News report on "Riskiest Amusement park ride"

[154bmag]

A yahoo news report in the riskiest theme park ride.

http://news.yahoo.com/real-risks-amusement-park-not-rollercoasters-study-finds-033021487.html

 

May to September is prime time for fun at the amusement park. From frightening news reports to personal YouTube videos, there is no shortage of amusement-ride scares. But a new study has found that it's not always the biggest and fastest rides we should fear.

 

Smaller ones, which parents might not consider as dangerous, contribute to injuries of more than 4,000 U.S. children each year.

 

Destiny Malone was just eight when she broke her arm by reaching out while riding a seemingly innocuous kiddie roller coaster. "When I took her to the emergency room, that's when I found out it was broken," her mother, Crystal Malone, said.

 

The study, in the journal Clinical Pediatrics, tracked injuries on all kinds of rides: 4,400 per year -- up to 20 a day. When researchers looked at emergency records on which the type of ride was recorded, roller coasters accounted for 10.1 percent, bumper cars 3.9 percent.

 

But carousels accounted for 20.9 percent -- which might explain why one third of kids injured were five or younger.

 

The most common kind of accident was falling.

 

Industry advocates told ABC News that safety is their top priority, and pointed out that injuries among the nearly 300 million riders at their parks are rare. Less than two percent of these injuries required a trip to the hospital, they added.

 

The best advice may be to take seriously the warnings and instructions on the rides. And if your child may not be able to heed them for any reason, get ice cream instead.

 

What do you think about the article?

Edited May 26, 2013 by jedimaster1227

[Rai Fox]

*sigh* the comments on that article. -.- Well, plenty of fodder for the "GP" thread, anyway.

[nannerdw]

So basically this article just says that the real danger doesn't come from the rides themselves, but from the parents who forget that it's their own responsibility to keep their children safe.

 

Why does this not surprise me?

 

Here's my advice:

Know your child's limits, and don't put your kid in a potentially dangerous situation that he/she isn't mature/experienced enough to handle.

[robbalvey]

This news report is 100% accurate. So many people take small "kiddie" rides for granted, forgetting that they are brainless machines that can kill you just like a big ride can if you're not careful.

 

What's unfortunate about this article is that the idiotic people that are posting comments are the same ones that don't take personal responsibility when they aren't watching their kids and someone ends up getting hurt.

 

--Robb

[DarienLaker]

Maybe parks should have observation area for Parents to watch their kids ride to make sure they're riding safe even if the parents can't ride with their kids!

[Rai Fox]

Maybe parks should have observation area for Parents to watch their kids ride to make sure they're riding safe even if the parents can't ride with their kids!

 

Most kiddie rides are small enough that that's not really an issue. The vast majority of them, even if you're outside, the fence around the ride, you're still only a couple feet away. Any ride big enough to need an observation area probably isn't meant for young children.

[Aceattack52]

What always bothers me is that everyone GP seems to think that no matter what, something bad is going to happen to them on a coaster. The article's title says roller coasters are not the most dangerous. In recent times, when were they? I have seen accident report after accident report in regards to carnival and small rides, but no one seems to thing anything of them. Now, I'm not saying people need to stop worrying about their safety, but to be truthful, there are more safety systems and safeguards on a roller coaster, than there are on smaller rides.

[robbalvey]

Maybe parks should have observation area for Parents to watch their kids ride to make sure they're riding safe even if the parents can't ride with their kids!

What are you talking about?!?!? This has nothing to do with needing an "observation area", this has everything to do with people are morons and don't pay attention or follow posted instructions.

[Tanks4me05]

*sigh* the comments on that article. -.- Well, plenty of fodder for the "GP" thread, anyway.

 

 

At least the top voted ones usually tend to be quite sensible (and have consistently been so in other articles I read.)

[cfc]

Yeah, I thought the article was right on the money--even kiddie rides need parental supervision. As for the comments, well, they're fairly typical of what you see on news-oriented Web sites.

[Aceattack52]

^ I remember something in the forum about 4 months ago regarding something about something going on on a coaster at a Cambodian park that resulted in a pretty bad accident. It was a kiddie coaster as well.

[DarienLaker]

Wasn't there an incident at a Jeepers! fun center where a kid died riding a kiddie coaster?

[Aceattack52]

^ I don't know of anything like that, but I sure do believe it.

[cfc]

^ I remember something in the forum about 4 months ago regarding something about something going on on a coaster at a Cambodian park that resulted in a pretty bad accident. It was a kiddie coaster as well.

 

There's a thread about it. It happened last March.

[ambe_bambe]

Has anyone else noticed "Report" is spelt wrong, i've looked at this thread a few times today and only now picked it up.

 

If parents bothered to watch/assist their children and follow the rules/educate their children on the rules I'm sure they would see a significant drop in the number of injuries.

[linearinduction]

When I trained my Ride Operators at Lagoon as an Area Lead, I always used to say, "These aren't just Amusement Rides, but Large Mechanical Devices that CAN Kill you and Others. It is YOUR Responsibility to Operate this Ride and Conduct yourself in a Safe Manor. If at anytime you feel something isn't safe and/or needs attention, suspend operation and call one of us immediately. Guests WILL do Stupid Things and Ignore Safety Instructions so you must be Alert at All Times while the Ride is in Operation."

 

Robb is 110% correct and most of us who have worked in the industry all have stories of Stupid People doing uncomprehendingly Stupid Things that Defy ALL Logic! Hell, I had one guy that jumped out of a Rattlesnake Rapids (Intamin River Rapids) Boat into the Trough on Camera (Operator Immediately Hit the E-Stop). I was the Sup on the Ride and ran down the ramp to the Bottom of the Lift where he had gotten back into the boat. I asked him why he did it and he told me, "I didn't get wet enough so I jumped in." I immediately called security and my superiors and he was kicked out of the park.

 

In 1990, after the deaths on Puff and Roller Coaster at Lagoon in 1989, Lagoon modified the lap bars on Puff, added seat belts, removed the "Buzz Bars" on Roller Coaster, added individual lap bars, added seat dividers, and instituted a policy that there must be two riders in the back and front rows on each roller coaster train.

 

-Sid

[simon8899]

I also think it's about parents supervision AND ride attendant / operator supervision.

 

As even the bigger rides like BreakDancer, Shaker or Polyps on carnivals are open to walk on from all sides while the ride is doing its thing at full speed parents and ride personnel here always have a keen eye. Not only for wandering children but also for teens who show off how close they can get to an operating ride or swaying drunks.

 

Of course we also have accidents about mechanical failure or minor accidents with some when some kid fell - but I can't remember an accident were someone was injured or killed because he wandered into an operating ride.

 

I think the imminent danger of a free-standing and fast-spinning ride makes everyone more cautious than in other countries were most visitors think that rides have to be safe and sound and harmless by default. It should be clear that anything weighing multiple tons that could hit you at high speeds it something to keep a safe distance to.

 

And of course: Ride with kids who can't hold on or behave properly on rides.

[nannerdw]

As even the bigger rides like BreakDancer, Shaker or Polyps on carnivals are open to walk on from all sides while the ride is doing its thing at full speed parents and ride personnel here always have a keen eye.

It still amazes me that a lot of European carnivals let people walk right up next to the rides. That could never happen in the US. Too many people here have the mentality of "Everyone else is responsible for my personal safety, and if I do something stupid, it's their fault for not providing enough protection against my stupidity."

[DarienLaker]

As even the bigger rides like BreakDancer, Shaker or Polyps on carnivals are open to walk on from all sides while the ride is doing its thing at full speed parents and ride personnel here always have a keen eye. Not only for wandering children but also for teens who show off how close they can get to an operating ride or swaying drunks.

 

*Facepalm* Anyone who is smart should know better than to go up to any carnival ride that operating knowing that they could get killed or hurt by doing so!

[Aceattack52]

Every time there's something related to theme park safety or something general about theme parks in the news, they always seem to use a picture of some kind of Vekoma coaster. This time it was an SLC.