1990

   I started out as a ride operator about 14 years ago. Over the years, you tend to see some really strange things. In the absence of proper supervision, children will do utterly STUPID things. I worked with a team of ride operators on about 6 or 7 different rides. We would rotate from ride to ride on various days.  Often, I would work with two particular guys who I was friends with at the time. These two clowns decided to play games with safety one day, which really irritated me, but seeing as how I was not in a position of authority, I had no control of the actions of the others.  In retrospect, because of the events that followed, I wish I had turned in my friends for their foolishness and complete disregard for the safety of the guests and disregard of the rules of proper operation of that particular roller coaster.

    On a roller coaster, the brakes are always in the "normally closed" position. If you should walk away from the control panel, or if the operator should become disabled or whatever, the coaster train will simply stop on the back reduction brake without delay. (Some of the newer coasters have completely automated controls unlike this one) The way the coaster is brought into the station is by manually releasing the brakes one at a time, after the train has stopped or is at a controllable speed. The back brake is never to be released until the train has either stopped or almost stopped.  If this brake should fail, the other brakes which are not designed as reduction brakes, but as holding brakes, will not do anything to stop the train. It would blow clear through the station at high speed and end up on the lift hill again. The riders would be mostly unsuspecting, only knowing that they had been graced with an extra ride. If you are perceptive enough, you can watch the expression on the operators face and tell if they are doing something wrong.

    Ok, so here's what the two idiots did.  I would love to tell you their names, but I'm not in the mood for getting sued today, so I will just refer to them as "the two idiots."  They found it entertaining to release the back brake before they even saw the train coming, so that the train full of people was coming into a fully open brake. Their objective was somewhat of a competition between the two idiots. They would see who could allow the un-braked train to come in the farthest before applying the brake and have it still stop.  Do you understand?  They would see who could play chicken the longest with the incoming train. If it just barely stopped, then that guy was the winner, and if it slid all the way through without stopping, he lost. This aggravated me to no end, but I was just taking their fun away by objecting to that ignorance. Well, surprisingly the two of them didn't smash any trains together that year, thank God.

    However, one of the newest players of that game eventually did.

    I think it was a full two years later while I was a ride mechanic that the accident took place.  I was at home, about a stone's throw from the park around 7 in the evening when I got a call from the girl I was going out with at the time, who was still working her shift at the park. She told me there was an accident on the coaster. That was all I needed to hear.  I called my foreman and was asked to come in immediately to help handle the emergency. That coaster has been around since 1926, and is in the hearts of everyone who ever came through the park.  I, being a coaster nut, was very fond of it since I was a kid. Hearing that the trains had smashed together and that many people were being transported to the hospital almost took me to tears.  We took so much pride in our work there, making sure that every single last detail of every ride was completely attended to, and we never had accidents there...never.  It was like our worlds came crashing in that night to hear that OUR coaster smashed trains...not bumped... smashed.

    So, how did it happen?  There was no mechanical failure. No electrical short.  No bolt of lightning. No earthquake or tornado. There was two trains on the track, and combined with Idiot #3, that made a horrible combination.   It was asinine enough for them to play their stupid deadly game with one train on the track, but how could they possibly even think of trying their chicken game with two trains on the track?  When one train leaves the station, the other one is just coming into the reduction brake. Failure in their deadly game would send a high speed 14,000 pound roller coaster train into the tunnel, instantly catching up with the slow moving train as it connects with the lift chain. There was no hope for a second chance that time.

    We spent the entire overnight removing the trashed cars from the track, taking them to the shop, disassembling them, and completely rebuilding them with undamaged or spare parts. With the help of a die-hard carpentry crew and the best mechanics I have ever seen or worked with, we had it open again the very next morning.

    After doing some snooping, I found out the truth from the other operators that worked with "Idiot #3"  Indeed, he was part of the evolution of the coaster "chicken" game, which had sent a dozen or more people to the hospital that horrible night. Yes, you are wondering if I told anyone of my findings, and what ever became of Idiot #3, or even the first two idiots.  Well, yes I did inform the rides Director, but I ended up getting written up for showing my infuriation with those operators, and Idiot #3 got a promoted to a supervisor for handling his accident so well. (?¿?)  And, if that didn't take the cake, another promotion eventually went out to one of the original two idiots, and he ended up second in charge of all ride operators.  Go figure.

    So, what is the true moral of the story?  Well, watch for idiot operators who don't follow safety and common sense rules. No park, company or government can be idiot free.  There are simply too many to weed out, as you already know. Heck, look at the roads.  Don't be afraid to go to the parks because of this type of thing, just keep your eyes open and do your part for safety, and we'll all be fine.  The second moral of the story is, don't promote idiot ride operators who smash antique coaster trains together.