It was about three years ago.  I had to give a speech in a class in college about amusement ride safety. At that time, the biggest incidents had occurred on Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain, when a woman died from an aneurysm, and Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce, when a grounds worker was struck and killed.

Within the following year, Ed Markey, a congressman from Massachusetts, championed for national standards on G-forces and inspections. He even tried introducing a bill to regulate ride safety at a national level (National Amusement Park Ride Safety Act of 2001, HR 1488).  In addition, New Jersey made the move to tighten laws on new amusement rides as well as published the first standards governing G-forces.

Enthusiasts cried foul. They said that Markey had no business getting into regulating amusement rides. I remember that I was one of them crying foul at the time.  I thought Markey was someone who really should be worrying about other things that were going on in the nation.  Markey's legislation apparently died in committee, since it did not even come up for a vote.

However, this was before I even worked at an amusement park.

In 2002, I started working at Michigan's Adventure.  When I started there, the park was fresh off of its own incident--when Chaos collapsed and injured over 30 people. The State of Michigan eventually found the park to mainly be at fault. However, you have to realize that Michigan's Adventure was also in the middle of a transition period between owners, and many of the procedures Cedar Fair uses were not implemented yet.

I learned quickly about operating a ride "by the book." I didn't learn from my fellow employees--not even my supervisors. I learned from Andre Ransom: the rides manager of Michigan's Adventure at the time.  I also learned from the training guides we had to use. Sometimes I would be in charge of a ride, and I would see other crewmembers misbehaving. More and more it would irritate me. Of note: most of those goofing off were under 18.

Eventually, I was training other employees on the rides I worked on, and I think I trained them better than anyone else I know did. They usually followed the rules, and I probably considered them some of the best operators I worked with. I knew they were trained well when they come to me asking why others were doing this or that when they're not supposed to.

After Michigan's Adventure, I worked at Cedar Point, where I worked parts of 2002 and 2003. Both years I worked on the Magnum XL-200. It was a smooth transition... and I kind of have to owe that thanks to Andre.

I remember watching the training videos both years. I remember having a strong reaction to the person who was disobeying the rules in the video (yeah I know it was all acted, but still). It finally hit me in 2002 that I was becoming an enthusiast who didn't have his own personal thrill ahead of all else--including his and other's safety.

When the news began to hit about these recent incidents--such as the Superman: Ride of Steel incident, it made me think of all the recent problems with the Intamin coasters and safety issues. I also figured that it had hit the fan in terms of overall safety, especially when we were still fresh from last year's Stark Raven Mad incident at Holiday World, where an ACE member was thrown from the Raven roller coaster and died as a result because she had unbuckled her seatbelt and had a high lapbar.

When Massachusetts required Six Flags New England to implement a state-approved fix on Superman: Ride of Steel, I figured that more was to follow. Sure enough, it did. First, Cedar Point announced changes in how restraints are to be used, eliminating many people from being able to ride Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster. And just within the past couple of days, the State of California announced that any Intamin ride with the T-bar style lapbar (specifically Superman: The Escape and Xcelerator) had to be closed while they apply fixes to their restraints.

To top it off, Markey recently introduced a bill to Congress requiring ride operators to be 18 across the board.  The bill was introduced days before the Superman - Ride of Steel incident.  However, it would not have affected the state of Massachusetts, since they already require all ride operators to be 18.

Again, enthusiasts cried foul. They even complained about how they were once able to ride Millennium Force and Dragster, and now they can't.  Again, they said that the government has no business in deciding how parks run themselves. 

Again, I found myself frustrated. This time, it's not directed toward Markey, and it's not directed toward any of the governments.  It's directed at many of the enthusiasts.

Intamin and Ride Safety

When you consider the incidents on all of the Intamin rides, they all were built in 1999 or later.  The only real exception is Superman: The Escape, at Six Flags Magic Mountain, which opened in 1997 (but was supposed to open in late 1996), but has been affected by California's orders to shut down any ride with the Intamin T-bar restraint. 

The affected rides are the following:

- Superman - Ride of Steel at Six Flags Darien Lake (1999)
- Perilous Plunge at Knott's Berry Farm (a River Plunge Ride) (2001)
- Hydro at Oakwood Theme Park (a River Plunge Ride) (2004)
- Superman - Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England (2004)

In every case, the restraints were cited or scrutinized in some way, shape, or form.  Of these incidents, only Perilous Plunge and Superman - Ride of Steel (New England) had restraint modifications performed.  Perilous Plunge received nylon torso belts, while Superman - Ride of Steel received an added belt (for the bar itself), shorter seatbelts, and ankle restraints.

In addition, Six Flags New England's Superman - Ride of Steel had an earlier incident in 2001 where the brakes failed to activate and it collided into the waiting train in the station, injuring 22 people.  Intamin used magnetic brakes that activated when air pressure was applied (and not activated when pressure was released like most other coaster brake systems use).  One of the air lines ruptured, causing pressure loss, and the loss of braking power by the magnets.  Because of this, braking power was reduced, causing the collision.

After the Darien Lake incident, nothing was changed, especially because they cited the rider's weight (which was around 300 pounds at the time of the incident).  They did examine how the restraints possibly played a role, but the examination was from the rider's standpoint (and not the restraints).  They re-inspected the ride, and reopened it.  Since then, it has not had any incidents.

Hydro's incident is currently under investigation.  Intamin has come in and examined the ride's restraints for failure.  In addition, criminal charges are being considered.  It remains unclear if any changes will be made, similar to what happened on Perilous Plunge.

Markey and Ride Safety

Rep. Edward Markey has been a champion (or enemy, according to some) for amusement ride safety.  He has had several supporters, which include fellow members of Congress, various associations and groups, as well as victims of ride incidents and their parents, friends, and relatives.  On the flip side, he also has had his opponents, which include various members of Congress, industry groups (such as IAAPA), amusement and theme parks, and coaster and ride enthusiasts.

He has attempted to introduce legislation in 1999, 2001, and 2003 to make the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) responsible for regulating rides at amusement parks nationwide.  Each time he has introduced the bill, it has stalled in committee.

Currently, the CPSC is responsible for regulating traveling rides (such as carnival rides).  However, the language in the bill excludes permanent rides.  Rep. Markey's bills have aimed to fix that loophole, thus making the CPSC responsible for all amusement rides. 

Just before the incident at Six Flags New England in May, Rep. Markey introduced the aforementioned bill, which would declare operating amusement rides as a hazardous occupation, according to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.   People have made the mistake of associating the recent legislation as a response to the incident.  However, that is not the case.

That bill is currently making its way through the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, which falls under House Education and the Workforce Committee.

Enthusiasts and Ride Safety

Revisiting Cedar Point's decision on the restraints, some criticized the park as they have above, and that they are just overreacting to something that happened with another ride at another park.

However, the park did not just arbitrarily decide to revise the park rules. Cedar Point is required by Ohio law to follow any safety directives set forth by the manufacturer (Intamin more than likely sent out such a directive after the Six Flags New England incident).

When Rep. Markey introduced the bill to Congress, enthusiasts responded like they have in the past… saying that the federal government has no business regulating amusement parks.  Some even believed that if a person could get a license to operate an automobile (16 in most states), they should also be able to operate a roller coaster.

However, enthusiasts have been under intense pressure to shape up their own act.  Since many are known to try to ride coasters while defeating the restraints (such as a high lapbar or loose or tucked away seatbelts), they have been forced to change their attitude after the incident at Holiday World in 2003.  If they do not, they face the loss of special privileges, such as exclusive ride time to enthusiast groups.  The threat came from Holiday World as well as other parks, including Cedar Point.

My Thoughts

You want to know what's ironic? I cannot even ride Millennium Force or Top Thrill Dragster myself right now.  Despite my rather slow slimming that has been going on, I will not be able to ride either-because of the new rules.

Do I think I could ride them without incident?  I believe that is more than likely. Am I going to challenge them or complain? No. Why?  It's my fault.  I'm just too big to ride it and I am going to have to slim down a lot in order to do so.

What do I think about all of the changes and new legislation? I think we are going to have to accept them. I don't like some of it myself (I am not too crazy about some of the restraint modifications as I think they could be a little better designed for comfort as well as safety), but I can also see why these regulations are being placed, not only from the outside, but also as a ride operator.  I've seen some dumb things done by both enthusiasts and members of the general public alike. 

As for the pending Ride Operator legislation… I am all for setting the minimum age at 18 for all amusement rides.  Since I have worked on several rides (including 5 roller coasters and a log flume), I have seen problems far too many problems with 16-year-olds working as ride operators and attendants.  I cited my best possible case in a post responding to a recent news article about the legislation.

In that article (http://www.thrillnetwork.com/stories_view.php/337), I had cited a time when I was working on Michigan's Adventure's Wolverine Wildcat temporarily.  We had implemented a system for checking the train during loading, which would move people through the ride faster and safer.  It worked for about 20 minutes, until a couple of minors (the term we used for those under 18 who worked as attendants) got back from their break and decided that we would have to accommodate their way of doing things.  Our system, which would have had four attendants checking the 24 passenger train's restraints and giving a method of clearing the train in a specific order, would have cut unloading/loading down to between 30-45 seconds, while increasing safety.  However, instead, those minors chose to goof off like they always do, and if it weren't for other dedicated operators (most of whom were over 18), safety might have been compromised.

Moving to Cedar Point, in a way, was a godsend.  Cedar Point has rules, which only apply to Cedar Point, where you have to be 18 to operate rides (Ohio does allow 16 year olds to operate amusement rides).  Sure, some of you may have seen us "goof off", but not in a way that compromised safety.  I have witnessed far fewer operators at Cedar Point do stuff that would compromise safety.  In addition, in many of my talks with other operators, we all were on the same level, working for the same "cornerstones" that Cedar Point requires us to follow (one of which being safety).

To counter the argument involving when you get your driver's license, you should be able to operate a ride; I think that argument is deeply flawed.  Statistically, teenagers have a higher collision rate than those who are older.  At the same time, operating a coaster is not like driving an automobile.  When operating a coaster, the operator is under the liability of the park, much like any other employee (factory worker, truck driver, etc.) is under the liability of their employer.  In virtually every state, 16-year-olds cannot operate a vehicle for commercial purposes, such as transporting or delivering other people, goods, etc.  Many commercial driving laws require drivers to be at least 18 just to drive intrastate.  However, they must be at least 21 to drive interstate highways.  It is also notable that 16-year-olds cannot operate dishwashers at most restaurants

Think of it this way:  Would you trust a 16-year-old to drive a school bus full of kids to school?  Would you trust a 16-year-old to carry hazardous materials across the country?  Would you trust a 16-year-old with oversized loads?  I wouldn't.

My final words

I am starting to support some of the legislation.  While I do believe that some parks have their act together (like Cedar Point), there are others that do not.  I think it's wrong that all I have to do is cross a state border to find that the standards of safety are different.

I also hope that Intamin gets their act together and designs safer rides.  It has become clear to me that with all these incidents involving the same type of restraint in less than five years time, there has to be a flaw.  It might be as simple as the fact that the engineers (largely Swiss and German) do not account for the size of our people here in the United States, which are generally larger (and have been getting larger) than most of those in Europe.  On the other hand, there might be a serious flaw, where it might be easy to have it improperly positioned and it might be easy to slip out.

Lastly, I hope that we enthusiasts do change our tune.  Some of it is their blame as well.  Riding a coaster is a privilege, not a right.  We, as enthusiasts, only make up a fraction of park visitors, yet we command most of their attention.  If we don't, the days of exclusive ride time and other perks will go away.

As a past ride operator, I really do hope that the legislation that is pending will save lives in the long run and keep parks operating for us to enjoy, even if it means downtime for now.