Updated: 10 People Hurt At Knotts Berry Farm

[Oscar]

About 10 people were injured at Knott's Berry Farm on Thursday night during an accident involving a roller coaster, Pony Express, officials said.

Police and fire units responded to the park and were treating the victims, the Orange County Fire Authority said. The extent of the injuries was unclear.

Ten patients, mostly adults, received minor injuries after two coaster cars collided on the Pony Express ride, fire officials said. The patients have been taken to local hospitals.

Update at 10:07 pm of Obtober 7, 2010
It is being stated as fact that Pony Express could not make it up the hill and rolled backwards causing the accident.

Update at 9:55 p.m. of October 8, 2010
The Pony Express ride at Knott??????s Berry Farm will remain shut down until at least next week pending an investigation by state inspectors, state safety officials said on Friday.

The ride??????s ponies sat quiet on Friday morning, the day after an accident injured 10 riders. All 10 riders were treated for their injuries and released. The injuries all appeared to be minor, said Dean Fryer, spokesman for the state??????s Department of Industrial Relations. A branch of the DIR oversees theme park safety.

State inspectors are expected to return to examine the ride on Monday, Fryer said. He added it??????s too early to tell how long the ride will be out of commission.

??????It??????s unknown whether this will be quick or whether the investigation will take some time,?????? Fryer said. He noted there could have been a brake failure on one of the trains, which could complicate things.

??????It could be involved,?????? he said.

As part of the investigation, inspectors will examine the physical structure of the ride, as well as examine Knott??????s maintenance records.

Knott??????s spokeswoman Jennifer Blazey said there??????s no history of accidents on the $9 million, two-year-old attraction.

On the Pony Express, riders climb atop a horse. Each rider gets secured in a back-and-leg harness. A stampede of 16 horses per train race along a 1,300-foot-long track. Participants hit speeds of up to 38 mph before taking 60-degree turns and a 44-foot drop.

On Thursday night, one train left the boarding platform with nine riders. It failed to get up enough speed to mount the coaster??????s first hill, Fryer said. It stopped, then drifted backward into the loading station, striking another set of cars while one person prepared to board.

Fryer said the investigation will examine whether there was a failure of brakes on the first train that could have prevented it from drifting back.

Next week two representatives of Zamperla ?????? the Italian company that manufactured the Pony Express ?????? will arrive at Knott??????s to examine whether a computer programming error contributed to the collision, Blazey said.

The crash took place at 8:09 p.m., according to Orange County Fire Authority records. The agency??????s paramedics reached the scene six minutes later.

[jayman]

now you know why i didnt ride it that second time and let you and t con go , i was there with my camera just in case..
then , we could make enough money to run this site for a hunnert years off the lawsuit to pay to run this site forever if that happened then .. !!!!!! too bad the pictures i have show you coming back .. " mwaahahahhauah auahaha

[Coasterkidmwm]

It had to use extra power to launch Oscar.

I was hoping for a second Xcelerator-Face-melter, but burrrr.

Xcelerator came to mind as i read the topic name haha.

Me too,

Sounds like the anti-rollback brakes on the launch were under-designed...

[slosprint]

lol... Vekoma...

lol slos is a fail.

Its Zamperla not Vekoma. And Zamperla needs to stick to kids rides. Meteor has so many damned issues its pathetic.

e-stop fail!

http://www.zamperla.it/en/product/94/po ... egory_id=5

"The Pony Express comes with two trains, each accommodating 16 rides in an innovative pedestal design that maximizes safety, comfort and ride freedom. Using the time-tested flywheel and clutch launch system......"

What I don't understand is why they didn't evey think about the train potentially not making it over the first hill. And so what if its "energy efficient", they'll end up losing more money in lawsuits than to power the cheap ride.

I'm going to Knott's in a few weeks, I am glad its not another Xcelerator launch cable failure. When I first saw this on the CC home page, I thought it was.

Pony express kinda sucks anyway so im not really shaken. The only good part is the almost lack of airtime on the second hill. Wait is long, ride is short, restraints hurt.