Florida official says patrons cause most accidents

Wow just read the story abotu ATSM, and they said the kid stuck his foot out. If he kept his hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times would have never happened.

That's correct folks, our Commissioner of Agriculture IS Charles Bronson....wanna make somethin' of it...;)

Well, I hope we didn't pay a lot for that study. No surprise there.

My first day on the job at the Magic Kingdom we got sent over to Pirates of the Caribbean for a complete evacuation. A woman had jumped out of the boat b/c she didn't want to go down the small "hill". Her husband, fearing for her safety, jumped out after her.

While the woman managed to get out of the water onto the scenery, her husband was not so fortunate. He got trapped in between two boats and broke both his legs.

Moral of the story: Follow the instructions. Don't climb out of a moving ride.

Also, most accidents occur on rides where patrons have some degree of control. ie Antique car rides. However, it's worth mentioning that while 75% of all accidents involve rider conduct these are concentrated on the minor accidents, down to and including twisted ankles getting in and out of rides. The statistics are different for very serious accidents. Only about 30% of fatalities have rider misconduct as their primary cause.

"Also, most accidents occur on rides where patrons have some degree of control. ie Antique car rides. However, it's worth mentioning that while 75% of all accidents involve rider conduct these are concentrated on the minor accidents, down to and including twisted ankles getting in and out of rides. The statistics are different for very serious accidents. Only about 30% of fatalities have rider misconduct as their primary cause."

Although only 30% of rider fatalities is caused by rider error(which seems low to me) a rider has a one to one billion chance of getting killed on a theme park ride. That number shows how safe the industry is and how much the industry cares about rider safety. I believe rides these days are as safe as they possibly can be.

You have a better chance of croaking while typing on your keyboard right now than you do popping off on a rollercoaster. So, I guess we better shut down the internet.

The big risk of course is driving to and from the park. The second largest risk of dying on your trip is dying from the heat at the park. Guess we won't have to worry about that one this weekend. But, we might have to worry about ice.

The 30% number is based on my database of ride fatalities for the last 25 or so years. That number is refering to the primary cause. Often an accident has several contributing causes.

Well, I'll be one to say "DUH!!!!" Amusement safety is almost impecable among rollercoasters. It is just idiots who loosen their lapbars and try to stand up who get killed. If I remember correctly all of the deaths at disneyland were the cause of the patron doing something against the safety instructions. I.e. getting drunk and trying to swim to tom sawyer island/standing up on the matterhorn. *** This post was edited by Colonel Sanders on 10/31/2002. ***

These two posts about 1) Tightening saftey standards, and 2) Most accidents being user error, makes me wonder that if they make restraints more complicated, that user error we become more common since the loading procedures will require more thought. Not only that, but if people think they are "fooloof safe", due to complex restraints, that they may behave more foolishly, since they trust the safety of the ride more than they should, in turn causing more injuries.

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Current favorite coasters:
Wooden: 1) Beast 2) Raven 3) Son of Beast 4) The Boss 5) Timber Wolf
Steel: 1) Raging Bull 2) Millennium Force 3) V2 4) Wild Thing 5) Mr. Freeze
Visit: http://www.dynamicgroove.com *** This post was edited by Joe Carroll on 10/31/2002. ***

Colonel Sanders:

The most recent fatal, ride related accident at Disneyland was a patron who was struck by a cleat ripped loose from the dock when the riverboat overshot its mooring. The accident was in no way the victem's fault.

I repeat. If you look at the actual incidents about 1 fatal accident in three is primarily the rider's fault. The majority of minor accidents tend to be the riders fault, but not fatalities.