A young woman who is fighting for life after being thrown nine metres into the air when she was struck by a rollercoaster has been involved in three other freak accidents.
The family of Shylah Rodden on Friday launched legal action at the Victorian County Court for injuries the 26-year-old sustained from a traffic accident in January, 2018.
That was the first of three similar incidents she would experience, after it earlier emerged she was involved in a serious car crash in February, 2019, and flipped her car after hitting a truck in January, 2021.
Ms Rodden remains in a critical condition after she was struck by the Rebel Coaster ride at the Melbourne Royal Show last Sunday – the fourth freak accident the young woman has suffered.
Her family filed a writ to protect her rights from the 2018 incident on Friday.
Shylah Rodden is fighting for life after being thrown nine metres into the air when she was struck by a rollercoaster last Sunday at the Royal Melbourne Show
Arnold Thomas and Becker practice manager Aki Munir said she is seeking damages over injuries suffered from a ‘transport accident as a result of the negligence of the defendant’.
‘It (the action) involves a transport accident and she sustained some significant injuries in that accident,’ Ms Munir told the Herald Sun.
‘The purpose of filing the writ is to preserve her entitlements, should anything happen to her.’
Ms Munir also said Ms Rodden’s family may pursue legal action against the Melbourne Royal Show and the operators of the Rebel Coaster for negligence.
On the day she was struck by the rollercoaster, Ms Rodden had been working at a friend’s stall at the show.
They had been on a break when the pair decided to go on a few rides to kill time.
It is understood she dropped her phone while on the rollercoaster and police believe Ms Rodden walked onto the tracks of the high-speed ride to retrieve the device.
Ms Rodden was involved in three other accidents, including a serious car crash in February, 2019, and another where she flipped her car after hitting a truck in January, 2021
Horrifying footage shows Shylah Rodden (pictured in black) moments from being hit by the Rebel Coaster at the Melbourne Royal show on Sunday
Her father Alan Rodden told Daily Mail Australia this week his daughter had suffered life-changing injuries.
‘Obviously I can’t talk to my daughter. She’s going to be in a coma for quite a while,’ he said.
‘The injuries are horrific. Horrific. She’s brain damaged. It’s pelvic, her arms, legs, back, neck – there’s hardly a thing that’s not broken. I just can’t work out how the hell so much damage has been done.
‘Even the doctors have said they haven’t seen anything as bad as this for a long time.’
Police revealed on Monday the rollercoaster was travelling at 70km/h when she was hit.
Ms Rodden had to re-learn how to walk after she was involved in a horror crash in January 2021 when she flipped a car on the Western Ring Road in Melbourne after ploughing into a truck and a car.
She was not wearing a seatbelt and was flung from the car onto the road.
The young woman survived the crash but needed significant rehabilitation to get back on her feet and backed by her supportive parents, she managed to walk again.
Her gruelling path to recovery came after yet another serious car crash in 2019.
Mr Rodden (pictured) has been involved in three separate traffic accidents, in 2018, 2019 and 2021
Two months before she would be struck by the rollercoaster, she was dealt another blow with the death of her beloved brother, Jason.
‘Dad sat me down and told me that my brother had passed away,’ she wrote in the weeks before her accident.
‘He wasn’t just my big brother, he was my best friend, my everything, the person I looked up to and inspired to be like.’
A Melbourne Royal Show spokeswoman claimed ‘the safety and well-being of our visitors to the show continues to be our number one priority’.
The safety watchdog WorkSafe is in the process of determining if that statement is true.
The rollercoaster that struck her reopened just days after the sickening incident.
Show management declined to comment on whether new safety procedures had been adopted in the wake of it.
A Melbourne Royal Show spokeswoman claimed ‘the safety and well-being of our visitors to the show continues to be our number one priority’ (pictured, the Royal Melbourne Show)
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