Accidents

[SaiyanHajime]

Do you think there has been a rise in theme park accidents?

Or is it just that there is much better coverage of accidents, due to the fact that almost everyone is a news reporter these days? Accidents that once went noticed are now reported everywhere.

I dunno. Logic says the later option, but it does seem like every year there is a more scary and serious accident than the last...

 

[Ollie]

The media coverage has certainly increased since several years ago.
What I hate is when the media make an accident sound much worse than it actually was for the sake of a story. Like a minor bump with no injuries suddenly becomes a huge accident.

 

[Tim]

I think every year people are shocked at the amount of times an accident thread pops up on a forum someplace and declare it the "darkest theme park year ever"

But I see no significant rise when it comes to actual figures.
Perhaps the current season's accidents are just at the forefront of our minds, and we forget those of the previous years?


A rise in awareness of accidents is definitely going to be a significant factor behind any perceived increase of such events.

We do hear about them faster.
But also now, thanks to easy access to recording equipment through phones and such we see it in greater detail.
It’s harder to relate to a written article- getting that photo or video to punctuate it is going to make you respond differently.

Reading about people hanging off a plastic rocket ship swinging around in the air isn't amazingly noteworthy, but getting to watch the rescue on Youtube... almost gives you a connection to the event, so you see the consequences at a human level, not second hand statistical


This month has seemed particularly heavy on the incidents though. Coincidence of course. And we may well (hopefully) find that the rest of the year goes by with very little else.
Either way I doubt there will be any substantial gain on any previous year.

 

[furie]

Yeah, what Tim said, word for word

You could always head to rideaccidents.com and compile a list to compare???

 

[furie]

Double post FTW!

I've done the research now

I've just had a brief look at rideaccidents.com

Basically, I've looked at all the reported "accidents" for 2009 and 2010 (so far).

If there was a serious injury, death, or a "potential serious injury or death" - I've counted it and worked out the number of worldwide "potential death" accidents. Essentially, cars colliding, carriages falling off, etc.

I've split it between "carnivals" and "theme parks".

It's worth noting, most carnival deaths happen to workers falling while building or inspecting the rides - though there are a couple of theme park incidents likes this. Likewise, there are a couple of "kid deaths", where it's the fact the kid has tried to leave the ride while it's in motion and been killed. These can't be discounted in my opinion.

Also, I've not counted accidents on inflatables and deaths/accidents in water parks.

Anyway, the figures... You may be shocked...

In 2009, there were
Carnival incidents numbering 12
Theme Park incidents numbering... 13

In 2010 so far:
Carnival incidents numbering 6
Theme Park incidents numbering... 6

I've not included ride stalls, etc in this, as they're only life threatening if the staff are a bunch of inbred muppets coughblackpoolbigdippercough.

Anyway, It's about an average of one a month for each type, and I'd say that the overall picture is that unless you're a worker, you're more likely to be hurt at a theme park than a travelling fair.

Hope that was helpful?

 

[Hixee]

^Well seeing as we're only halfway through 2010, looks like we're on track!

I honestly think a lot of the apparent increase in accidents is due to the speed and availability of media coverage these days. People can shoot a video on their phone seconds after the incident happens and have it on YouTube within minutes.

Mobile phones have opened up the floodgates for the public to get the news. Think how many scenes on the news are shot by amateurs. Think 9/11, 7/7, G20 riots (and the death of that guy), Greek riots and hours of footage from the Middle East. All of these were shot by amateurs on mobile phones or camcorders. The same is true at theme parks.

I don't think the accident rate is going up, if anything, I'd have thought it was going down. The amount of health and safety precautions these days! July has clearly been a bad month, but I would only put this down to coincidence, nothing else.

 

[Nic]

Busy day at work then Phil?

 

[furie]

Busy day at work then Phil?

Yes actually, but I'm incredibly efficient and can do four people's work in half of my daily allotted hours

So ner... I actually had to turn down a job for Ian earlier because I unexpectedly had to build an entire new network for NASA... or something (it may have been adding money to the franking machine, but it's close...)

The point being... **** happens, but not very often

 

[IHeartArrow]

I would be lead to believe that more accidents nowadays are caused by the stupidity of riders. People nowadays have more medical issues and are fatter but still wish to ride even though warnings blatantly state that if you have a condition or are really fat you shouldn't. Also it's a bigger deal now because like y'all have said, word gets out about an accident immediately because of cameras/phones whereas in the 70's they had to wait for the news to show up.

Predominately in days gone by the issues were with the coasters and rides themselves. Arrow's Stand Up train is a prime example, nothing holding riders in on the sides and flinging a woman out. One of Traver's coasters killing someone in the first week of operation by throwing them out.

Now it's more rider error, such as the very large woman trying to fit onto Xtreme, the man with a heart condition riding Firehawk, the wise guy trying to get his hat from under Batman.

 

[Tim]

Yeah, what Tim said, word for word

You could always head to rideaccidents.com and compile a list to compare???

Are you crazy? That'd take ages!

Nobody would be stupid enough to invest their time into such a poi- oh...

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

It doesn't make much sense that there were only six this year, because wasn't there just an accident in Asia that killed six or seven people?

I don't think there are more accidents though, because safety is increasing. Perhaps just more stupidity that causes accidents, etc.

 

[furie]

Are you crazy? That'd take ages!

Nobody would be stupid enough to invest their time into such a poi- oh...

LOL! I'm super efficient remember? I did it while rebuilding an SQL database, making tea and having a crap... Yes... All at the same time (hint: never say yes if I offer you a cuppa ).

It doesn't make much sense that there were only six this year, because wasn't there just an accident in Asia that killed six or seven people?

It does make sense, since I was very careful in laying out the description of what I classed as an incident and careful use of the word incident

This word, of course, relating in no way, shape or form to the number of deaths which have occurred.

Perhaps just more stupidity that causes accidents, etc.

I don't know how you can even dare leave your house then, never mind go to theme parks

 

[OfficialAltonTowers]

S**t Happens

I agree, Accidents are exactly that Accidents, I dont realy care about reliability of a ride, you go on a rollercoaster to feel the adrenalie rush, oh and what a rush it would be if you harness came undone at the top of oblivion or halfway through the hulk, just hold on as tight as you can and wait til' the end, and if you happen to fly out and die, imagine the feeling before you hit the ground, the ultimate air time/Adrenaline combo, if its gonna happen and you just happen to be the unlucky one, so beit, but at least you will have a bloody good time ! :--D (before you go SPLAT)

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

It does make sense, since I was very careful in laying out the description of what I classed as an incident and careful use of the word incident

This word, of course, relating in no way, shape or form to the number of deaths which have occurred.

Oh okay, I get ya' .

I don't know how you can even dare leave your house then, never mind go to theme parks

It's RISKY BUSINESS I tell ya!