rides like rapids and log flumes disppearing completely in the next 10 years or so. Not because they are particularly dangerous but because of having to rely on the common sense of a population that seems to be getting more and more stupid.
 

TPoseOnTantrum

Giga Poster

In this article, they are drawing ties between the park being a major Republican Party supporter and donor and themselves being accident-prone... read here;
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- The Iowa amusement park where a water ride accident killed one boy and critically injured another has become increasingly influential in Iowa politics as the state has trended Republican.

Adventureland Park CEO Michael Krantz has donated $175,000 to county, state and federal Republican candidates and officeholders since 2014. That makes him one of the largest GOP donors in Iowa.

The park has also stepped up its lobbying of the Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature. That includes for a recent law change allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to operate its rides for the first time.

The increased political involvement has overlapped with several incidents in which workers or guests were injured.
I'm sorry, but this is bull****. What does politics have to do with ride accidents, might I add? Lobbying for 16-17 year old ride ops has been the only link made here... and Ned Lamont of Connecticut - a Democrat - just recently legalized 16 year old ride ops.
 
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Pear

Strata Poster

In other news, this article states that:

  • The entrance designated for emergency responders was chained shut when firefighters arrived.
  • Off-duty Altoona police and fire personnel working for the park were the first to arrive — but they and Adventureland security were not notified of the incident by park employees.
  • The first word 911 operators got of the tragedy came from a bystander, rather than park officials. Confusion followed as the caller, sometimes drowned out by screaming people, tried to figure out the name of the ride and its location in the park.
  • Ride operators either did not or could not perform CPR.

Seems like this incident was just handled horribly by the park overall
 

Wazzupnerds

Mega Poster
The more I read, the more I feel disgusted. The chained gate part got me. That was clearly meant for emergency reasons, yet it was probably chained up by some supervisor because "those dang kids and needing to take a break"
 

JochemvdMeulen

Roller Poster
I have heard that the ride wasn't e-stopt for 15 minuets after the accident.

It made me wonder why rapid ride's currently don't have tracking systems to track each individual rafts progress through the ride. A system like the could've E-stopt the ride when a raft is taking to long to go through an area.

A system like this would not be ideal since it would still take a few minutes for a system like this to detect a irregularity and E-stop the ride, but anything is better the 15 minutes it took in this accident.
 
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