[Jamesy]

Don't let this put you off. Incidents like this are extremely rare in the theme park industry, the last one I can recall was in 2004 in Germany.

The Smiler is the newest ride at Alton Towers and it has extremely sophisticated technology to ensure it stays safe for the public. This incident will of course come as a complete shock to Alton Towers and the theme park industry as a whole. This will be down to a major error on the computer system that gives clearance for trains to go through sections of the ride. On The Smiler there are a multitude of sensors that separate 'sections' of the ride, the sensors work with the rides computer system to ensure only one train is in one section at a time. So this certainly points towards a major computer error which is very rare for a modern ride.

Usually with incidents like this the ride is closed for months when a full investigation is underway. So expect the same with this.

I have a feeling they might try open it for Scarefest though depending how lengthy the investigation process is.

Just to stress this is an extremely rare case. Just like airplanes, coasters like this are the safest form of rides in the entire world. So while this being in the news is alarming, it's not commonplace. Alton Towers is well known to be one of the best theme parks in the world when it comes to health and safety.