Can being underweight potentally be dangerous?
I was just wondering if being an underweight rider could be a problem on the horizon for amusement parks?
There was recently a child killed at a carnival when he fell out of a ride, the child met the height requirement and the ride was in good working order but the one thing that stuck out to me was the fact this child was under weight for his age and I kind of came to the conclusion that maybe his being under weight could have caused him to fall out of the ride. I know a lot of the disscusions have been about over weight riders but I was just wondering if being an under weight rider could be a problem on the horizon for amusement parks?
In most cases amusement ride restraints are a one size fits all. If that one size fits all include a adjustable seat belt, you are in good shape. Just because a ride has an over-the-shoulder-harness does not mean it will keep you in the ride.
The design standard for weight on a kiddie ride is 90 pounds. The same standard for an adult ride is 170 pounds. Several people have been thrown from rides because they were to big or in a few cases too small.
From BG Tampa
Posted July 18, 2005 at 9:36 PM
I do have to say that I see all of the messages of the larger crowd complaining about not fitting into the restraints and worry about the designers just oversizing everything.
I'll admit that I'm ~30% underweight and rather tall. Quite often, the restraints don't even come close to touching me and I come off some rides with some rather nasty bruises from banging against the restraints. I've been on a few of the newer coasters which are lapbar-only and I'm pretty sure that holding on with my hands was the only thing that kept me from sliding out. Needless to say, I'm not planning on riding those again. When it comes to riding the other coasters, I usually wait until it's cooler out & I can wear some extra clothing to give me a somewhat better ('though still very loose) fit in the seat & restraints, and to give myself a bit more padding.
I can't help but think that there has to be a better a better way to design restraints. Maybe something on a 2-axis system, flexible restraints, or highly-padded restraints?
This discussion has been archived, and is not accepting additional responses.
