The Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster has been given the okay to reopen, less than a week after an incident injured a female rider.
Ride owners say a male rider kept ignoring the rules and caused a chain reaction Saturday night, resulting in a collision with other riders.
During the ride, employees noticed a male rider constantly stopping. They reached out to make sure he was okay.
"There’s another operator on top of the mountain that told this person you need to push your handles forward to make it go, in order to go and it seemed like he understood,” said owner Jessica Seitz.
However, they say the excessive braking continued. The ride’s assistant manager next approached the man.
"Told him again you need to push your handles forward, but he did not follow our rules,” said Seitz.
Over time, the male rider’s constant stopping created a line of riders up the track, causing two carts further back to bump.
Crews took a female rider to the hospital for a possible back injury, but was released shortly after.
Under state law, amusement rides must close immediately after any injury, and then must report the accident to the proper state department.
On July 3, the Gatlinburg Mountain Coaster was shut down after a passenger was thrown from the ride. She suffered fractures to both wrists, a knee cap, head trauma, and possible broken ribs. Investigators said the woman was likely not properly buckled in. After inspections and further training for employees, the state allowed the Gatlinburg Mountain Coaster to reopen ten days later.
That same day, a rider on The Coaster at Goats on the Roof in Pigeon Forge suffered a broken arm after they seemed to "have lost control and put an arm outside of the ride," according to the accident report submitted by the company's owner. The accident wasn't reported immediately.
