Doctors say link between G-forces and brain injury not proven

Posted | Contributed by Viper423

While Rep. Ed Markey and others push for limits and regulations of forces on the body caused by amusement rides, researchers say the link between G-forces and brain injuries is unproven, and likely does not exist. One researcher even says that coverage of such injuries is "sensationalized." The article describes how the duration of force is often a fraction of a second and not related to the height and speed of the ride.

Read more from the Orange County Register.

Finally... a common sense coverage of the issue. Glad to hear a few doctors are taking up the cause for this baseless claim that the rides are hurting people. Someone should share this with the authors from the last few LA Times articles since they seem to be disinterested in printing anything like this.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

Unfortunately I dont think this is going to stop Markey's quest to have rides regulated.

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""To be the man, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!, You got to beat the man""!!! *** This post was edited by Chitown on 6/25/2002. ***

A step in the right direction.

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Off with the trims!
My fellow Americans; Let's Roll!
Woodencoaster.com

Someone should forward this article to Senator Markey's office.

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Bob Hansen

A proud CoasterBuzz Member

"So you think your'e really brave, gonna see the DEMONS cave.
You silly dude, your'e only food, for the DEMON"

The problem with this story is that it isn't sexy. You won't see it on the 6:00 news, that is for sure. "Evidence suggest roller coasters are safe!" That is a headline you won't see on Tom Brokaw's Nightly News broadcast.

The News shouldn't be called the "News" anymore. It should be called, "The information we think you want to know."

Or... "The information we only want you to know"

I think that if the state inspects rides to uncover hidden mechanical dangers, ALL amusement rides are safe. Amusement rides have always been safe for the brain: 50 brain injuries from 250,000,000 rides is a drop in a pool.

Ridiculous. Correct my math if I'm wrong: 3 billion rides a year for 10 years is 30 billion rides, but there have been only 58 serious injuries over the last 10 years. That means that 1 out of every 517,241,379 rides causes a serious injury, 0.000000002%. Subtract out rider irresponsibility and the number gets smaller. Why can't these guys find something more harmful to attack? There's plenty out there for them.

this report is the good news the amusment industry needs

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I just want to ride as many coasters as posible

Nice point there Bakeman :)

Although this wont stop that idiot Markey, its good to know at least that most Doctors are "on our side" when it comes to all this. Why people like Markey worry about stuff like this? we may never know...

It's not even a matter of "sides," it's a matter of common sense.

Bakeman -- The problem is that logical, sensible statistics like that don't make headlines, like everyone has so astutely pointed out. For a media that so sensationalizes death and massacre, it still shocks me that the rare instance of amusement park injury and death are portrayed so grossly out of proportion. But the fact of the matter is that, if the media gave us good news stories, like that, it just wouldn't interest the general public enough to give a hoot and toon in, and therefore they lose advertising. The truth is that "common sense" just isn't interesting enough to watch.

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[Nitro Dave -- 74 Laps] [Track Record: 41 and counting...]
"Honesty or mystery, tell me? I'm not scared anymore...
I have no secret purpose...I don't seem obvious, do I?" -- The Authority Song

About time someone has something logical and good to say about G-Forces. Concerning what Davie said about the GP, seriously I doubt that many public people know what is going on right now with this debate and research being taken. And many of them dont even care about accidents, why should Markey even care. The woman on Goliath that died, after it was closed for a period of time and reopened, people still stood in its queue line for the ride, they arent scared one bit of an accident. I'm not overly sure what they are thinking but from the looks of it they don't really think about the dangers, considering many still ride them and take in the danger as a thrill.

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Six Flags Darien Lake Ultimate Guide
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Just like what Don Henley (drummer and lead singer for The Eagles) said..."We need dirty laundry". Yes, bad news makes the news, but I think statistics could keep Markey from winning in court.

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The Beast is very underrated. *** This post was edited by Bakeman on 6/25/2002. ***

I think the article makes a good case for regulating golf-balls, since that's a far more likely source of head injuries. Perhaps if they didn't travel as far or if they had a soft safety cover ...

The best comparison I've seen on this subject was to last year's shark attack mania, which statistically was actually down from previous years. It's hard to say why the media chooses a particular story to sensationalize. Markey been making noise for some time, but now he's getting some press.

So what's the best way to make these stories disappear? Ignore them? Oppose and dispute them, like this article, or does that only prolong the discussion? In a odd way, does discussing the story give it more validity than it deserves?

I expect this issue will not be under discussion next year, much like shark mania ('there oughta be a law against shark attacks') is no longer a media topic.

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