Ride Collapses in Sweden

It's sad to see so many posts like this in the forum, but the AP is reporting that 40 people were injured when a ride collapsed at Liseberg. From the description, it sounds like the ride is a Huss Rainbow or variant thereof.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25690912/

It truly is seeming like a bad year for parks. Accidents seem to be happening more often this season than the past few season.

Really DOES seem like a bad year for amusement rides. I guess maybe I'm just not used to hearing about so many of them because I've never been a member of an amusement park website before. Hope everyone is okay: prayers out to all injured.

Does anyone know the stats related to amuesment park accidents???

For instance, they say its more likely to get in a car accident on the way to the airport as opposed to the actual flight.

Are you more likely to die on an airplane as opposed to be injured on a rollercoaster, for example??? *** Edited 7/15/2008 5:29:36 PM UTC by d_port_12E***

Scandinavia is really getting it this year.

Here a link with pictures:
http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article2909038.ab

A few days ago an 8 year old boy was seriously hurt when he was thrown from a Tea-cups ride. Of course he was goofing around or was pushed by friends.

^^Look at it this way. There are over 40,000 traffic fatalities annually in the U.S., and there are usually only 1-2 coaster-related fatalities per year in the U.S. That number is even lower when you don't count deaths that were a result of rider error.

This year is no worse than most.

Now if you look at carnivals, on the other hand, the safety record is much less impressive.

Isn't it funny how every year when there are a couple accidents, there's always someone saying something like "truly seems like a bad year for parks", when there are accidents every year?

It seems like a typical year to me.

Methinks its not that this year is worse than any other but rather as news reporting via the internet has evolved and grown over the years we're more likely to hear of such incidents.

What Moosh said...................

I seem to recall last year reading a lot of posts here that it was a terrible year for ride accidents. The fact that such items are rare is what makes them news. Stuff that happens all the time doesn't get reported.

My thoughts go out to the injured.

I agree with Moosh. Between cell/vid phones, wireless internet via laptops and a host of other things, a person can't fart on a coaster or ride with out it winding up on at least YouTube.

While I agree that it's been more or less a normal summer, it's still unusual to see so many concurrent threads about accidents on the first page of the forum.

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Olsor said:
^^Look at it this way. There are over 40,000 traffic fatalities annually in the U.S., and there are usually only 1-2 coaster-related fatalities per year in the U.S. That number is even lower when you don't count deaths that were a result of rider error.

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The 40,000 would drop to 0 if you removed driver error. ;)

It's always been my silent fear when riding a Rainbow, or any kind of single-arm flying carpet ride, that the car will somehow come loose, lose it's "level" and either flip or jam one end into the ground. Whether that's whats happened here or not, (the only Swedish I know is IKEA), I can't imagine how scary that accident must've been for those riders. I hope everyone turns out ok.

So there's a loose ball bearing on this one, a stray grain of sand wreaking havoc at Kennywood, what's next? Just like getting in the car- you never know.

(My other fear is that the Roundup will come loose from it's post and go rolling down the midway like a wagon wheel with me in it. OK, weird, I know...)

If Chaos can separate from its shaft, that doesn't sound quite so far-fetched.

^ Actually a Round-Up came off of its axle at Rhode Island's Crescent Park (I believe it happened in the 60's). I don't believe it rolled down the midway but I am sure folks were hurt. I don't recall any other incidents with any other Round-Ups.

Quit scaring me!

That's not a weird fear at all, actually. I've got similar fears like that...like riding the Zipper and the cage door popping open and being flung to the ground. That freaks me the hell out. LOL

I think Moosh is right about us hearing more about things about amusement parks, plus, again, being on an amusement park website does give us more awareness OF the topic of accidents.

BTW, though some searching, I found out this ride entered service in '83. It's very likely that mteal fatigue played a part.