Website reveals scenes of all theme park ride deaths
WANT to know which theme parks are most likely to bring about your sudden death? No? It kind of kills the thrill, doesn’t it, knowing that the ride might result in your demise. The website www.rideaccidents.com has answers.
My most terrifying ride was at Rhyl’s now passed Ocean Beach fun fair. The bar on the roller coaster popped up not long into the ride and the girl sitting next to me gamely hung onto my jacket as I teetered over the cart’s edge. It was horrific.
This website tell us:
Welcome to the world’s most comprehensive source of amusement ride accident reports and related news. RideAccidents.com is for nonprofit research and educational purposes only. The site has no affiliation with any government agencies, amusement industry organizations, or consumer advocacy groups. Visitors to this site include amusement ride inspectors, operators, supervisors, and maintenance workers whose tasks include accident prevention. For these visitors, and for all visitors associated with the amusement industry, this site is intended to serve as a resource that helps identify circumstances that have either caused or contributed to accidents so that similar circumstances may be avoided. To all visitors, the information at this site is openly reported with the purpose of bringing awareness to the risks associated with amusement rides — an awareness that will translate into a safety-conscious respect for rides and a greater willingness to follow instructions, procedures and warnings.
If that does not put you off riding roller coasters and often shoddy theme park rides, these stories selected from many might:
Wednesday, July 9, 1980 – A 26-year-old male was killed at an amusement park in Missouri when the ride operator of a roller coaster mistakenly assumed that the train in which the victim was riding was empty, and switched the track to direct the train into a service area. The area in which the service track ran through was of low clearance, and the victim’s head got jammed between the back of his seat and an overhead wooden beam
Sunday, April 3, 1983 – A 13-year-old girl was fatally injured while riding the Black Witch roller coaster at Magic Harbor Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. She was ejected from her seat, over the front of the car, and thrown 30 feet into a guardrail. The roller coaster was also known as the Galaxy.
Saturday, July 28, 1984 – At the North Dakota State Fair in Minot, North Dakota, a 9-year-old boy was killed after he fell 30 feet from a looping roller coaster ride. The child sustained multiple injuries, including massive head injuries. The boy fell out of his car when it approached an incline immediately after the looping section of track. It was later concluded that the operator failed to properly secure the boy with the ride’s safety device.
February 24, 2012 – At Hopi Hari theme park in São Paulo, Brazil, a 14-year-old girl was killed after falling 80-90 feet from a drop tower named “La Tour Eiffel.”
“La Tour Eiffel” features cars which are hoisted to the top of a 224-foot tall tower and then drop 129 feet, reaching speeds of near 60 miles per hour. The cars are floorless, open-air cabins, and allow the riders’ legs to dangle beneath them throughout the ride. Electromagnetic brakes bring the cars to a gradual stop at the base of the tower.According to early reports from witnesses, the girl fell forward as the car was in free fall, and landed face down on the pavement at the base of the tower. She died as she was being rushed to a local hospital.
The ride has been shut down indefinitely while police investigate the accident.
In 1999, a twelve-year-old boy was killed after he fell out of a similar ride at Paramount’s Great America theme park in Santa Clara, California. The cause of that accident was never determined.
July 8, 2012 – At Whiteland Raceway Park in Whiteland, Indiana, a 19-year-old woman was partially scalped when her hair got caught in the axle of a go-kart. She was hospitalized with multiple skull fractures.
Always obey the rules – never stand up:
Saturday, May 16, 1987 – During a ride on a roller coaster in New Jersey, a 33-year-old man left his safety restraint, stood up, and leaned outside of his car. His head struck an object. He sustained a fatal head injury and died seven weeks later from complications resulting from the accident.
Sunday, April 30, 1989 – A 6-year-old boy died in an accident in Farmington, Utah after being struck by a roller coaster car which he had fallen from. The boy attempted to vacate his compartment after the ride had come to a stop past the normal boarding area. The operator decided to send the train around the track again, and as the ride restarted, the boy fell to the ground, which was less than four feet beneath the track. He climbed back up through the track and was struck by the car as it returned. Apparently, the operator could not have stopped the ride once the train had reached the top of the incline, as the ride was gravity-driven.
Monday, June 2, 1997 – A 17-year-old girl was killed and 32 teenagers were injured when a water slide collapsed at Waterworld USA park in Concord, California. A group of high school seniors celebrating their graduation ignored a lifeguard’s warning and rushed past him in an attempt to slide down the ride all together. The combined weight of the students exceeded the original design load by 4 times, and a section of the ride, a Banzai Pipeline water slide, collapsed. Some riders fell from heights of 30 feet. The students admitted that they were trying to break the school record for the largest number of students riding the slide at one time.
Family package it is, then…
Posted: 25th, October 2012 | In: The Consumer Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
