June 2nd 2015, the day of The Smiler crash, explained

[awildhorrorartist]

Thanks for explaining this in more detail- I really wanted to know what happened that day and most people I saw don’t explain that well. Thanks again.

[FrankDaBank]

The fact that they didnt clear every section of track before overriding is INSANE

[Giraffe]

If you've sat front row on The Smiler, you know how messed up that accident was. The entire metal mesh screen and bar just crumpled into those people's legs and knees. That's so messed up. It's worse when you realise that during that time, the ride was mocking them by laughing manically.

[Fartman]

Block breaks should never be allowed to be manually overridden unti it is confirmed that the train in front has passed through the following set of block breaks. I think the main culprit here are the staff who didn't think they should have told the maintenance team a 5th train had been added. That is incomprehensible negligance.

[lightsboy]

Interesting fact.

A few years after the smiler crash, I was on a ride at Thorpe Park (operated by the same company) and the ride I was on failed to finish properly. In order to override the system and lower it down/ let us off, we had to wait about 10 minutes until a management representative, maintenence engineer and first aid were all on site and in agreement before the system override coukd be activated. I'm guessing this was a new policy since the smiler crash.

[chamallow]

If you’re scared of this ride, I’m telling you : I don’t think that Alton Towers wants this to happen again because the park would probably close if an accident happened twice because of them. So, I’m pretty sure they’re being even more careful than other parks.

[avalon]

The accounts of how the two young women with the crushed legs suffered, and then had to wait for hours for rescue in horrendous pain, is one of the saddest stories I've ever heard. I don't think I would go to one of these parks now.

[boomshine]

I can't imagine the pain they were in, for such a long period of time as well. Their lives have been forever changed and I just hope they are happy and loving and living life 💕

[yae]

Ironically, after this accident, people have less reason to be scared of rollercoasters. It sounds insane, but due to this accident, all theme parks in the UK will be much more diligent about the safety of the coasters, not wanting to get a hefty lawsuit. Especially alton towers, another crash like this could well and truly end them. I've been on the smiler before and after the accident, and the difference in safety measures is very clear.

[AlexanderVulpes]

It sounds like the ride *design* was perfectly safe, but it was being operated poorly. Not just on that one day, but their overall practices and habits:
- Operating when it's too windy
- Adding a train and not communicating with other teams about it
- The empty train vallied for several minutes and nobody saw (why do a test run if you're not even looking at the results?)
- Overriding the block zone controls without actually looking out on the track

I hope Alton Towers looked at their operations for other roller coasters as well. Any ride can be made unsafe if you're negligent.

[jakewynn]

Fun fact: the fault that appeared that the ride engineers had to investigate was actually in regards to the wind sensor which had made the ride unhappy. Also this ride literally never gets ghost trains because they double up each of the sensors. Also, the ride was safe enough before the crash in my opinion given that the ride system gave multiple errors and stopped the train at the block section. Also: Queue line was very busy because other rides had to close down due to the high wind speeds.

[edwardholmes]

Thank you for the clear explaination. I've ridden this both before and after the crash. It's horendous what happened... but if one good thing came from it, rollercoaster safety is now even greater than before.

[stoop]

Really neat underrated video! As a huge rollercoaster fanatic the smiler crash has always been interesting to me and it's cool to see someone go in detail to it again

[PHALANX_MEMBER]

Its so annoying how people say it was not safe. It was human error. And if anything it shows how safe it is because it warned them but he still overode it

[rochelloelofsen]

Leah and her Joe were on their first date. They recently got engaged, and Vicky is also married with a beautiful child!

[StephanoYT]

fun fact, i was actually at the park that same day. I went on the smiler too before this happened, I thank my lucky stars i wasnt on the ride at the point of the incident.

[velodawn]

If you are scared because of this incident, know that you are more likely to be in a plane crash than you are to crash on a roller coaster. I myself have been on the smiler 60 times, and that was after the accident (2017 - 2021), and not once was there any issue.

These rides are maintained well and check daily and regularly. While waiting in the queue, say for an hour, they have stopped people from boarding to test it and make sure there isnt any issues, at least 2 times, if not more. That shows that they test it 16+ times throughout the day, not including the times they close the ride down for an hour or so to test, or due to the conditions of the day.

TL/DR: I have been on The Smiler 60 times after the crash, and it is very safe.

[Morning]

I was there on this day and was on the Smiler around an hour before the crash. I feel so sorry for those poor passengers 😢❤️

[amusementevents]

Thanks for this video I always have been scared of this ride because of this horrible accident poor people on that train it’s sad that people had to get hurt that bad. those are some life changing injuries. I hope they are doing well these days. That must be so scary when you are literally locked in and can’t do anything to stop it. But at least one thing came good out of it. Rides need to be safe. Thank god no one lost there life.

[NancyKimchi]

guys an amusement park ride is at its most safest after a tragedy unfortunately. maintenance & staff r on high alert and ride engineers go through the ride operations to make sure its flawless. ur safest after an accident. just saying since so many people below are scared.