Safety of Florida's thrill rides in hands of amusement parks

You see, this is the kind of downright stupidity that puts a black eye on the entire industry. Disney rides are extremely unsafe, leading to what I call the weekly tragedy. It makes everyone who doesn't know the industry fearful of well maintained rides. Up here in New Jersey, obviously the big park is SFGAdv. When things happen down in Florida, regardless of what park something happens in, news stations in New York and Philly talk about what happened on the ride that the incident occured on, but show images of Nitro, Medusa, and the Great American Scream Machine. The state of New Jersey has unbelieveably high standards for parks. Everything up here is extremely safe, and it is just not right for other parks to mess up because of negligence. It leaves a bruise on the entire industry in the eyes of the public.*** This post was edited by B and M fan SFGAdv 11/30/2005 4:59:30 PM ***

Disney rides are unsafe? Is that based on your professional experience and audit of their operations?

Just an opinionated hunch…but I guess that opinion (Disney is unsafe) is based upon inflated media coverage associated with anything Disney that comes with being the biggest and best. Couple that with some peoples’ propensity to believe that State/Federal beurocrats are the “be all and end all” when it comes to our safety…then it is not hard to see how some might come to this opinion. I’m sure State beurocrat guy cares way more about ride safety than Disney. It is not as if dangerous rides would hurt Disney’s bottom line or anything…?

Anyhow…this disagreement is as old as time. Some believe that State/Federal intervention/regulation is the answer to many safety issues, while others believe private regulation works just fine in most cases. Especially in the amusement industry that would appear to have such a remarkable safety record by all reasonable accounts. I’ve seen nothing that indicates we have rampant safety negligence within the industry that would motivate any time and effort be spent on further over regulation. Of course there are always those who have to have a cause...? See Markey et al....

It is a well known fact that amusement parks exist only to kill and maim their patrons. In fact most private businesses do the same thing. On the other hand, government at all levels truly cares about people, and is the most altruistic calling we have in this country. That is, after all, the only purpose for government. No one is in it for personal gain or profit, only to help others. :)

Come on people. Coasters are built with nearly flawless safety systems, especially Intamin coasters. I don't see any other coasters built by Intamin crashing in the station. It is all up to the park to do its job wisely. If no regulations are made, chances are that parks will not want to spend the money to ensure the safety of their rides. This is a bad move by the government in Florida, as if more accidents happen, it will kill tourism eventually.

Safe as Intmain? You can't be serious. Intamin rides have killed more people in the last few years probably than all other manufacturers combined.

Don't be stupid. The Florida parks aren't going to let people get hurt because killing them would be bad for business. It could be argued that the Florida parks have fewer accidents per capita than the rest of the country.

I don't follow your argument, B&M. On one hand you're saying coasters have nearly flawless safety systems. On the other hand you're saying parks need federal or state regulation to ensure safety because without regulation, parks have no other incentive to provide for rider safety.

Could it be that the parks know more about ride maintenance and safety than any bureaucrat or bean counter? I think so.