Nice Editorial
I just wanted to say nice editorial on death and destruction. That should be sent to Markey.
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Nitro: The Most Explosive Coaster on the Planet explodes at Six Flags Great Adventure in 2001.
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Nitro: The Most Explosive Coaster on the Planet explodes at Six Flags Great Adventure in 2001.
Why... why does everything have to do with Markey?
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"
You said something in the article that I've noticed... the media doesn't differentiate between an "incident" and an "accident".
If you look at the recent "accidents", three stand out as being related to "ride safety": S:ROS, Yankee Cannonball, and Chaos accident. While the facts of these may have been distorted in certain cases, I can see where these would have gotten national news coverage.
One, as you said, involves work place safety (Boulderdash). Had he stepped in front of a moving truck while trimming grass, it would have made local news, but not national.
One involves coincidence (the woman suffereing the anyrusim on Goliath). Again, had this occured as she bent over to tie her shoe, I doubt if it would have gotten any news coverage at all.
The other two recent "incidents" hardly warrent any coverage except for perhaps a minor blurb on the local news cast... the boomerang stalling at Lake Compounce and Titan passengers being stuck on the lift and having to walk back town he hill.
It is the reporting of these "incidents" that seems to be in excess. These are not "accidents". One of them, Titan, did not even involve a "rescue" operation.
This past Friday evening while at Wildwood, after just getting off of my 5th ride in a row on Great White, I noticed that the next train was stopped near the top of the lift hill. The only reason why I was glad I was not on that train was that I was tired and wanted to return to my hotel room. It eventually did get moving again and no one had to walk down the lift. To the riders on that train, it was a memorable event, but nothing that warrented any news coverage because it is not all that uncommon. (and it received no coverage either).
About the only "incident" like that that is remembered at Hersheypark was the one time the sooperdooperlooper stopped near the top of the lift hill and the passengers had to walk back down, and the only reason why it is remembered is when it happened and who was on it. It was in 1977 I believe it was the first "public" ride that it was making and two of the passengers were J.B.McKinney (then the head man for the park) and his wife. It is looked back as more of a humorous story, and not an "accident" or an "incident" that should make us all question the safety of coasters.
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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."
If you look at the recent "accidents", three stand out as being related to "ride safety": S:ROS, Yankee Cannonball, and Chaos accident. While the facts of these may have been distorted in certain cases, I can see where these would have gotten national news coverage.
One, as you said, involves work place safety (Boulderdash). Had he stepped in front of a moving truck while trimming grass, it would have made local news, but not national.
One involves coincidence (the woman suffereing the anyrusim on Goliath). Again, had this occured as she bent over to tie her shoe, I doubt if it would have gotten any news coverage at all.
The other two recent "incidents" hardly warrent any coverage except for perhaps a minor blurb on the local news cast... the boomerang stalling at Lake Compounce and Titan passengers being stuck on the lift and having to walk back town he hill.
It is the reporting of these "incidents" that seems to be in excess. These are not "accidents". One of them, Titan, did not even involve a "rescue" operation.
This past Friday evening while at Wildwood, after just getting off of my 5th ride in a row on Great White, I noticed that the next train was stopped near the top of the lift hill. The only reason why I was glad I was not on that train was that I was tired and wanted to return to my hotel room. It eventually did get moving again and no one had to walk down the lift. To the riders on that train, it was a memorable event, but nothing that warrented any news coverage because it is not all that uncommon. (and it received no coverage either).
About the only "incident" like that that is remembered at Hersheypark was the one time the sooperdooperlooper stopped near the top of the lift hill and the passengers had to walk back down, and the only reason why it is remembered is when it happened and who was on it. It was in 1977 I believe it was the first "public" ride that it was making and two of the passengers were J.B.McKinney (then the head man for the park) and his wife. It is looked back as more of a humorous story, and not an "accident" or an "incident" that should make us all question the safety of coasters.
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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."
Excellent and well timed editorial, I agree.
I love how these things are all over the news, all the time. In a mere 7 weeks while I worked on Disaster Transport at CP, we had to walk people off the ride once, twice false-dispatched a shuttle -- one time injuring an employee crossing the shuttle (nearly broke her leg), one time with guests in the shuttle (bumps and bruises only) -- and had I couldn't count how many general setups. And this on just one ride in a park with 60+ different moving, mechanical attractions. Did any of these make the news? Not a bit, local, national, or otherwise. It's getting so that I roll my eyes whenever I see something like this on television or otherwise reported, because it just seems to be a modern-day form of sensationalism. Absolutely injuries and accidents are always concerning, but not the life-and-death-live-team-coverage-breaking-story-world-headlines that they've been made out to be on a number of occasions this season.
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Po!nt of View: A different look at Roller Coasters.
http://www.crosswinds.net/~justmayntz/thrills/
I love how these things are all over the news, all the time. In a mere 7 weeks while I worked on Disaster Transport at CP, we had to walk people off the ride once, twice false-dispatched a shuttle -- one time injuring an employee crossing the shuttle (nearly broke her leg), one time with guests in the shuttle (bumps and bruises only) -- and had I couldn't count how many general setups. And this on just one ride in a park with 60+ different moving, mechanical attractions. Did any of these make the news? Not a bit, local, national, or otherwise. It's getting so that I roll my eyes whenever I see something like this on television or otherwise reported, because it just seems to be a modern-day form of sensationalism. Absolutely injuries and accidents are always concerning, but not the life-and-death-live-team-coverage-breaking-story-world-headlines that they've been made out to be on a number of occasions this season.
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Po!nt of View: A different look at Roller Coasters.
http://www.crosswinds.net/~justmayntz/thrills/
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