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How many deaths in theme parks


brady
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I think your interest should not be in the deaths of people but the injuries sustained by complete stupidity. Unfortunately there is not official public record of these accidents but I would like to know how many of them are caused by loose articles coming off during a cycle. Here are a few nominations for the Darwin Awards that fit here well. The last one is a perfect example of why loose articles are dangerous. Do not wiggle out of a roller coaster. 1999 Darwin Award Nominee Confirmed True by Darwin Source (23 August 1999, Virginia) A New York student was killed Monday while riding in a stand-up roller coaster called Shockwave at Paramount Kings Dominion amusement park just north of Richmond. A spokeswoman for the park said that although the rider was not in the train when it returned to the station, the restraint system had not failed, nor was human error a factor. Rider misconduct was suspected. The 2-minute Shockwave coaster carries passengers through a loop, a side spiral, and an inverted loop. Passengers straddle a bicycle-style seat, with their feet firmly on the platform. An investigation revealed that the youth had engineered his own death by wriggling out of the harness so he could raise his hands in the air. During the first loop, his unrestrained body was thrown from the car to a catwalk, were they found him dead from a massive head wound. I guess you could say he had the thrill of his life. Do not duck under a roller coaster. Source (1998, California) Tales of roller-coaster accidents are the stuff of nightmares. It turns out that such tragedies are less common than folklore would have us believe. In "The Science of Roller Coasters," Ted Oehmke reveals that there have been "only 42 such deaths in the last 11 years." It is tempting to dwell upon whether the number 42 is a coincidence, or just exceedingly improbable. At any rate, such a fate was suffered by one particularly unfortunate middle-aged gentleman on the Top Gun coaster at Great America. The recipient of this Darwin Award lost his red baseball cap on the ride. It flew into an area under the coaster. As if the danger of ground directly beneath a speeding roller coaster was not self-evident, there were prominent "Restricted Area" signs every fifty feet. After exiting the platform, the man ignored both common sense and warning signs. He climbed two fences to retrieve his hat, only to lose his head when a passenger's foot kicked his neck and derailed his plans. The woman broke her leg and lost her shoe, and is suing for damages. Kissing a Roller Coaster 2004 Reader Submission Pending Acceptance August 28, 1998 Source WORKER KILLED AFTER BEING HIT BY A ROLLERCOASTER TRAIN An employee of Joyland Amusement Park located in Wichita, Kansas, was killed Thursday after he was struck by the train on the park's classic wooden roller coaster. According to reports the employee was doing some gardening work near the tracks and just got too close. He died instantly after the train hit him. News reports stated that Joyland Amusement Park did not have any rules banning maintenance work near the tracks, while the Roller Coaster is in operation. The wooden roller coaster has a classic out and back layout, designed by Herb Schmeck. The Roller Coaster opened in 1949 and is recognized as an ACE classic Ok, I remember vividly that day what happened, and this article is missing some crucial facts. The employee of this amusment park was weed eating around the the bottom of the roller coaster, specifically were the trough of the tracks decent is just a mere 5 feet and few inches above the ground. His mind deafend by the combnation of the weed eater, the walkman he was wearing, and the sheer lack of common sense, and the fact never must of crossed his mind where theres track there could be a roller coaster. Its hard to tell what makes some people tick, but in order to more comfortably weed eat in a tight spot without hunching in a annoying crouched postion under the ride, he casually peered is head up between and above the tracks to continue his labours work. Which the timeing could not have been any worse or better which ever way you think. He kissed the roller coaster of death head on, knocked his head clean off, probably didn't even know what hit him, with out a doubt that had to leave a lasting impression on the people in the front of the coaster, maybe even on there shirts. I was suprised I didn't find this incident on your site. I think he's a formidable contender for his long awaited Darwin Award... "The Bus is now leaving for Valley Of The Shadow Of Death, NSW"

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It seems Like BTM at Disneyland is a very accident prone coaster.... I only know of one death by memory. And thats of a guy who fell out of the Superman Ride Of Steel coaster just as it went into the tunnel. I heard he fell out of the car and impaled himself on the fence... OUch!! And apparently De Ja Vu. Has been the cause of people suffering from concussion injuries lately. Screammachine

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When i was at dreamworld i was talking to the ride operator and i asked her why does the Giant Drop now have seatbelts as well as the normal restraints. She said it was because someone fell out of an identical ride in America and died. Does anyone have anymore information about this?

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The only death like that I know of happened in '99 at Paramount Great America when a 12 year old fell from the Drop Zone Stunt Tower (almost identical ride to Space Probe) If that's the reason, it took them a while to modify the restraints didn't it? Have there been any other incidents of that type?

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  • 2 weeks later...
Yeah, it was, it went off the end and it landed near goliath, but the tower sort of fell backward and landed on the magnets, and when they tried to get the bits of the tower off the magnets they couldnt so they had to just remove the entire ride and rebuild it from scratch, eh joz?
I thought it had more to do with the car landing at the base of the tower, cracking the footers, which caused the tower to fall. But, yes, you are correct. The tower got stuck to the magnets when it fell, so it had to be re-built from scratch. Last I heard, they were trying to pull the two peices apart by tieing one peice to the space shuttle, and the other to the ground.... Too far?
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