Amusement Park Rides Safe?

Discussion in 'All in the Family' started by Aerianne, Jul 20, 2013.

  1. Aerianne

    Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    I put this here so families going to amusement parks could read it.

    It's awful to learn about but even rides in the biggest, best parks can sometimes fail, resulting in terrible injuries and deaths.

    It costs so much to enter these parks...maybe something less expensive and safer would entertain us just as well.

    Just something to ponder, sadly.


    http://www.wsbtv.com/news/ap/top-news/woman-dies-while-riding-six-flags-roller-coaster/nYxbK/
     
  2. AmericanTerrorist

    AmericanTerrorist Bliss

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    yuck... i hate reading about stuff like that.
    when i was a teenager i had friends who's parents wouldn't let them get on carnival rides, which i can totally understand (we'd do it anyways, but yea...)

    and at disneyworld I got stuck on some coasters... a few in one day that it seemed like we were gonna be hurt...
    and there are many rides (even at the larger amusement parks) that just don't seem safe. at all.
    That said... I ride them anyway and kinda part of the fun is.. "oh God, this doesnt seem safe... I hope this doesn't kill me...." but yea, i live dangerously like that ;)

    really, when it all comes down to it though.. how many people go on amusement park rides every year and how many are injured or killed? It's more scary having my kid in a car on the highway on the way to the park...
     
  3. Aerianne

    Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    It's just with the expensive entry fees you would trust that the rides wouldn't fail.

    I've ridden rides in store parking lots tons of times but always heard people cautioning that those traveling rides were bound to be the most unsafe.
     
  4. Ranger

    Ranger Hip Forums Supporter HipForums Supporter

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    So maybe you should play it safe and just hop on the freeway and spend the day at the mall. lol
     
  5. Fairlight

    Fairlight Banned

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    Do we overly protect children or carefully introduce them to the world of calculated risks that adult life consists of...Something as simple as taking a local car ride contains an element of risk...Yet we consider it an acceptable one.
     
  6. AmericanTerrorist

    AmericanTerrorist Bliss

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    Yeah, the expensive entry fees would make you think that..
    if only for two things... one being that people are greedy and don't always use the fees other than to line their own pockets...
    and two, sometimes and well-maintained things malfunction or break down...

    but yea, i know..
     
  7. Aerianne

    Aerianne Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    I guess that's what upsets me about these stories.

    People buy their kids (teens) season passes and turn them loose in the parks for the Summer while the parents are at work.

    Being there that often certainly increases the odds.
     
  8. Fairlight

    Fairlight Banned

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    Well there should be a regulatory body regularly testing these rides...I don't know what the situation is vis a vis this in the US or Europe.
     
  9. Meliai

    Meliai Banned

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    This stuff freaks me out...I haven't been to an amusement park in years for that reason.

    I remember a few years ago a girl was on one of those towers that drops you down really quickly....its called the Drop Zone at the Carowinds in Charlotte but she was at a different park so I'm not sure the name of the ride. Anywho, a cable snapped while the ride was dropping down and it cut across her legs and cut them cleanly off below the knee...

    YIKES!
     
  10. N.L.Baron

    N.L.Baron Member

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    I think that there is a better chance of being killed in a car or bike accident on the way to the amusement park than being killed on a ride.
     
  11. deleted

    deleted Visitor

    one time the roller coaster caught fire. around the motor that drives the cars up the track.. we got to the top, there was a curve. they stopped it and made us all climb out..

    I thought that was fucking stupid!@ They should of let us coast over the(SMALL) fire and down the track. It was totally more dangerous stopping us. making old and young walk down planks a of wet wooden coaster.
     
  12. Karen_J

    Karen_J Visitor

    Actually, that incident was at Carowinds. I remember the news story very well. I grew up going there every summer. When that tower was first built, it was the Eastern Airlines observation tower. The park has always had a good reputation, so I guess you can run into a problem just about anywhere.

    The traveling rides have to be more dangerous, because they get taken apart every week, and their staff doesn't come across as very professional. I always get a bad vibe from those crews. And I'm sure they put the rides together in a hurry sometimes, when bad weather puts them behind schedule. It only takes one loose bolt to cause a problem.

    Since nothing in life is risk-free, boycotting all amusement parks forever is probably too extreme, but I do think I'll stick to the permanent operations in the future.
     
  13. Maelstrom

    Maelstrom Banned

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    Most amusement park ride accidents are isolated incidents. After all, one has a better chance of dying crossing the street than one does riding an amusement park contraption.
     
  14. wyldwynd

    wyldwynd ~*~ Super Moderator

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    this is another six flag incident that happened in 2007 ;

    http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/21/six.flags.accident/

    A girl's feet were cut off Thursday when a free-fall thrill ride malfunctioned at the Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom Amusement Park in Louisville, Kentucky, police said.

    :(
     
  15. newbie-one

    newbie-one one with the newbiverse

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    I don't think that you should stop going on rides if your really enjoy them

    Knowing that there is always some risk, you might want to skip a ride if you are only going on it to prove you aren't scared, or because you are with someone else who wants to go on it, etc.
     
  16. scratcho

    scratcho Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    ALL machinery fails eventually. Luck of the draw as to who happens to be on one when it happens. Friend of mine was thrown backwards out of a Tilt-a-Whirl when the back of it came off. Killed her at 14. I suppose--no--I know- some of the things I have done in my illustrious roofing career were MUCH more dangerous than "fun" rides. I never ride any of them. If I'm going to tempt fate, I'll do it on my terms, not the terms set by a bunch of carnival geeks.
     
  17. Kinky Ramona

    Kinky Ramona Back by popular demand!

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    Last time I was at Six Flags, on that exact coaster in fact, my seatbelt came loose. But as I've told others and posted elsewhere, I'd ride it again, just make better care to make sure my seatbelt was fastened instead of looking down at the highest point and seeing it flapping in the wind. That coaster has some very sentimental memories for me. :)
     

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