How the amusement ride industry maintains a fairly sound safety record despite taking the human body to exhilarating extremes.
According to the statistics, you are far more likely to die by lightning strike than in a roller coaster accident.
In the UK, the odds of being killed on an amusement ride are 300
million to one, whereas the odds of being killed by lightning are 10 million to
one. In the US, around 1.7 billion rides are taken by nearly 300 million people
each year, and from 1994 to 2004, the country reported an average of just four deaths per year. Comparatively, an average of 39 people
die each year in the US from being struck by lightning.
Thanks to
safety regulations and industry compliance, roller coasters manage to maintain
a fairly sound safety record despite pushing the human body to exhilarating
extremes.
The most extreme
The Formula Rossa in the Abu Dhabi theme park Ferrari World is the fastest
roller coaster in the world, reaching speeds of 149mph. Aided by hydraulic power, it accelerates from 0 to
62mph in two seconds. Built by the Liechtenstein manufacturer Intamin, the ride’s
track was modelled after the Italian racetrack Autodromo Nazionale Monza,
located north of Milan, which hosts the Formula One Italian Grand Prix motor
racing championship every year.
On the
horizon is a new source of adrenaline rush. Rather than trying to be the fastest or highest, the California
design firm BRC Imagination Arts wants to make
riders feel weightless for eight continuous seconds. The idea is to
replicate what
astronauts feel as they train for zero gravity
conditions, which is why the proposed ride looks
a lot like a spaceship. Named the Vomit
Comet, after what astronauts have nicknamed the NASA KC-145A aircraft, the
structure is fully enclosed and glides down a horizontal track, only to be
whipped straight up along a vertical axis and then back down again. Though
the ride has been designed, it has not yet been bought by a specific theme
park.
But how much
more thrilling could these rides technically get before they become
life-threatening?
Rides undergo rigorous
testing to comply with safety standards, explained Jim Seay, president of the US-based manufacturer Premier Rides and chairman of a committee on amusement
rides safety for the global industrial standards group ASTM International. Premier Rides, which is
currently working with Bollywood producer Manmohan Shetty to bring a massive
high-end amusement park to the outskirts of Mumbai, has a new roller coaster
opening at California’s Six
Flags Discovery Kingdom called Superman
Ultimate Flight, a ride launched by a magnetic propulsion system. “[Worldwide,] the actual engineering
of the rides is very similar to the design approach you would see for
commercial or military aircraft,” described Seay, who previously worked in the
aerospace industry.
First, a rendering of a roller
coaster goes through a round of virtual computer testing to determine if the
structure can run properly under various configurations. Then, engineers from
the theme park — and sometimes government inspectors — review the design. If
they sign off on it, the ride is built in parts, using high-tech machines that can
bend steel within millimetre accuracy, creating a structure nearly identical to
the computer design. The many parts are then shipped to the theme park where the
ride is installed. “It’s very much like a giant erector set,” said Seay.
Engineers from the manufacturing company, engineers from the park and
government inspectors carry out “acceptance testing” to ensure that the ride
operates correctly and safely. After hundreds of test-runs, crash test dummies are
strapped into the coaster and it goes through hundreds more cycles. If all is
well, safety personnel from the manufacturer ride the coaster to make sure it
is running as desired. At that point, ride operators and maintenance
professionals are trained by the design company. Only then does the park start
bringing in the public.
Playing it safe
Over the centuries, roller coasters
have become both more exciting and safer. The first roller coasters may have been Russian ice slides built in the
late 16th Century. Compare that with today’s ultra-sophisticated,
ultra-precise, carefully-engineered coasters, which are bigger, faster and more
death-defying (or at least marketed that way) than ever before. Regulations
have also increased dramatically – especially considering that some countries,
such as the US, had no regulations at all until the 1960s.
Roller coaster regulation
varies from country to country. For instance, in Singapore, the Building and
Construction Authority, an agency of the federal Ministry of National
Development, oversees amusement ride safety. In the US, on the other hand, the
federal government only regulates rides at travelling carnivals and fairs,
while state governments regulate stationary parks. Rules vary at the local
level, too. Florida, home to Walt Disney World, for example, has state
officials who inspect rides at theme parks with fewer than 1,000 employees, but
the state relies on large parks like Disney World and Universal Studios to
regulate themselves.
Globally, the nonprofit
group ASTM International (formerly the American Society for Testing and
Materials) sets voluntary safety standards for the industry regarding design,
manufacturing, maintenance and operations. While many governments have adopted their
own safety standards, the on Amusement
Ride Safety Even when states and countries have their own laws, the industry
uses ASTM standards as an overarching roadmap . Twice a year, a group of
engineers, park operators, regulators, consumer advocates and other experts
from around the world meet to update and revise these standards.
Zip line attractions, for
example, are beginning to emerge in theme parks throughout the world, said David
Mandt, spokesman for the trade association the International Association of
Amusement Parks and Attractions. Since previous standards had not addressed
commercial zip lines in great detail, an ASTM International subcommittee is
working on developing a
new standard for
these kinds of rides.
Although amusement rides are
relatively safe overall, individuals with heart conditions should not go on roller coasters, since they can speed up the
heart rate and potentially lead to a cardiovascular event. Pregnant women are
also advised against riding roller coasters. For healthy visitors, most theme
parks post rider safety guidelines for roller coasters and other rides.
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