Cedar Point’s response was pretty abysmal which is starting to be a trend it seems. First Aid released the guest after cleaning his wounds… The next day he ended up in the ER and found out that he had a concussion.
If parks don’t start prosecuting people who aren’t responsible enough to properly secure their articles this problem is going to keep getting worse. There is very little incentive to follow rules when parks generally don’t seem to take action when the rules are broken… Charging people for lockers and removing platform bins make this problem worse (although not an excuse for Maverick which still does have bins). To be clear, this isn’t Cedar Point’s fault but they do have a responsibility to take action against those that broke the rules… Likely they’ll just remove the bins from Maverick and punish everyone following the rules while the culprit goes free.
Bottom line is if you start showing others that you’re in serious trouble if you don’t secure your articles then people will start taking this seriously. They have no reason to care otherwise.
I think they are at fault due to complacency and lack of focus… Their goal of wringing money out of people for lockers adds to the danger that guests will disobey but ultimately if you do something unsafe on a ride that responsibility lays with you. I certainly didn’t mean to imply that there isn’t some shared responsibility when it comes to providing an environment that encourages good behavior. Cedar Fair’s goals are completely wrong and off base.