Sega Closes Amusement Park after Fatal Accident

[Daft Punk]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/04/19/news_6122532.html




Sega's Tokyo Joypolis theme park is now closed until further notice after a deadly accident that took place yesterday. A 30-year-old paraplegic, Junichi Tsubouchi, confined to a wheelchair, fell out of a virtual skydiving ride and was killed.
Apparently, Tsubouchi was too large for the ride's safety belt to fit around his waist, so it was not used. Sega's official park operations manual prohibits this, but an un-official manual was being used.
"There's the possibility that Junichi-san's body was too large, and the [safety] harness locked in a more loose position than it was supposed to, causing him to slip through. It was our mistake. We never had an accident up until now."

[THATinkjar]

That is tragic news. Though, I'm sure it is just a freak accident. I have no reason to believe the proper safety measures weren't in place. Still, sad news.

[Kejoriv]

I didnt even know that Sega had an amusement park. :hmm:

[I Am Humanoid]

Apparently, Tsubouchi was too large for the ride's safety belt to fit around his waist, so it was not used.

Don't worry! We *always* use it without the safety belt!

Whose brilliant idea was that? Geez.

[Sylentwulf]

Really sick of *name for disabled people I'd like to use* screwing over amusement parks. If you're a fucking parapalegic confined to a wheelchair, YOU MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO GO ON THAT ROLLERCOASTER (or any other moving ride, I believe same thing happened on the superman at 6 flags). No, it's not fair, life sucks, you should PROBABLY have realized that over the past 30 years you've been sitting in your friggin wheelchair.

[DeputyMoniker]

Really sick of *name for disabled people I'd like to use* screwing over amusement parks. If you're a fucking parapalegic confined to a wheelchair, YOU MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO GO ON THAT ROLLERCOASTER (or any other moving ride, I believe same thing happened on the superman at 6 flags). No, it's not fair, life sucks, you should PROBABLY have realized that over the past 30 years you've been sitting in your friggin wheelchair.

Are you drunk?

I'm happy for the guy. He pushed it to the limit. I'd rather die taking a chance than die alone and rotting in a bed somewhere. Maybe he didn't live through it but at least he died living!

[davidbrit2]

Yeah, my girlfriend used to work at Cedar Point, so I've heard stories about this sort of thing. As long as a person is able to fit in the ride and properly use whatever safety restraints are available, it's acceptable. In other words, a 140 lb paraplegic would be able to go on the ride, while, for example, a sumo wrestler probably would not, as the lap restraint would not fit properly.

But letting the guy on without the safety harness is just plain stupid and negligent.

[Teo]

There are skydiving simulators? What kind of "ride" is that?

[Big Papa Husker]

There are skydiving simulators? What kind of "ride" is that?

I was asking myself the same question. Thats not really a ride, its craziness. If it is what i'm thinking of, ive heard about the harnesses snapping. I never want to try one of those.

And I never knew Sega had an amusement park. Does Nintendo have one as well?

[Arqueologia_Digital]

I didnt even know that Sega had an amusement park. :hmm:
Not me also... @_@

[thegreatescape]

I didnt even know that Sega had an amusement park. :hmm:

Up until 2001 there was one in Sydney, Australia too- SegaWorld. I never got to go but it looked like a pretty cool place :(

[Cmosfm]

Sega's official park operations manual prohibits this, but an un-official manual was being used.

You know when you buy a system and it says "Only use official accessories, 3rd party accessories may damage the system"

Same thing here, same thing.

I wonder who made the un-official manual? Nuby? MadKatz? :hmm:

[yuppicide]

Sad news, but no reason to close an amusement park because of it. I mean, thinks happen at Six Flags Great Adventure and they're not closed.

Anyone ever been to the Intellivision theme park?! LOL!

[goatdan]

I worked at an amusement park in the rides department and was actually a trainer on those rides for three years. As much as I like Sega, this is inexcusable. Unlike 99% of the accidents, which are purely rider-fault, a quote from the article is:


Sega officials said that amusement park staff didn't always refer to the official manual as they were supposed to; instead, they regularly allowed visitors to go on rides without safety belts secured...as long as other restraints were used.

One thing that I learned from my time working at parks is that if the person can't fit in the restraint properly, there is no question about it -- they can't ride. It doesn't matter if you are disabled or too tall or too short, if you don't fit in the way that it was designed, you can't ride.

On top of that, if the rider himself or herself isn't up to a certain physical requirement, you as a ride operator can decide that they are not fit to ride. I have told people that were mentally handicapped that they couldn't ride certain things because they couldn't sit up straight. That is part of the requirements handed down by the ride manufacturers, and in an amusement park everything should be about safety. At least is was where I worked.

There are a few deadly accidents every year, but almost every time the reason for them is because of rider error (such as people standing up, jumping off rides, etc). Joypolis deserves all of the moneytary losses they get from this, and hopefully it will snap their operations department into running things the way they should be.

[SoulBlazer]

I'm not sure if the Japanese leagal system is anything like ours, but if I was related to that man I'd sue that company faster then he reached the hopsital.

They NEVER should have allowed him on that ride if the saftey belt did'nt fit, simple as that.

[Famidrive-16]

Anyone ever been to the Intellivision theme park?! LOL!

I heard it was open for one day!

[GaijinPunch]

I'm not sure if the Japanese leagal system is anything like ours, but if I was related to that man I'd sue that company faster then he reached the hopsital.

It's the opposite. Sega will just pay is family out of shame, and they'll probably get as least as much as they could get suing, and years quicker.

[Vroomfunkel]

I'm not sure if the Japanese leagal system is anything like ours, but if I was related to that man I'd sue that company faster then he reached the hopsital.

It's the opposite. Sega will just pay is family out of shame, and they'll probably get as least as much as they could get suing, and years quicker.

I hear a lot of people over here criticise Japan for the 'shame culture' they have - but things like this show how much better it is than our 'guilt culture' where nobody would get anything till you'd been through long expensive and painful court rulings to establish 'guilt'.

Vroomfunkel

[DeputyMoniker]

I'm not sure if the Japanese leagal system is anything like ours, but if I was related to that man I'd sue that company faster then he reached the hopsital.

It's the opposite. Sega will just pay is family out of shame, and they'll probably get as least as much as they could get suing, and years quicker.

I hear a lot of people over here criticise Japan for the 'shame culture' they have - but things like this show how much better it is than our 'guilt culture' where nobody would get anything till you'd been through long expensive and painful court rulings to establish 'guilt'.

Vroomfunkel

Nothing matters anymore. Nobody has to admit guilt or feel bad for anything. Things have really changed since the 80's - 90's when the ex-hippies were the money spenders. These days nobody cares who screws who...as long as its cheap and it momentarily feels good. Enter the hip hop culture.

[RCM]

It's sad when anyone dies. Is it really nesessary for a severely handicapped person to go on a ride? Aren't these people fragile to begin with? Not a bash, just an observation.

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

[DJ_DEEM]

that sucks but does anyone happen to have any pictures from any video game theme parks? as i'd love to see like a familys real vacation pics from a park

[InsaneDavid]

I wonder who made the un-official manual? Nuby? MadKatz? :hmm:

ROFL

[norkusa]

I wonder what was going thru this guys mind right before he died. I mean, IT WAS a skydiving simulation...maybe he thought that chute not opening was part of the ride?

[goatdan]

It's sad when anyone dies. Is it really nesessary for a severely handicapped person to go on a ride? Aren't these people fragile to begin with? Not a bash, just an observation.

Honestly, it all depends on the ride. For the most part, any amusement park ride is made with the smallest possible person in mind -- in other words, if they meet the minimum height requirement and are as skinny as a stick, they still won't fall out. There have been rumblings amongst certain groups that obese people are going to start suing parks and manufacturers for not making rides that cater directly toward them. The obvious problem -- how do you make a ride where you tell people that are "too skinny" that they can't ride? It would be so much easier to mess up that measurement.

The reason I say this is only because in the right harness, anyone should be able to ride any ride regardless of any physical or mental handicaps. Now, if you want them too or not is a whole different issue, but if a ride harness is properly secured there should be no way that the person can get out of it. Thus, even if the judgement of the handicapped person (or people with the person) is incorrect, the actual harness *should* ensure their safety.

The park didn't make sure that the harness was properly there. Regardless of what was wrong with the person, that is the parks fault.

And this isn't an issue like the Superman: Ride of Steel issue from last year. In that case, the ride manufacturer did not create a harness system that could be 100% trusted (SFNE Superman was not the first Intamin "slip out of the harness" accident, unfortunately). This, according to the park itself, was completely preventable.

[Dahne]

Hell, a bunch of people have died at Disneyland over the years. You've got giant machines and lots and lots of people. The laws of chance say that sooner or later something bad'll happen. Get enough people in one area and eventually there's an accident, whether just by sheer bad luck or negligence as in this case.

[GarrettCRW]

Hell, a bunch of people have died at Disneyland over the years. You've got giant machines and lots and lots of people. The laws of chance say that sooner or later something bad'll happen. Get enough people in one area and eventually there's an accident, whether just by sheer bad luck or negligence as in this case.

The thing is, the number of incidents at the Disney parks went from pretty much unheard to a state of perceived commonality around the time that Eisner decided to cut down on costs by cheaping out on "non-essential" functions, like Imagineering (the team responsible for the cool rides) and.....maintenance. This why Roy E. has been on the company's case-piss poor planning and piss poor execution leads to failure and, even worse, the death of regular folks.

[Vroomfunkel]

These days nobody cares who screws who...as long as its cheap and it momentarily feels good. Enter the hip hop culture.

Because, of course, rock n roll culture didn't indulge at all in the 'cheap & feelgood' line. I'm not a big fan of hip-hop, but you are kinda showing your prejudices here ...

Vroomfunkel

[DeputyMoniker]

These days nobody cares who screws who...as long as its cheap and it momentarily feels good. Enter the hip hop culture.

Because, of course, rock n roll culture didn't indulge at all in the 'cheap & feelgood' line. I'm not a big fan of hip-hop, but you are kinda showing your prejudices here ...

Vroomfunkel

Yeah it's pretty easy to read it like that but I'm not prejudging anything. We all know music influences people. I just think things have changed since hip hop became the big thing. People care less about each other and more about themselves.
Did anybody notice when Dell got busted for sweatshops a year or two ago?
Does anybody care about KFC buying their chickens from companies who treat the animals EXTREMELY poorly? Yeah I know theyre gonna kill them anyway but thats not what were discussing...
The point is that nobody cares about anything but money, sex, sex and sex...and money. And they only care about money so they can buy more things that will get them laid...so really it's all about sex.

[goatdan]

Hell, a bunch of people have died at Disneyland over the years. You've got giant machines and lots and lots of people. The laws of chance say that sooner or later something bad'll happen. Get enough people in one area and eventually there's an accident, whether just by sheer bad luck or negligence as in this case.

The thing is, the number of incidents at the Disney parks went from pretty much unheard to a state of perceived commonality around the time that Eisner decided to cut down on costs by cheaping out on "non-essential" functions, like Imagineering (the team responsible for the cool rides) and.....maintenance. This why Roy E. has been on the company's case-piss poor planning and piss poor execution leads to failure and, even worse, the death of regular folks.

Exactly. The park when from deaths that only happened because of freak incidents or things that park had nothing to do with (someone got stabbed once by another guest) to things that the park could've fixed and corrected. Every problem with Big Thunder Railroad was something easily preventable with proper maintenance, the park taking safety first and being willing to spend money to upgrade safety features.

That having been said, even with the recent bunch of deaths, for the amount of people that ride those rides, Disney still does an amazing job at being safe. They aren't the gold standard of the industry by any means, but they definitely aren't as bad as they could be.

[davidbrit2]

I wonder what was going thru this guys mind right before he died. I mean, IT WAS a skydiving simulation...maybe he thought that chute not opening was part of the ride?

If it's anything like Cedar Point's "Ripcord" ride, my guess is something along the lines of "SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHI*". But in Japanese, of course.

[Dahne]

I wonder what was going thru this guys mind right before he died. I mean, IT WAS a skydiving simulation...maybe he thought that chute not opening was part of the ride?

If it's anything like Cedar Point's "Ripcord" ride, my guess is something along the lines of "SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHI*". But in Japanese, of course.

"Kusooooooo...."

(Between Japanese classes and anime, I have a vocabulary that ranges from "How do you do?" and "Nice weather today" to "girl with big boobs", "I'll kill you", and several words for "pervert".)

[machine.slave]

I hate to sound insincere, but am I the only one that found this kind of funny?

I guess I'm kind of twisted... :embarrassed:

[SuperNES]

http://maj.com/gallery/Nuhvok-2000/FunnyStuff/nubychair.gif

ONLY use first party wheelchairs.

[Porkchop]

I'm not sure if the Japanese leagal system is anything like ours, but if I was related to that man I'd sue that company faster then he reached the hopsital.

It's the opposite. Sega will just pay is family out of shame, and they'll probably get as least as much as they could get suing, and years quicker.

If the US had a system like that we would have to put all of those lawyers on welfare or expand Congress to have one Congressmen for every 100 people. x_x