Accidents in 04

Not to sound mean or anything, but compare the number of deaths this year from theme parks to the number of deaths this year from automobile accidents.

Just imagine if the press followed automobile deaths as closely as amusement park deaths.

Also, I believe this has been brought up before here, but don't forget that the internet and new media technology as a whole has GREATLY increased the AWARENESS of amusement ride injuries and fatalities. This doesn't mean that more injuries are necessarily happening each year, just that we hear about more of them. 5-10 years ago an accident or malfunction in any park smaller than Disneyworld went unheralded by all but the local papers. Now even the smallest incident gets picked up on the internet and spreads quickly. There is quite a bit more cross-pollination of sources in ALL media now due to easier national and international distribution, also resulting in more widespread attention (like the silly Two-face incident last year getting mega-national attention.)

It used to be that a story was only national if one of the wire services picked it up. Now stories go national lots of ways. Reporting amusement ride injuries and malfunctions happens to tap into a big fear right now, so it gets picked up. If suddenly people got more worried about the dangers of snowboarding we'd see more reports of snowboarders busting their heads open, which wouldn't mean snowboarding was getting more dangerous, just that the accidents that were already happening were getting more attention.

As previously stated the most dangerous part of you trip to the park is the car ride. That's not speculation, that's hard data. Your chance of dying on the car ride is greater than dying in a ride accident unless you live within 2.5 miles of the park. Not many of us are that close. If you follow the rules and ride safely, you chance of being injured or killed drops even lower.

The CPSC has stopped reporting on fixed ride accidents. Probably because the latest data showed that the number of accidents was decreasing. Though, none of their data has ever been any good.

Over the long haul of the last 30 years or so the number of deaths on amusement rides in the US has been decreasing. It's impossible to compare year to year because there are only a couple of deaths per year on the average in ride accidents at fixed amusement parks. That's too small a number to treat statisticly unless you look at decades, not years.

Unfortunately time to add another one to the list: SFNE S:ROS, man thrown out of car, to his death

It turns out the man on SRoS had Cerebral Palsy, which can affect his ability to retain his posture during the ride. He rode a scooter in the park and came up the exit ramp to ride. Still no word on if there was any type of restraint failure, but it does not sound like it.

Main Entry: cerebral palsy
Function: noun
: a disability resulting from damage to the brain before, during, or shortly after birth and outwardly manifested by muscular incoordination and speech disturbances

Cerebral Palsy or not, he shouldn't have been able to exit the restrant. It shouldn't matter if he wasn't able to retain his posture during the ride. People pass out on rides and sometimes have heart attacks, would they fly out too, because they can't retain their posture?

Am I the only one who finds this whole thread just slightly... oh I don't know... morbid? I'm not saying it isn't a valid topic of conversation... but still...

-Escher

Well once again, I would like to add, that I highly doubt a 55 year old disabled man was trying to gain any advantage over the restraint system. Accidents happen, I seriously doubt that Cerebral Palsy was the main cause. I am very sorry to hear about the man and my heart and prayers go out to his family.

On a side note, why would they let a man with Cerebral Palsy ride a very intense Mega Coaster in the first place?

Kyle, Why shouldnt they let a man with Cerebral Palsy ride? Just because he may not have the best motor skills in the world dont mean that he was in no condition to ride. I think you should wait for the facts here before saying that park should not have let him ride.

I personally am very good friends with someone who has Cerebral Palsy. He is one of the lucky ones who can get around without a wheel chair all the time. I have taken him on many coaster trips with me and we have had a ton of fun. Never would I question his ability to ride a coaster outside of maybe a standup. I know what his capabilities are.

Please for the sake of this family and other people who have Cerebral Palsy or other handicaps, lets wait and see if his condition played any part in it.

Why not? Just because he is said to have Cerebral Palsy, does not mean that he exhibited mannerisms that would inhibit his ability to ride safely.

Gonna recap, as this list seems to be growing everyday...

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - victimless, accident nonetheless

Magic Mountain employee killed by Scream's train

Gravitron sends riders flying

Woman falls from Dollywood train ride

Woman falls from Zamperla Hawk 24

Girl falls from Oakwood's Hydro: Water's Revenge, resulting in death

S:ROS SFNE, man thrown from ride, resulting in death

Girl thrown from scrambler at Playland

Flamingoland, employee seriously injured after being hit by train

And out of that whole amended list, (2 I hadn't heard of - the Gravitron or the Hawk 24) only 1 is entirely the fault of the ride.

A few are even candidates for Darwin Awards (you forgot Pluto being run over by the float).

I'm surprised the buttload of sensationalized news stories about how amusement parks will kill your children haven't appeared yet - because of course, that's the logical conclusion from all of this ... or at least the one that gets you to watch Action News or whatever your local derivation of that is.

Hence Will Feerels Anchorman cant get hear soon enough.