accidents

Is it just me or has the media began to find anything wrong with thrill rides/ roller coasters. I mean, every time something little happens they blow it out of proportion. What do you think?

-------------
http://www.geocities.com/rollercoastercity2001

That's the press's job. In a few years they will latch onto something else.

This simple fact remains:

NO CONSUMER HAS BEEN KILLED IN AN ACCIDENT ON A FIXED AMUSEMENT RIDE IN THE US IN 2001. ONLY ONE WAS KILLED IN 2000.

Caveats:
The death in 2000 was due to the riders extreme, deliberate misconduct.
There have been 2 deaths on water slides in this time period.
There have been deaths on portable rides already regulated by the Federal CPSC.
There have been deaths to park workers who are coverd by the Federal government under OSHA.
There was a suicide on a ferris wheel this year.
The death on Goliath was ruled by the coroner as caused by a preexisting medical condition. The coaster was specifically exonorated by the coroner.

I agree. They always blow it all out of porportion! Look at two weeks ago on July 18th when Titan got stuck on top of lift hill, they made tooooooooooooooooooooo big of a deal about it, heck they had it plastered all over the news every where!!:(

-------------
TITAN CRAZED!!


*** This post was edited by Frizbee1975 on 7/31/2001. *** *** This post was edited by Frizbee1975 on 7/31/2001. ***

Well the Titan incident was not helped by the guy calling the TV station from his cell phone on the ride.

When Lake Compouce's Zoomarang Valleyed, we got it here in Ohio! And didn't even hear about the death.

-------------
Rollercoasters are the secret of life!

http://www.woodencoaster.com

Acually, hasn`t someone died on Goliath this year?

-------------
www.geocities.com/coastersrz I`ve riden Son of Beast 43 times!

the press does blow it out of porportion... but that's what gets peoples attention.

regardless, I am asking the question... why do they have so much stuff to feed on?
it seems like we've had 20 times the accidents we should've. There had to be some kind of sign of wear on that chaos at MA. Somethin smells fishy.

-------------
http://troysrct.tycoonplanet.com/ *** This post was edited by SFGAManiac on 7/31/2001. ***

I love when the news does that, come on, don't you like when you hear something about amusement parks, it's cool even if it isn't really a big deal, at least something about amusement parks is on the news!

www.amusementmania.com

The death on Goliath was because the woman had a pre-existing anyeurism (SP), not because of anything the coaster did or failed to do. The specialists said she could have died while sleeping just as easily.

I agree that the media blows these sorts of incidents out of proportion, not that they don't deserve any attention. Perhaps it just seems all the more horrific because amusement parks and carnivals are places you go to have fun, relax, and so forth, not something that routinely has accidents (IE, the highway). No accident is ever routine, but these may have some sort of special quality about innocence gone wrong.

-------------
Po!nt of View: A different look at Roller Coasters.
http://www.crosswinds.net/~justmayntz/thrills/

I wonder if cell phones are leading to the press jumping on these stories today. I mean, people in the parks are seeing the accidents take place and are calling 911 or the media outlets directly. In the 80's, when I worked at parks, we had accidents that were never mentioned on tv, some of them pretty significant.

I don't know that there are any more accidents than ever before. I just think you hear about ALL of them now. The parks can't "keep a lid on it." *** This post was edited by wahoo skipper on 8/1/2001. ***

They shouldn't Call it the Nightly news at all. It should be renamed to the " Nightly Sensationalism "


-------------
Roller coaster of Love ~ ooi ~ ooi ~ ooi

The press is what makes the parks be responsible for their ride maintenance. Parks do not want bad press, so they will try to avoid these incidents. It is good that they get this press, it polices the parks in a way.

haha. If I got stuck on top of the son of beast I would call the TV station and be like "Send the chopper I wanna be on TV!!"

The media just explodes on an accident, same with Ed Markey.

-------------
Current Favorite Coasters:
1)Raging Bull 2)Millennium Force 3)Medusa (SFMW) 4)Vertical Velocity (SFGAm) 5)Incredible Hulk, The

i think y2k started this year.