Funchal Wicker Toboggan accident.

A few on here have mentioned the wicker basket/toboggan ride from Monte, a village 1804 ft above Funchal, Madeira. I've been there but didn't fancy that ride. It looked too risky to me. The run is 2km and takes about 10 minutes..quite a way,really. Last week there was an accident when one of the Carreiros, the two men who stand at the back of it in white uniforms, tripped and they lost control of the basket allowing it to career down the very steep road. The couple were thrown out when it crashed.. The man broke his arm and the lady has fractured her skull and suffered a suspected traumatic brain injury. There have been five accidents since 2016. Under Portugese law the orgaisers will have insurance.


Here's a photo I took on November 17th 2015. They are guaranteed to travel at 30km/h.. 18.6 mph. They date back to the early 19th century when they were used as a means of transport by the local residents who wanted to travel quickly from the village of Monte to the city of Funchal. I think needed a faster shutter speed. f8 1/640 sec ISO 800. We're going there in April but not on that run.

I watched a quick video on this ride, I was curious as to how the heck the guys keep up!! Looks like they use the skirt/planks protruding from the rear to stand on as it flies - not sure if they have any form of brakes?

The video I seen they were stacked up, so there was a lot of slow up, this incident must have been on a clear run?

Cagey75 said:

I watched a quick video on this ride, I was curious as to how the heck the guys keep up!! Looks like they use the skirt/planks protruding from the rear to stand on as it flies - not sure if they have any form of brakes?

The video I seen they were stacked up, so there was a lot of slow up, this incident must have been on a clear run?

Click to expand...

My wife told me about this story because her friend and her husband has just returned from there and they said the toboggan hit the side and stopped down by the school so it must have got most,if not all ,the way down. Must have been terrfying for them. I've never trusted these 'rides' anywhere..not the switch-backs the roller-coasters,dippers,big wheels..whatever. My wife has been on the London Eye and loved it but I wouldn't go on it for two reasons..the risk and the height which I wouldn't be able to cope with. I don't know what people have that I don't have that allows them to go on these scary rides. The females often scream . I have a few couple of maxims for life and one is....'What can happen will happen" and it's kept me safe over the years. Of course millions ride these things without incident but the way I look at it is that it only has to happen once and to you and it could be the end for you or you suffer live-changing injuries. The only thing I've been on was as a kid..a helter skelter. Pretty benign,really.

JohnC6 said:

My wife told me about this story because her friend and her husband has just returned from there and they said the toboggan hit the side and stopped down by the school so it must have got most,if not all ,the way down. Must have been terrfying for them. I've never trusted these 'rides' anywhere..not the switch-backs the roller-coasters,dippers,big wheels..whatever. My wife has been on the London Eye and loved it but I wouldn't go on it for two reasons..the risk and the height which I wouldn't be able to cope with. I don't know what people have that I don't have that allows them to go on these scary rides. The females often scream . I have a few couple of maxims for life and one is....'What can happen will happen" and it's kept me safe over the years. Of course millions ride these things without incident but the way I look at it is that it only has to happen once and to you and it could be the end for you or you suffer live-changing injuries. The only thing I've been on was as a kid..a helter skelter. Pretty benign,really.

Click to expand...

You're not alone! I've been to London numerous times, did the dungeon and all the surrounding museums, but I always avoided the 'eye' like the plague!

Call me scaredy cat - but I just don't do heights!

Just been yesterday to the top of the mountain by olu Deniz by cable car halfway up we entered the clouds totally weird experience then sunlight broke through again at the top where the parasailors jump from ..they must be halfway insane when you can’t see the landing point ..

As someone who has enjoyed what might be classed as extreme sports, it simply feels fantastic to do difficult things successfully at speed. One of the things I regret about being old is that it's no longer possible. I stopped riding motorcycles when my reflexes and ability were no longer good enough to ride safely in the way I wanted. Likewise I don't mountain bike any more because riding challenging terrain was becoming difficult to do well as strength and ability reduced.

It's NOT the risk-taking that is exciting, but rather the actual doing. OTOH I'm not sure I'd care about doing something like the Funchal sledge, because it would be done to me like a fairground ride, rather than me being in control.

Been to the island many times but that toboggan run never tempted me, I prefer to be in charge, this reinforced my wife’s reluctance to try it. I’ve seen terrified faces on the trip down from the safety of the gardens they pass.