UPDATED: Man dies after being struck by Kings Island's Banshee roller coaster in restricted area

Bakeman31092:

I think that's why people have a fear of flying yet have no fear of driving, even though the latter is far more dangerous, statistically.

Bryan Edwards (CP) told a great story to my students in the very first year of the Face your Fear Project. During science-week they had a NASA space shuttle pilot to speak to the kiddos. A space shuttle pilot.

When it came time to ride the rides with the kids he was too scared to ride Top Thrill Dragster. His reasoning? When he's flying the shuttle he's in charge and knows exactly what every button and lever and decision means. On Top Thrill Dragster he is trusting a 19-year old kid to push a button while he is strapped in to a machine that mimics an aircraft carrier's launch cycle.

A lot of it is control, and Brian nailed it when he said that speaking the objective rational truth about safety stats is absolutely no help. In fact that often makes it worse, because the person knows the facts...they just don't know why they can't believe it.

“Yea. I’m more afraid of water slides than roller coasters. Because I feel like there’s always a certain unpredictability with a water ride, as opposed to a ride on a track”

This makes so much sense to me. Also, at most parks of any real status, you know the coasters are going to be designed and manufactured by a pretty select group of skilled engineers in design firms such as Intamin, B&M, etc. Waterslides maybe not so much. Look at Schlitterbahn. Those guys designed and built most of those slides themselves. I thought they were engineers because I think they DID design some rides that were patented tech, but it turns out they weren’t, and Verrukct (sp?) happened. Schlitterbahn was a huge and successful chain of water parks before that. I don’t know if they built water slides for other parks, but it certainly makes me nervous to think about.

Coastergurrl:

but it turns out they weren’t, and Verrukct (sp?) happened

What a complete disaster and tragedy that was. You would think there would have been more oversight safety before that ride was ever conceived and built. Complete failure from the state of Kansas all the way down.

Who was going to do the oversight, the cows? Its Kansas…..

But seriously, knowing what I know now, I would so ride that thing if it still existed. Sure there is a slight chance of death, but I’ll bet it was one insane out of control drop.

I’m guessing I’m in the minority though.

TheMillenniumRider:

Who was going to do the oversight, the cows? Its Kansas….

Heh, I know you’re halfway joking. But there is some truth to that. Hopefully things have changed there.

https://amp.kansascity.com/...28562.html

Kansas City, Kan., officials rarely discussed the safety of the Verrückt water slide before it opened, The Star has learned.

The Unified Government this week was asked whether there were any dicussions about safety of the slide beyond documents obtained by The Star through the Kansas Open Records Act — mostly emails dating back to 2013.

“There was no discussion among staff about the risk or safety of the ride itself,” Unified Government spokesman Mike Taylor told The Star in an email Wednesday. He said said staffers inspected the ride and found it met building codes.

Kansas law does not require local governments to evaluate amusement parks for rider safety, but does allow them to if they wish, so long as it doesn’t conflict with state law.

In the aftermath of the Aug. 7 death of 10-year-old Caleb Schwab on Verrückt, Gov. Sam Brownback said within days of the incident that he was open to revisiting state regulations on amusement park rides.