Leaky Test Dummies Plunge From Roller Coaster

It's still safe for humans, amusement park says
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 1, 2019 4:35 AM CDT
Test Dummies Fly From Roller Coaster, Land on Hotel
This May 24, 2018 photo shows the Gale Force roller-coaster at Playland's Castaway Cove in Ocean City, NJ.   (Dale Gerhard/The Press of Atlantic City via AP)

Two test dummies flew off a Jersey Shore roller coaster and crashed into a hotel—but the amusement park promises that human riders won't have the same experience. The water-filled dummies fell off the GaleForce roller coaster at the Castaway Cove park in Ocean City, NJ, during a routine safety check on April 20, damaging the roof of the neighboring Ebb Tide Suites, NBC Philadelphia reports. Theme park vice president Brian Hartley says the problem was with the dummies, not the ride. He says undetected leaks caused both dummies to lose their shape and mass before they fell from the ride.

"Obviously it's not something that would ever happen with a person in it," Hartley says. "You know you don't lose rigidity in a person. The lap bar comes down. You're secured in there." He says there were no malfunctions with the lap bar or any other part of the ride. Hartley says the ride, which is tested for around two hours daily, remains "100% safe" and hasn't experienced any problems since the dummy incident. The roller coaster, which opened in 2017, travels at speeds of up 64mph and soars up to 125 feet above the boardwalk, NJ.com reports. (Researchers say this roller coaster can help people pass kidney stones.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X