sluggobear

A few comments:

• Amusement parks are quick to point-out that rides are safer than automobiles and escalators.  Yet, it cannot be forgotten that design flaws and inspection oversights are possible.  When an accident happens, the natural reaction is to cover everything up.  (Disney used to be famous for this.)  But investigation reports and accident data need to be made public and analyzed for trends.
• Parks are sometimes quick to deflect blame to ride designers.  (Like any scandal, everyone starts pointing fingers and playing the blame game.)  But in this case, the park was using cables that weren't even supplied by the ride manufacturer.  (Apparently this is a common practice, but it makes blanket statements like "it was the manufacturer's fault" inaccurate or misleading.)
  
• The news outlets are quick to play-up the gruesome details and feed on public fears.  (Refer to that editorial for an example.)  I remember an episode of 20/20 where Barbara Walters dramatically announced how unsafe theme park rides were... "and roller coasters in particular."  I'm not sure why she said that, because there seem to be more accidents on spinny carnival rides, inflatables and water rides... but you get the point.  News media will often stretch the story to gain viewership.  In the editorial, the author talks about how the news shows wanted her to help them identify the 10 most deadly rides, or say that all rides are dangerous.  She has a brilliant response: "not a lot of room there for thoughtful public policy debate."  Indeed.
  
• I've heard it said that we are seeing more accidents as rides get taller, faster and more extreme.  This may seem like a logical assumption, but I am skeptical.  After a cursory review of the biggest accidents of the last 10 years, most seemed to be attributable to factors like design flaws, rider behavior, or inspection oversights that would've been the same whether the ride was 40 feet tall or 300 feet tall.  (I think we're also seeing more accidents because mass communication and technology have made it possible to get all kinds of details about every little shred of news from just about anywhere.)
• I must acknowledge that I have a limited view of accident history... I can only read information available on the Internet, and that data is simply incomplete.  There is no authoritative, central place where all accidents are reported and data is tracked.  Several website are attempting to do so, but they don't get everything; laws vary from state-to-state.
• The industry claims it can patrol itself, but frankly I don't see that happening.  (Companies in any industry tend to cover-up or downplay things that could make them look bad.)  If the parks are really as safe as they claim, then they should have no reason to hide things.
• Designers should not be smug about their inventions.  Just because you call them "fail-safe brakes," does not mean they will never fail.  (Yes, this has happened.)  Always have reliable backups!
• Some politicians and parents (who probably mean well,) want to impose limits on g-forces, heights, speeds, etc.  But several politicians in the Northeast, including Assemblyman George F. Geist, have been pushing regulations that are based-on little or no scientific evidence or statistics.
  
• The public needs to be more educated in rider safety, and they need to obey the fucking rules.  I have seen countless kids try to defeat height restrictions... and I've even seen parents try to persuade attendants to relax the rules.  Parents have such a pervasive sense of entitlement.  ("What do you mean my little Angela can't ride?  We just drove three hours, bought $50 tickets, and waited in this stupid line..." blah, blah blah.)  Sometimes I want to walk-up to these parents and smack them upside the head.  Bending the safety rules is just plain stupid.  And if the sign says "keep your arms inside the car," then, well, please do that.
  
• Coaster fans often play-down accidents, using the argument that accidents are caused by misbehaving riders.  (While this is a major problem, it's by no means the only cause of accidents.)
• Many enthusiasts seem dead-set against any further government regulation or monitoring of amusement rides.  Sometimes I think they naively dismiss any possibility that coasters are unsafe.  I've heard countless enthusiasts say things like "it's impossible for a coaster to get stuck upside down."  Well no, dufus, a coaster can get stuck anywhere on the track if, say, somebody's sweater gets caught in the wheels.  Or they'll say "it's impossible for a coaster to de-rail from the track, because there are wheels on all sides."  And perhaps that's true... until the wheel assembly shears apart.  (Yes, it's happened.)
  
• And parks need to take more responsibility for their ride attendants.  On a recent trip to Six Flags, the attendants on Tatsu were all young people from Korea, whose English skills were not just lacking... they were almost non-existent.  We had been sitting in a coaster train, waiting to be dispatched.  We wanted to communicate a very simple message to them, but they didn't understand.  They had to get a supervisor.  These were the same kids who were responsible for making sure the safety restraints were engaged properly.  How can we expect that they understood their park safety training, when they didn't even understand a simple sentence?  (This is not a race thing.  Nor do I believe that every single visitor to the United States must be able to read at a 12th grade level.  However, when my safety is concerned, I'd rather you just didn't fuck around, thank you very much.)  On a trip to another Six Flags park, the rider operator (the one who pushes all the buttons) was talking on their cell phone while running the ride.  (And yes, I did notify management.)
  

What we all need is a dose of logic.

And a healthy fear.  These are machines... just like automobiles, trains and planes, they have a great power to do good, but can be dangerous if we get lax about inspections, or ignore rules and procedures.  We cannot afford to be careless.

Parks, regulators, parents and manufacturers need to discuss this matter rationally.  I'm not saying that there need to be laws that limit g-forces, nor am I saying that the government should take-over everything.

I just believe that there needs to be more oversight and transparency... and we all have something to contribute.