Mall Of America
Photo Source: Federal Voice

Sometimes loose change can add up to quite a bit of money. There is an amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, at Cedar Point. In 2005, over $7,500 was collected just from the loose change that fell out of peoples pockets on the roller coaster. Since 1988 over $170,000 has been donated to charity and all this is from the roller coaster loose change. Wow, I wonder how many times they have to stop people from standing under it? You have to remember that there are many roller coasters in many parks across this country. I wonder how much money is found under all of them. My goodness, this could and must easily be in the millions every year. What about those rides that turn upside down and roll sideways. Were they really designed to shake out the contents of your pockets, while making you think you were having a good time? It seems to me that the parks that don't donate the loose change to charity could easily use the cash to maintain the ride, thus keeping the ride in good condition without ever spending a cent. If they didn't use the cash for that, they could use to for insurance premiums since all amusement parks must have that or risk going broke.

Speaking of amusement parks, no matter how safely they are designed, things can go wrong. Even Disneyland is not without its accidents. Several years ago, a tragedy took place on the Big Thunder which killed one and injured a few others. Investigations were conducted and Disney was not blamed. They stated that their procedures were safe and if they weren't followed correctly it was the fault of the individual. The blame fell on a machinist. It was said that he didn't tighten a bolt and didn't secure safety wiring. It also fell on the manager who signed off on the work. The point here is that safety at an amusement park is dependent on many people and we have to trust that every one of them is doing their job, not on drugs and is not a saboteur. Not a pleasant thought, is it? Epcot center, at Walt Disney, has also had its problems, two people died within one year while riding a rocket simulator. Here is the kicker, Disney said that there was nothing wrong with the ride. They may have been right, because there is something else that has to be taken into account when riding on rides that might cause stress and that is, do we have any health problems that could cause injury to us on this type of ride? In a way, we are also responsible for amusement park safety.

In Russia there was a popular amusement park that had water rides. It was in one of the suburbs of Moscow. It was large and had several good size heated pools, a wave pool and a river that twisted for tubing. The whole park was based on a scene in Africa and people flocked there. You have to wonder what could possibly go wrong in a water park? Well something did and 28 people were killed. It seems that the roof collapsed. Not only were 28 people killed, but many more were injured. The roof was glass. The architect who designed the roof said that it must have been a terrorist attack, but the cause turned out to be faulty design. The park is gone today and in its place will be built a medical center for people with spinal column trauma. The park was Transvaal Park.

In 2006, at Bush Gardens, it was reported by Theme Park Insider that a 17 year old boy broke a leg, after riding on Alpengeight ,in two places . He had a pre existing condition and this may have contributed to the break.

The Alton Towers ride, in Staffordshire, called the Runaway Mine Train caused a terrible accident last year. 29 people were injured and four of them had to be taken to the hospital. The train disconnected with the front car separating from the rest. I am not sure, but I think the front car rolled back into the front of the ride somehow. It isn't that clear. What is clear is that some of the injured that went to the hospital had to be airlifted. BBC reported that 6 people went to the hospital. Here is how they describe their ride, "rattle along the rickety rails and mine shafts, past trees and rivers, on a speeding locomotive that’s out of control - and getting faster every second".

Galaxyland amusement park is located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It has a roller coaster that is billed as the world's largest triple loop coaster. The coaster consisted of four cars. On June 14, 1986, the coaster completed the second inverted loop, some bolts on the wheel assembly came loose and this caused the last car to bounce violently, throwing out passengers. As the coaster headed into the third loop, the coaster didn't have enough speed to get through it and rolled backwards, crashing into a concrete pillar. Three people were killed and one man paralyzed. It was found that since the maintenance instructions were in German, there were problems in the translation. Poor design was also cited at the time, because it was felt there were not enough wheels The coaster train car wheel assemblies were redesigned and additional wheel sets added, also breaking stations were installed before each loop. Full shoulder restraints were installed to prevent riders from falling out. Maintenance schedules were increased along with downtimes and since then, the coaster has had an excellent safety record.

Amusement park operators like to say that 90% of all accidents are caused by the rider. The response of a commission investigating amusement parks found that poor ride design, ride failure, improper maintenance, incorrect operation and rider misbehavior all cause accidents and that the bottom line was that a ride is only as safe as the system makes it. Here is a surprise, fixed site rides and those set up at fairs and such rank about the same in safeness. There are 26 states that don't regulate amusement park rides in this country. In the other 24 states there is no uniform approach to improving safety. 19 states check rides that are fixed and not fixed for safety. Other states that inspect rides only check for building codes and electrical connections and 2 only check non fixed rides. There is a Federal agency that has jurisdiction of non fixed rides and this is the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. They are more of a data collection agency and look into accidents, recalls and safety concerns and disseminate this information to state and local officials.

How many injures are there in a year at amusement parks in the U.S.? In 2005, there were over 15,000. If we check the figures from 1987 to 2000 we find that there were 4.5 deaths related to amusement parks for each of those years.

ScienceDaily published an article dated January 11, 2002 that stated Thrill rides may be the mysterious cause of neurological symptoms. They claim that since some of the rides have reached G-forces (1 G equals force of gravity). that exceed those experienced by astronauts on the space shuttle, that there may be an increase in head, neck and back trauma. They also claim the risk of injury is 1 in 124,000 rides. This is not the whole story however, there could be neurological injury that was caused by rides that we are not aware of. It is believed that the number of injuries are underestimated. "With fierce competition to build faster, more thrilling rides, we're concerned roller coaster G forces will reach and exceed the body's threshold of tolerance, giving rise to a wave of amusement park injuries each year," added Dr. Braksiek. "As these injuries occur it is important that physicians are vigilant in reporting these injuries to authorities to help determine whether these rides are unsafe."