Sesame Place: 4-year old Girl Nearly Falls Out of Wave Swinger

http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2011/06/21/news/doc4e0127788d6d4222341987.txt#photo2
The height restriction for the ride is that any guests under 42" need to sit in a seat adjacent to a taller rider. Personally I really don't think anyone under 42" should be riding a ride like this in the first place.

Seems like she wanted to get out of the ride, something that you really can't control with height restrictions once the ride is in motion. When you think of it, 42" is a little low, especially since rides like these have restraints that are really just meant to be a buffer than anything else. But I'm glad her mother grabbed hold of her and others went to help afterwards. It could have been a potentially tragic day for them.

I think the real problem is the height during the ride and the age group they are attracting. Some young children are excited to ride things until they are actually on them. Most of those that get scared will cry/scream until it stop, but there are some daring ones that will do anything to remove themselves from the ride.

Swing Thing at HersheyPark doesn't go very high off the ground. An escaping child will be injured, but nothing like what would happen to one that gets out of Elmo's Cloud. Notice I say "gets out of" and not "falls out of" as the restraints pretty much prevent you from actually falling out of the ride. Only one leg should be through each side of the T-bar restraint. Only improper riding (ie. two legs in one side of T-bar or excessive leaning) would cause someone to fall out of the ride.

I think the solution would be to raise the height requirement to ride. Maturity usually increases with age, therefore height. But a place like Seasame Street which caters to the preschool set should have opted for a Swing Thing rather than a Wave Swinger.