Six Flags to educate congressman Markey on theme park safety

I think it's about damn time someone in the industry sticks up for itself concerning this propaganda. I want to smack the anchors on my TV whenever I hear unsubstantiated claims about internal injuries of a few people that hundreds of millions of people ride every summer.

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Sept. 11th 2001, Slayer released God Hates Us All. The song "Disciple" uncannily describes the events of that day, as well as the anthrax letters that followed.
--Slayer: Thrash band, or the next Nostradamus?

*** This post was edited by CPgenius on 3/8/2002. ***

It always surprises me how many people think of safety in absolute terms rather than in comparative terms. There's no human activity that is without risk. You could die in your sleep without getting out of bed, choke on a pretzel like our President, or be injured when engaged in thousands of other 'relatively safe' activities. I think SF has a great case in pointing out that enjoying amusement park rides is one of the relatively safest form of entertainment going. That's not to say an emphasis on improving safety is unnecessary or that scientific standards for G force intensity and duration is a lame idea, but we should realize that no amount of science and money will produce 'absolute' safety in this industry or any other.

There's another psychological point to consider about coasters: Part of the point of a thrill ride is to get the fear/adrenaline rush that comes from doing something that feels risky, all the while knowing that it's a perfectly safe thing that millions of others have done before you.

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coastermad
My cousin has been working with the Brain Injury Association up in New Jersey. Appreciate all the attention you've put on this topic Jeff. I've sent some of the articles you've posted and convinced my cousin to ride the Nitro last summer. He loved it. I do agree some rides can cause hang overs, but so does alcohol and that's still legal. Still, if a ride is dangerous and is causeing injuries it kinda defeats the purpose of the ride. Some rides cause more pain then pleasure and puts a blemish on the ride industry. (i.e. the Grizzly at Paramounts Great America.) Those rides should be dealt with, while the coasters that deliver thrills, and good safe fun should be left alone.

Man, now I know I'm old...I know all about "bumping uglies". ;)

Truth is, the whole "congress vs roller coasters" thing isn't really a big deal at all. I'm very interested in all aspects of the industry but if not for the info passed on here at CB, I'd have seen just one small news blurb about it this past summer. It's not really a big deal to anyone except the handful of people making the ridiculous claims.

Standing up for yourself is always a good idea, but this is one case where "ignore it and it'll go away" really seems like the cure.

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www.coasterimage.com

I think they should challenge Markey to ride some of the coasters for himself if he's not too much of a wuss. I still think he could be behind Whalom's Ballroom burning due to the fact he's a congressman from Massachusettes himself. ;)....and the conspiracies live on...

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Purple and Green and everything mean
-Joker's Jinx

OK. What is the most common activity associated with the rupture of a brain aneurysm? Sleeping. Probably because it is the single activity that we spend the most time doing.

There are roughly 30,000 ruptured brain aneurysms in the US every year according to one of the associations for such. An average of about 1-2 is associated with amusement rides. I haven't cranked through the probabilities, but it would appear that the number of ruptured aneurysms associated with amusement rides is less than random. This is probably due to the fact that amusement riders are on the average younger than the national average.