UNSAFE: Great American Scream Machine
Associated parks:
None
My ears go WAAAY above the OTSR's. Which provides for plenty of neck trauma whenever I ride an Arrow coaster. I just hold my head forward to try to minimize it.
Professional Bull Riders Injury Report for The U.S. Army Invitational
Colorado Springs, CO
Apr 16-17, 2004 Friday, April 17, 2004
Justin McBride ruptured his right eardrum and sustained a concussion without loss of consciousness when he hit the bull`s rump during his ride. He competed in the short go round.
I do think you're making a big deal out of it on here, but I also understand where you're coming from. Contact the park and see what they say about it, but riding a coaster is a risk, just like a sport. I am an ice hockey goalie and sometimes I get hit so hard I come out with massive bruises the size of basketballs. Do I blame the ice rink for this? No way. The same thing could happen if I got hit on the side of the head, I could also rupture my eardrum, but it's not very likely.
Think about the riders that were on Dragster when the cable broke and sprayed metal shavings all over the people on the train. Does that mean dragster isn't well maintained? We know it is, it's just that accidents sometimes happen. (I think it's an engineering flaw, one of many, but that's another story for another day.)
The roughness is just because of the age of the ride and the experience of the builders of the ride and trains at that time. Yes, modern steel coasters are smoother then some of the older ones, but does that mean we should get rid of them? Maintaince will help a wood coaster, but a steel coaster's ride is mostly determined by the track and the wheel assemblies on the train (Arrows do not have cushy seats and spring loaded wheels) They would need to modify the track and wheel assemblies to different tolerances to make them feel like a B&M or an Intamin, and that would be too expensive. Just don't ride the Arrows and Vekomas if they bother you that much.
There are unsafe coasters and accidents do happen.
I had my experience with Thriller - which didn't do permanent damage, but damage none the less.
However, the forces that our body is exposed to when we walk or drop on the bed or a couch or sports are sometimes much greater than what happens on a coaster.
I've had rides from which I exited with the feeling of having a displaced skeleton - like Psychlone or Monstre at LaRonde before it was retracked. I also remember puking during one visit to SFMM after riding Revolution and Flashback.
Working as a sound engineer, a ruptured eardrum would be my absolute nightmare! I really feel for you!
It does not only make hearing more difficult, you also can't go swimming or diving in the same way annymore, e.g.
I simply stay away from older Arrows and Vekoma rides completely - I think it is absolutely OK to talk about this topic openly, even as a fan - I think the care for the rider's physical integrity should be the key point for coaster design, and the truth is always much better than propaganda for or against the safe nature of coasters.
When it got the paint job (i think it was last year) for some reason I noticed an improvement, but you still had to focus on yourhead throughout the ride. I always thought that BTR and Medussa were much easier on the head and shoulder-tops.
Does new paint have anything to do with comfort, or did I just hit it on a good day?
Here's To Shorter Lines & Longer Trip Reports!
Making up a name called Stopunsafecoasters ect blab blab ect
Ive seen this a dozen times of someone just craving attention.
Why not report it to the park, The state? Whatever,
Chuck, who is not exactly saying your lying because GRETA beat my ears pretty good on one ride and not the other.
Steelie GASM eats babies.
Woodie GASM doesn't care about black people.
SFMM's Deja Vu has a drinking problem.
Tremors sold nuclear secrets to Iran.
Millennium Force had a bastard child with TTD.
X lied about tapping US citizens' phones.
The Voyage is an illegal.
Gemini was caught trying to take naked pictures of Jr. Gemini and post them on the internet.
Kingda Ka is on "the juice" and is breaking the record by cheating.
Texas Cyclone came up with a new, more fuel efficient engine, and that's why it was "taken out" by the Texas oil companies.
Shivering Timbers is a pirate.
Let's look at the facts that we know:
-America is based on a capitalist system.
-When even slightly potentially harmful, in order to avoid lawsuits and litigation amusement park industries will post numerous warnings about the effects of their ride(s)
-GASM has no signs warning that the overall roughness of the ride could cause headbanging so severe it would lead to ear drum damage
-Since a rider is not warned about potential head injury, this is the PERFECT time to either talk to the park and explain your injuries or do the amazing American affair of accusing for personal pecuniary progress (I'm not proponing frivolous law suits - however, I am advocating that lawsuits serve the purpose of aiding people who were ACTUALLY injured - as in this case).
This site is for posting all (well, almost all) coaster/park related news/ideas, and this thread certainly maintains a right to be here. However, the creator of this thread should DEFINITELY not do what he said he'd do: hope six flags somehow finds out about his claim on this forum. This is completely stupid.
If indeed your story is true, I'm terribly sorry. As a great lover of music, losing the ability to hear would really suck.
Nonetheless, posting a thread hoping someone would notice is inane.
It could be a laywer.
Everything's unsafe. Period.
Breathing can give you cancer.
Eating can give you cancer, e-coli, and a host of others.
Driving can kill you, walking can kill you.
Sitting can kill you, yeah that lack of excersize thing can kill you. But excersize can kill you.
maybe i should change my nic to:EveryThingCanKillYa.
Nah, that might kill me.
:)
*** Edited 5/15/2006 8:35:51 PM UTC by FLYINGSCOOTER***
Great Lakes Brewery Patron...
-Mark
All this being said…my one and only ride on this baby in 1997 resulted in a bloodied ear (just a surface wound luckily) and a neck injury that lasted over 6 months. I’m fairly experienced in coasters and am indeed educated in defensive riding. It did nothing to prepare me for this clunker. Based upon MY PERSONAL experience on this ride, I do not doubt this guy’s story.
I still think coasters are generally a safe form of entertainment. This particular Arrow represents the worst they have to offer. May I suggest you head to Dollywood to see their best offering! :-) They did get it correct a few times (at least once).
Anyhow…I too ruptured my ear drum in a stupid cliff diving (I wish I were kidding) stunt. What can I say…there was a double dog dare! I’ve got most the hearing back. In fact the doctors cannot tell if it was this particular injury or years of loud music! :-) The moral of the story is that many ruptured ear drums heal just fine without any need for future hearing aids/etc! I’m guessing that odds are you’ll heal just fine and have a good story to tell the buddies while you are drinking! Besides…hearing is overrated. When you get married you’ll appreciate a little loss of frequency.
In all seriousness…I hope there is nothing permanent wrong. Tough break man. I’ve been there and done that.
pkidelirium said:
Unless you're really short, your ears are ABOVE the Arrow OTSR.
For a good portion of the population (including myself), the Arrow OTSR is at EXACTLY the right height to bash the hell out of my ears.
Not saying I believe or disbelieve this story, but just because some people clear the bar (which puts it right at neck level -- NIIIICE) doesn't mean everyone does. And I'm talking the adult population here, I'm not even factoring children who meet the height requirement.
--Greg
"You seem healthy. So much for voodoo."
How'd ya do that? ;)
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