Roller Coaster Books and Articles

Hey I'm doing a research project on the safety devices of roller coasters focusing on lab bars and other restraints, brakes, and the computer safety systems. My thesis is that these safety devices are effective as long as they are properly maintaned. If you know of any books or resources that would help this area please tell me. I'm planning on discussing accidents as well and showing the cause of them was not the devices fault but rather poor maintenance such as the S:ROS crash and the lady falling from Perilious Plunge. I have articles on both those topics but if you know of any other accidents caused by poor maintenance, mention those. The one area where I'm having the hardest time finding information on is the computer systems. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Was it truly poor maintenance on the S:ROS crash, or just an unfortunate misplanning that the tubing was weaker than intended?

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Cheap tube that didn't get maintained and a lack of redundancy. In other words, you shouldn't have a crash because a $5 tube fails. If the tube fails the coaster should still stop safely.

For more on the crash see Rideman's page:

http://capital2.capital.edu/admin-staff/dalthoff/sros.html

*** This post was edited by Jim Fisher on 10/6/2002. ***

You could mention the Thunderbolt accident that happened at Kennywood a couple years ago. Two trains collided in the station, turned out to be the operator's fault.