Man killed in roller coaster accident at Disneyland

[Jaggie]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-0...-accident_x.htm Big Thunder Mountain Los Angles Disneyland read the article above.

[DJKostya]

Sad very very sad

[joz]

Missed me by just over a week :| I'll be interested to hear how this one plays out, but from the early signs, it doesn't look good for Disney. I feel sorry for the guy and his family though, it must be a really hard way to loose a family member.

[Richard]

It's a tragic thing to happen. Though if you, or anyone you know is in doubt about the safety of these rides, this might put your mind to ease: Based on what was said, they've had 10 deaths in the past 48 years. Assuming each year averages 10 million guests (which is certainly fair for the past 20 years, not totally sure on before that), meaning 480 million guests in total. That means 1 in every 48 million guests to Disneyland will die. I'd say that you have a 1 in 48 million chance of dying at the park, but most of the deaths were caused by some sort of stupidity. Incidents like this tragic one would probably be more in the 1 in 200 or 300 million range of things. Meanwhile, assuming there are 13 million cars in Australia (from ABS), and 1,800 road-related deaths each year (triple j Morning Show - Friday 5/09). That means that 1 in every 7,222 car owners can expect to die within the next year. 1 in every 11,111 Australian residents can expect to die on the road. Over at Westcoaster, it was quite interesting, and even scary, to see the number of members there that had just ridden it that morning. I just hope that they're able to get this thing operational for my trip in December.

[Flea]

Ugh, first Steel Dragon 2000 and now BTMRR. Most deaths on coasters have been caused by enthusiasts deliberately making their lapbar as far away from the body as possible (for air), or standing up (See SRM 2003), but for something as serious as this, I can see lawsuits coming from every direction. According to a reader on Dnet, the guy did not die from the collision of the crash, but rather cardiac arrest later in hospital. The other ten injured apparently just have bumps and bruises, nothing as serious as the media states. This article at Miceage.com is worth a look... even if most of the text is not entirely true. Here come the "Why Roller Coasters aren't safe" specials on FOX! ~Liam

[joz]

Richard is right, (great use of statistics too) Based on my maths, Thunder Mountain has a rough capacity of near 1900 an hour. Presume that the ride operates for an average 10 hours a day, then that's 19000 per day. 365 days in a year make 6,916,000 per year. The ride has been open since 1979, (23 years) which makes roughly (very roughly) 159,068,000 riders overall. Therefor: The odds of dying on BTMRR are 1 in 159 million. Not bad odds if you ask me. Having said that, I do think Disney needs to get on top of its maintenance before something happens on Matterhorn.

[screammachine]

Thats really bad news for Disney I supose. Since they have such a good reputation comparing them to other parks. I agree there would most probably be lawsuits flying from every direction. But from what I can remember visiting Disneyland ( Paris ). From being there the whole and looking at Big Thunder Mountain the ride had a big down time at some stage. But at least I got to have my turn on the ride.

[screammachine]

I got this piece of Information from Themepark Insider. Its pretty scary to read, but really interesting. http://www.house.gov/markey/iss_parkrides_...list020507c.pdf *Note you need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.