[userbinator]

Indeed, they probably caught his head and then quite naturally, ripped it off. It seems almost common sense to use something smoother and softer, but as the saying goes, "common sense isn't common".

You can see them in this video of the ride (start at 1:00)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZsK7zSCJ2w

[downandout]

Looking at the video, it seems like the answer to the problem would have been to have a lip on both sides of the slide and have a part of the raft go under that lip at the top of the slide. Then it would have been physically impossible for the raft to ever leave the slide until it reached the bottom, regardless of any negative g-forces or the weight of the riders. They could have ditched the netting altogether, and made it a far safer, scarier ride.

The mind boggling part is that the netting system worked as designed, but the design was such that the riders of any airborne raft would be going into it head-first. That should have been obvious to anyone the moment it was even proposed as a solution to airborne rafts. They created a system where serious head/face/neck injuries were inevitable.

[jrmg]

Thanks for posting the video. Watching it, I realized that the image of the ride I’d built in my head when reading the article (three people lightly strapped to a flimsy inflatable float) was pretty far from reality (which looked more like a rollercoaster that happened to sit on water). I can see why people thought this was safe.

[svrtknst]

According to the article, the metal hoop seems to have caught him in the neck. I can't imagine being there in the raft, nor being there as a bystander, watching.

[StillBored]

Having just taken the kids to the new braunfels location..

Oddly, master blaster continues to have the same net and hoop layout. I wondered about it years ago when I first rode that ride.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=master+blaster+schlitte...

While I didn't ride it this time (the wait is generally really long), I think I was more aware of the fact that there are a lot of dangerous areas in the park. A couple years ago when my kids were younger, I saw first hand how just a bit of running on wet concrete can result in some serious road rash. The park is very responsive to these kinds of injuries, but they must be very common.

This time I came away with the idea that these parks are built around 70's era don't protect the kids from the daily bumps bruises of life mindset. If there were actual regulation, I suspect there would be a _LOT_ of changes forced on by the safty crazies.

For starters, many of the rides should probably require helmets. I myself cracked my head (twice) against concrete tube chutes after having fliped off tubes in fairly minor drops (just a few feet).

Maintenance isn't really top notch either, years ago I remember sitting at a picnic table on a windy day and a fairly large limb broke off a nearby tree and missed a woman and her baby by inches.

This probably won't keep me from going again next year. The place is a blast, and if you do manage to injure yourself, there is literally a hospital across the street. It does make me more respectful of the attractions though, something I don't think most people going there really understand. Water + speed + hard objects will result it some injuries. Hopefully like many other activities (riding a bike/skate board, jumping off cliffs, climbing trees, etc) the user learns where their limits are and if they exceed them, the injuries aren't life threatening.

[TheSpiceIsLife]

Australia seems to have a lot of regulation in an effort to protect children form injury. As an example, it is not permissible to in the local outdoor pool with a ball. It's not permissible to use a ball in the park surrounding the pool.

You can't use a ball in the park.

I don't really understand this. Surely a tennis ball can't cause a person to drown. I suppose you could intentionally throw it hard enough at a persons head to cause serious injury, especially a small child. It just seems unlikely that would be occur accidentally.

The red strike-through circles indicating activity not allowed on signs as you approach the pool and park area tell a short story. Of sterile boredom. Okay, I'm overreacting.

And, sadly, yet people still die in waterpark accidents here.[1]

1. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-25/four-people-dead-ride-...