cloudeleven
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 8:01:48 PM
I came across this on RideAccidents.com, and the administrator of the site (Jared Costanza) says this came straight from a Consumer Product Safety Commission report he requested:

Quote:

Friday, May 22, 1981 - In an accident in Rochester, New York, a 14-year-old female was crushed to death after having apparently fallen from an amusement ride. The ride featured electric-powered cars riding along a track. After the girl had left the car, she fell into a rotating barrel, which then forced her body through a 5-by-7-inch gap into a small space underneath the track of the ride.



The website administrator said this:
Quote:

This account comes directly from a Consumer Product Safety Commission report I received some years ago. The report detailed all CPSC accounts of amusement ride fatalities from 1972-1997 (1997 being the date I made the FOIA request). I could search for the exact title of the report if you wish, but I'm sure there were no other details in the CPSC account.

Jared Costanza
RideAccidents.com



This just seems like such a bizarre accident, I'm having a hard time even picturing it. What exactly kind of ride was this? What kind of "rotating barrel" are they talking about that someone could get off said ride and fall into, and what kind of "rotating barrel" device would have so much force that it could push a human body through a 5 inch by 7 inch gap like a sausage in a sausage factory?

Does anyone here have any knowledge about this accident and could explain more about what happened?

Links:
http://www.rideaccidents.com/rides.html 
http://www.unexplained-m...w=findpost&p=2779405 
Ridee-O
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 8:44:08 PM
squirrel
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 9:09:59 PM
Could have been one of those 'ride through' fun houses that had a 'barrel/tunnel' the cars ran through... Never can tell. Any amusement parks in that area that are now closed? Might look into what iron was there back in the day --

Cygnus12
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 12:56:06 PM
Could it have happened at Seabreeze Amusement Park? That's in Rochester.

Also, I wonder if "rotating barrel" literally means a rotating barrel or if it's just a vague term for something else. Kind of like how an editorial about Six Flags Great Adventure came out a couple of weeks ago that noted how, after a power outage, riders were "stuck upside down" and had to be rescued one by one from the "Batman: the Ride" inverted coaster. This could mean literally stuck upside down in an inversion but more likely meant that they were stuck in the brake run and, since the train hangs below the track, it could be considered "upside down" to some people.
ringmaster
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 2:07:10 PM
Originally Posted by: secret.squirrel 

Could have been one of those 'ride through' fun houses that had a 'barrel/tunnel' the cars ran through... Never can tell. Any amusement parks in that area that are now closed? Might look into what iron was there back in the day --


I believe that is right. some dark rides have rotating tunnels that cars pass through. These look pretty benin, after all they're just moving scenery.
Do the math. The barrel moves at 2-3 RPM. The power is a 1/4 to 1/2 HP induction motor at either 1850 or 3500 RPM, that geared down 900 to 1500 times. That's a hell of a lot of torque.
I once saw somebody pulled through a 2"" space between the arm and the trailer bed of a Roundup.
.

Bill P
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Wednesday, September 28, 2011 8:41:05 PM
Yes,it was at Seabreeze park. Teenage girl reportedly got out of her car in a darkride to scare her friends in the car behind her. She fell into a rotating barrel mechanism that the darkride track went through. The barrel was stopped after that and the darkride was removed soon after. Terrible accident but the cause was rider behavior.

That darkride had some of the best darkride effects I have ever seen including that berrel. It had pinholes in it with lights behind it. There was a mirror at the end making it look 30 feet long. When your car went through it you grabbed the sides of the car because the visual effect made it feel like the car was overturning.
skydiver77
Thursday, September 29, 2011 2:08:12 PM
There you go, rider's fault. Just like what happened on that Eli Wheel at the Myrtle Beach Pavilion in 89 or 90, forget which year it happened, the 17 year old guy rocked his car and fell to his death below. Shouldn't had Rocked the seat, dumba**! That was a good looking Eli Wheel too, with the green & red stars in the center of it lit up at night. I bet the guy did it on a dare from one of his friends, " I dare you to rock your seat. " ....and the rest is history... The rides are 100% safe, it's the rider's actions that we can't say the same for, unfortunately. I guess some folks think that the rules are posted for younger kids and not for their safety too.
cloudeleven
Thursday, September 29, 2011 8:21:04 PM
Originally Posted by: Bill P 

Yes,it was at Seabreeze park. Teenage girl reportedly got out of her car in a darkride to scare her friends in the car behind her. She fell into a rotating barrel mechanism that the darkride track went through. The barrel was stopped after that and the darkride was removed soon after. Terrible accident but the cause was rider behavior.

That darkride had some of the best darkride effects I have ever seen including that berrel. It had pinholes in it with lights behind it. There was a mirror at the end making it look 30 feet long. When your car went through it you grabbed the sides of the car because the visual effect made it feel like the car was overturning.



Thanks for that info. I knew someone here would have first-hand knowledge of it. So the girl was actually pushed through a 5 inch by 7 inch gap like a sausage?
Drummer1973
Monday, February 27, 2023 7:58:04 PM
Umm.. to whom it may concern, that person who died was my best friend.
I was there on the ride... Please use a little more empathy.. teenage kids sometimes do crazy things.. that's why it's called an accident.
Her death was terrible and horrific.
I loved her dearly.
ridejocky
Monday, February 27, 2023 9:02:29 PM
Sorry to hear that. What was your friend's name?

What was the name of the ride?

Must have been a nightmare.
Ride the Zipper?
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