http://www.scrippsmedia.com/newschannel5/news/8-Injured-After-Ride-Tips-Over-At-Beech-Bend-Park-318548931.html

Oh, no.

Combine that with: http://www.bgdailynews.com/news/insurer-wants-to-dump-beech-bend/article_cf266e27-cb95-5c04-9d86-8b50f3b76d57.html

Now 8 injured:

http://www.whas11.com/story/news/2015/07/25/8-injured-after-ride-collapse-at-s-kentucky-amusement-park/30685007/

  Sad news, glad none of the injuries seem to be life threatening. This could have been much worse. 

ABC Radio Report:

http://www.wbal.com/article/118157/110/eight-injured-in-kentucky-amusement-ride-accident

Very sad for all involved. Makes you wonder about the park they seem to use travel carnival type rides.

Many parks do, without incident.

How does a properly installed, maintained, inspected and operated ride "tip over?"

Like a piano falling out a second story window onto a sidewalk--first conking a pedestrian in the head, such things do not happen without negligence (or worse), but whose?

The ride manufacturer?

The installer?

Maintenance?

The ride operator(s)?

Or is the premise wrong? Was some kind of foul play involved?

And who will be the first to litigate when?

That last article was ominous. None have been treated or released. None are yet critical. "They are still here."

Hmmmmmm.

This is very scary. It has been a terrible year for Beech Bend. How could that happen indeed?

Both the Tennessean and kentucky.com (Lexington Herald-Leader) are reporting that 12 were injured ("according to authorities"), but the Bowling Green paper's article still says 8 were injured, so I'm not sure who's correct here. Either way, this should not have happened, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a lawsuit and/or fines coming from this.

This doesn't surprise me at all. My one trip to this park was abysmal. 

 

BB is still the only park that I ever felt unsafe at.

I really didn't feel all that unsafe when I visited the park once several years ago, but as I've said this really doesn't make me want to go back, as much as I love Kentucky Rumbler and their extremely dizzying Scat II flat ride.

I was on a ride that decided to toss parts onto the seat I was sitting in and nearly injured the young girl beside me. The ride kept on running even when one large piece slammed onto the ride platform with a loud, THUD. No Ops seemed to care and only reacted when I pointed out what happened. They removed the pieces and a few minutes later the ride was running like nothing happened. No one we talked to that worked at the park really seemed to care. We left the park and will never go back.

It is quite possible more people showed up at the hospital to be treated than were injured by the ride.

Stranger things have happened...

You are correct, sir. Folks do love an easy pay day these days.

 

Surely the park knows the names of the folks that were actually on the ride when the accident occurred.

 

Some interesting comments on the first article.

Surely a park supervisor or manager took down the name and any other pertinent information for all riders at the time of accident before allowing them to leave the scene.

 

Surely the ride was properly secured and operated.

 

Surely this accident never happened.

 

Stranger things have indeed happened, like the ride falling over.

This doesn't surprise me at all. My one trip to this park was abysmal. 

 

BB is still the only park that I ever felt unsafe at.

Clearly someone has never been to Mt. Olympus.

 

There's a reason they are currently selling admission for $9... I'd rather go three minutes up the road and ride the coaster at Timber Falls Adventure Golf. It feels safe, is actually fun, and doesn't really draw a line.

No, Sir, I have never been and never will.

Here come the lawsuits:

http://www.whas11.com/story/news/local/2015/07/28/mother-files-lawsuit-after-beech-bend-park-accident-bowling-green/30792413/

Already...

A rickety theme park ride is truly scary, and not in a good way.

I recall serving beer in Cincinnati, and I know you've seen me in the nineties- I had earrings made from a Swiss Army Knife's corkscrew and bottle opener.

 

I would work at events that were just... creepeeeee. The dead Rockstar ride that had horrible airbrush portraits and made a weird cranky sound, and the haunted house that were just two trailers tied together, despite the fact that Six Flags Haunted Castle fire was still relatively recent.

The Rat Wheel game was the worst; they used real rats.

You want to wash it all off as soon as possible, it was a sinister vibe that you didn't even want in your car on the way home.

 

I looked at the news photo, and the ride looked like a German tin toy. That's a not-good scary.

Cooper said the employee was several feet away from her post where the emergency stop was located.

 

That should never happen. Several feet? Why wasn't she right there?

Even so, would a simple Emergency Stop button prevent a ride already toppling over from toppling over?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If hit early enough, at the first sign of something wrong, it might allow time to evacuate riders before the supports finally give way.

Whether or not it could have stopped this accident, the emergency stop is there for safety reasons, and one would hope standard procedures would require an operator of a ride to be within reach of it at all times while the ride is moving.

Another issue at Beech Bend today, per TPR. The Dragon Coaster derailed due to a gap in the track. No report of any injuries fortunately, but this is not helping the park's image.

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1620641#p1620641

 

Uh... what? How in the hell does that even happen?

Only thing I can come up with is bad welding, but routine inspection of the ride would reveal that long before it got that bad.

Last thing they needed. I wouldn't go.

Like I've said before, I never felt unsafe when I visited that park 4 years ago (I even rode that particular ride), but given the recent incidents, I definitely don't want to visit the park again anytime soon.

Meanwhile, there is a state agency that also is supposed to inspect rides....you'd think after a recent other incident there....

Terp, just pointing out stuff...