by Jeff Putz
posted 8/7/2001

It has been a weird summer for amusement park accidents. When you turn on the TV or drop by your favorite news site, you’d think that the amusement industry was in the business of death and destruction. Is that really the case? Of course not.

First off, injuries do happen, and I'm not here to debate that. They are always a bad thing, and we should all be compassionate toward the victims and their families. That, I think, is basic human respect. That said, the treatement of the accidents often leaves a lot to be desired.

It’s summer, and millions of amusement rides will be given this year. Despite the bleed-lead phenomenon found in popular media that suggests danger on these rides, most of these riders will likely win the lottery before they’ll be injured on a ride. That’s not a very interesting story to tell though, so it isn’t very often you hear it accompanied by one of these injury incidents.

This week’s collision of two Superman trains at Six Flags New England is the classic example of how fact checking has become optional in most cases. Initial reports pegged injuries anywhere from eight to 22, and I even read one report (which has since been removed) of a death. The extent of the injuries range from minor to the aforementioned death. What’s reality? Well, we know no one died, and the worst injury seems to be only minor whiplash.

The Associated Press gets the Irresponsible Report of The Year Award for this one. Their coverage included a quote from a guy who said that the two non-flammable trains that don’t carry any kind of fuel were smoking after the impact. I’m almost surprised the article didn’t indicate someone spontaneously combusted.

If you think that’s bad, did anyone see the live cut-ins of Titan stopped at the top of its lift in Texas? There was a non-event if I’ve ever seen one. Helicopters circled the ride as guests had to walk down the lift when the computer shut the ride down for what it perceived to be a safety problem. While apparently no problem was later found, the ride did what it should have in terms of being safe. That was certainly inconvenient for riders, but no one was ever in any kind of danger.

Heck, I’ve been on a 200-foot coaster when the lift chain broke, and I had to walk down. Was there danger? No, I thought it was kind of cool. Ride operators get to walk up that lift all of the time, and finally I got my chance.

The reality check is that this has been a relatively good year when it comes to amusement park deaths. Out of three, only one can be attributed to ride safety, namely the death of a woman in the UK where the brakes failed on a wild mouse coaster.

The other two deaths involved rides, but could not be attributed to ride safety. The death of a Lake Compounce groundskeeper was more of a workplace safety issue than ride safety issue, as he was struck in the head by an operating train while working under the ride. The other death was the woman who suffered an aneurysm on Goliath at Magic Mountain, a condition doctors say existed before she took the ride.

So what is the problem? I think it’s too much coverage. News is relative. When there isn’t a war, a natural disaster or a world leader killed, you still need to put something on the air. Too much coverage doesn’t mean better coverage, and with people at the Associated Press who have the journalistic skills of a middle school student, it probably won’t get any better.