60 Minutes Brain Injuries Coaster Segment

I just saw this little clip on CBS tonight on 60 Minutes. They were doing a segment on if coasters had any relation to brain injuries. They showed amazing pictures of Cedar Point's Millennium Force and Mantis in action, and at SFMM they showed Revolution, Goliath, and Flashback. I couldn't pick out the wooden coasters. It looked cool - they said a ride on a roller coaster was safer than a ride on a wagon which was interesting to me.

*** This post was edited by RollerJunkie on 1/21/2003. ***

My dad's a farmer, so I will attest that the last statement is without a doubt true! I nearly got tossed from so many wagons. We used to ride them standing up, or on top of a 15-foot stack of hay bales. Whee!

-----------------
A day is a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. A week is seven drops.

"I couldn't pick out the wooden coasters."

Well, they were probably made out of wood... ;)

(And yes I know what he meant :) )

-----------------
A failure in society is a failure of society.

I believe I saw on cnn quite a while back that coasters are not harmful. It just proves that the media cannot drop a case.

I think one was Belmont Park's Giant Dipper (channel 5 in Cleveland).

edit: our favorite congressman has a response:

http://www.house.gov/markey/iss_amusement_pr030121.pdf

-----------------
Please visit the small parks. We don't know what's happening behind the scenes
Woodencoaster.com

*** This post was edited by bigkirby on 1/21/2003. ***

That wasn't 60 Minutes. That was The CBS Evening News, and the report was remarkably pro-coaster. Though they did mention that the study was funded by Six Flags, the report didn't make it sound like this fact took away from its credibility. In fact, the report didn't even mention or provide a statement from the anti-coaster folks about the report. It was remarkably positive.

I was wondering how the heck he saw 60 Minutes at 7 O'clock on a Tuesday.

-----------------
Coming in 2003-The Spawn Of Magnum!

It makes you wonder why everybody can't love coasters and just shut up.

-------------
I see TTD from my living room, I live 4 miles away from the Point, and life couldn't be better.

Wow, it's great that the media is actually putting out a POSITIVE story. Good.

-----------------
--Oat Boy
My page

Markey obviously hasn't ever ridden a rollercoaster. The most g forces that have ever been put upon a human if i recall are 45. His retinas detached and he suffered major bruising. But he didn't have a brain injury. That's very interesting considering that the girl who supposedly died as a result of riding the eagle only had about 4 on her. (Sorry about the usage of bad grammar and punctuation. I'm very tired.)

-----------------
'out the 100Base-T, through the router, down the OC3, over the leased line, off the bridge, past the firewall......nothin' but Net.

Oh sorry - It looked like 60 Minutes. I wasn't even watching it - I just heard them say something about rollercoasters so that was the only thig I saw. Heh - I guess I'm not the News-Watching type. My appologies to all those hardcore 60 Minutes fans out there I might have offended! ;)

-----------------

The acceleration that counts for a brain injury is the acceleration of your head. People often experience cranial accelerations greater that 45 G's in car crashes etc. I seem to recall that the critical cranial acceleration for brain injury in a healthy adult is around 100 G's. At least I think that 100 G's is the criteria that crash helmet designers use. Remember that these are very short duration accelerations on a limited part of the body. 100 G's for few seconds on your entire body would be quite fatal.

Right. It isn't the number of Gs, its the duration.

-------------
I see TTD from my living room, I live 4 miles away from the Point, and life couldn't be better.

I think we should strap this fool to the very front of TTD and let the thing run over and over with him hanging upside down to maybe let his brains run from his nuts to where they are supposed to reside. Then strap him to the front of Millie and run it over and over and let the Mayflys have their way with him. This guy is so useless. I have to agree with most everything that has been said so far. He has not proven the theory behind what he is saying. I love riding coasters, watching coasters and coasters in general. Hell I guess i'm a coaster freak. Why doesn't this guy just lay off the whole thing? Seems to me that he is a big wind bag that has nothing to say, so he has to go and try to ruin everyone else's fun times. I just don't get it. Ed Markey is the devil in disguise I tell you.

-----------------
Loyal fan of Nolimits.
------------------------
stoogemanmoe.

Miss coastergames.net? Here is a good site.

*** This post was edited by stoogemanmoe on 1/21/2003. ***

Wow, stoogeman! Good, well thought out response! Very academic argument you provided Markey with. I bet he'll back down now. ;) Anyway, Markey has a solution in search of a cause, as it's been said before. We seriously don't need him regulating the Amusement Park industry. A lot of good it did the Traveling Carnival Industry. On a side note, Markey's response needed a little proof-reading IMO. Some of those sentences were kinda pathetic.

Eric

-----------------
A one that is not cold, is hardly a one at all.

bigkirby said:
http://www.house.gov/markey/iss_amusement_pr030121.pdf

Our favorite representative commented:

Meanwhile, of course, thousands of park patrons are injured in non-brain injury accidents every year on roller coasters and othe rpark rides, and some of those patrons actually die on these rides. Broken limbs, cuts, sprains, or death are not experiences that anyone expects when they go to the park for entertainment. The vast majoirty of these injuries occur to children.

Oh God, don't get me started. I don't expect those?

Right, let's sue car companies because the car wrecks that we don't "expect" occur--therefore, cars must be dangerous! Uh huh, whatever.

-----------------
Will Johansson

*** This post was edited by The Jet Coaster on 1/21/2003. ***

Jim Fisher said:
The acceleration that counts for a brain injury is the acceleration of your head. People often experience cranial accelerations greater that 45 G's in car crashes etc. I seem to recall that the critical cranial acceleration for brain injury in a healthy adult is around 100 G's. At least I think that 100 G's is the criteria that crash helmet designers use. Remember that these are very short duration accelerations on a limited part of the body. 100 G's for few seconds on your entire body would be quite fatal.

I should've said for a prolonged period of time and premeditated.

-----------------
'out the 100Base-T, through the router, down the OC3, over the leased line, off the bridge, past the firewall......nothin' but Net.

The Jet Coaster said:
Our favorite representative commented:
Meanwhile, of course, thousands of park patrons are injured in non-brain injury accidents every year on roller coasters and othe rpark rides, and some of those patrons actually die on these rides. Broken limbs, cuts, sprains, or death are not experiences that anyone expects when they go to the park for entertainment. The vast majoirty of these injuries occur to children.

Honestly, I would like to find out more information on these "thousands of park patrons that are injured every year...". I mean, I know it's not mandated by law that parks report deaths, but I would imagine that if the park didn't, the family would report it to the media, and I don't hear about many deaths at parks every year. I can only remember a few cases here in California in the 26 years I've been around, and all but the aneurysm on Goliath & the Perilous Plunge incidents seem to have been more the fault of the rider than anything else.

As far as the injuries go, I wonder how often he's talking about a minor bruise, or a scrape. Hell, if someone is walking up the stairs somewhere in SFMM and trips, skins their knee, and needs a band-aid, I'm sure he's including that "injury" in his count.

'Course, maybe he has evidence of all his claims in the PDF, but I'm about to head out to lunch, so I'll read it later.