6- summer fun under scrutiny
When summer hits, it's amusement park season. Crowds rush the open doors of theme parks across the world. In Istanbul, it's Luna Park. Paris, Tokyo, and Los Angeles have Disneyland. Some people wait in line for hours for their favorite rides. Roller coasters provide much of the draw for young and old alike. There's the thrill of the height, the rush of sound, the feeling of being weightless, and then the falling down,down, down! In fact, the names of the rides alone hint at the thrill that is to come: Australia has the Tower of Terror and Japan the Steel Dragon.
But is this summertime tradition safe? A quick glance at the national newspaper headlines from July 2011 makes the thrills seem hardly worth the risk. "Freak roller coaster accidents cause concern over their safety," reads one article. At a theme park in New York in the United States, a twenty-nine-year-old father was thrown from the roller coaster Ride of Steel as it made its rapid descent. He was wearing a safety belt at the time. A couple of days later in the state of Texas, riders were suspended 14 stories up in the air for over 30 minutes before being able to climb down an emergency stairway to safety.
These accidents lead to questions about how roller coasters are regulated. What went wrong on the Ride of Steel to result in a man's death? Many times in accidents such as these, the cause is not clear. In this particular case, an investigation by the Department of Labor was conducted to obtain more information. The department found that it was not that the roller coaster was unsafe, but that the ride operators violated the rules. On this ride, safety devices restrain the legs, shins, and lap to secure each person in the car. The rules required riders to have both legs so they can be property secured on the ride. The man who was thrown, however, didn't have either of his legs, but he was still permitted to board the ride.
As a result of this death, the park implemented new practices. Now alt employees who operate the ride must be retrained in safety procedures, new signs must be Posted that specify the safety regulatFons. and' park management must now review the safety" procedures prior to a ride operator's shift.
However, it's not just the adventure seekers that are in danger. Rides aren't fully automated; they need operators. Unfortunately, operators have also been the victims of accidents. A twenty-four- year-old ride operator in Sautron, France, died when he left the control booth and his legs were crushed under the ride. In order for rides to operate safely, both riders and operators have to adhere to rules and restrictions. In the Ride of Steel accident, the theme park was initially accused of employing ride operators that were under the legal adult age of eighteen. New York state law requires ride operators to be at least eighteen years old. In later reports, the park was able to clarify that the operators of the ride were over eighteen.
Even if passengers and ride operators follow guidelines, are roller coasters safe? Each year, as amusement parks compete to draw in crowds, new, faster, and taller roller coasters are built. In 2011, Japan opened what is claimed to be the world's steepest roller coaster. Its name Takibisha means "high-flying car." And in fact, riders may feel like they are flying or actually falling as they experience its steepest drop from the dizzying height of 141 feet at an angle of 121 degrees. In Abu Dhabi, the roller coaster Formula Rossa holds the record for the fastest speed at 149 miles per hour. If this sounds fast, that's because it is. The average passenger airplane, such as a Boeing 757, reaches a speed of about 160 to 180 miles per hour at takeoff.
In fact, the same software and technology being used to develop aircraft like Boeing's is what is making such dramatic heights, speeds, curves, and thrills possible on new roller coasters. Jim Seay, president of the roller coaster design firm premier Rides, explains in an article for Popular Mechanics that roller coasters are able to reach extreme speeds and heights because of "new engineering tools, quicker computers and exotic materials." He adds that "high-tech materials like carbon-fiber composites opened the door to more sophisticated designs because they reduce weight and the resulting stresses on large support structures." This new technology affects everything from the shape and design of the roller coaster to the motors that power it. For example, computer-aided design allows engineering feats resulting in rides like Fahrenheit, in Pennsylvania, that propels riders down at a 97-degree angle. That is seven degrees past a vertical drop. New linear induction motors, which are designed to accelerate an object to a very high speed with magnetic waves, are used in a ride at Six Rags in the United States. Riders reach speeds of 70 miles per hour in only 4 seconds.
It's no wonder that critics and safety advocates worry about the trauma caused by traveling at such speeds. Douglas Smith, a University of Pennsylvania neurologist, conducted tests in 2003 to analyze how a person's head rotates while on a ride. It's the rotation of the head, along with the excessive speeding up and slowing down. that is the main cause of brain injury. He found that people's head rotation and acceleration and deceleration white on rides were not at levels that would cause brain injury. Since then, he's repeated the study, and initial data support his first findings. Yet doctors will continue to issue warnings, as will riders who have experienced injury firsthand. A recent article in Popular Mechanics links roller coaster riding with hearing loss. One doctor, whose patient turned his head during a ride and suffered an eardrum- blasting pressure, explained: "The faster the ride moves and the larger the change in altitude, the higher the force that is applied to the ear." This is why he now recommends that people look straight ahead while riding roller coasters. However, Bryan Pfister, a biomedical engineer at New Jersey's Science and Technology University, conducted a study that found the effect on the head during a roller coaster ride to be similar to the wallops one receives while pillow-fighting or playing sports. With his findings, he questions whether the accidents from roller coasters are a real threat or a freak occurrence.
It's no question that accidents from roller coasters can be serious and even fatal, and that the public and the amusement parks 145 themselves can benefit from a serious look at ride regulations and requirements. The future is only going to bring more innovative design and more pulse-pumpjng rides. And for every new roller coaster, there's likely to be a line of eager riders wrapping around the corner.
