Wild Mouse Roller Coaster - Accidents

Accidents

• Twenty-year-old Gemma Savage died on 21 June 2001 following an accident the previous day when two carriages collided on the Treetop Twister at Lightwater Valley, Ripon, England. Police decided not to prosecute a maintenance worker, who claimed that he had only received an hour's training on that ride and had not seen its manual. Faulty wiring had also caused a malfunction on the ride. In October 2004, the deputy coroner ruled death by misadventure. On November 14, 2006, the park was charged with failing to ensure the health and safety of riders, and the ride operator was charged with failing to ensure safety through his work. Both pleaded guilty. The ride manufacturer, Reverchon Industries SA, was convicted of two charges of failing to ensure the ride's safe design and construction.
• On May 29, 2004, a 52-year-old ride mechanic from Zion, Illinois was killed by a roller-coaster car as he attempted to cross the tracks. Suffering from a traumatic head injury, he died at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee.

• In December 2005, two sisters, 11 and 9, fell 10 feet (three meters) off Alpha 8, a wild mouse ride at Escape Theme Park, Singapore, and sustained back injuries. They were rushed to hospital, in critical but stable condition. The cause could be a faulty car restraint. The ride has been closed since.

• At the 2006 Indiana State Fair, a 24 year old woman was thrown out of the ride's car and sustained minor injuries. The cause has been determined to have been operator error.

• At the 2006 South Carolina State Fair, a boy, (estimated at the age 12) whose name has not yet been released (as of October 25, 2006), was thrown out of the ride's car and suffered a fractured femur on Saturday, October 21, 2006. The ride was the same one responsible for the injuries in Indiana (see above).

• In early 2007, when Legoland Billund had only been open for a short time, a female employee was hit by a Test Track (similar to Jungle Coaster at Legoland Windsor) car and died immediately. The cause was her attempting to retrieve a guest's dropped purse; she crossed the restricted area, was hit by a rushing car, and lost consciousness. Inspectors found that the ride was operating correctly and stated that the accident was due to the employee's own negligence.

• In late 2007, 63 year old Karen Price, a ride attendant for the Primeval Whirl at Walt Disney World in Florida died after being hit by one of the moving vehicles and falling from a platform and hitting her head. Price was conscious, alert, and talking at the time of the injury, but her condition deteriorated several days later, sheriff spokesman Jim Solomons said. Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polak said the ride was operating normally at the time of the accident. The ride was closed for the remainder of the day and reopened the following day. Disney has since added clear warning signs and safeguards to prevent employees from being in restricted areas while the ride is in operation.