No

by Shannon Lisa

Created on: January 17, 2008

Amusement park rides are obviously not 'safe' because people continue to get hurt on them, people continue to die on them. When is everyone going to realize that anything you volunteer to get into that you know isn't safe....is never going to be really safe? You can argue until your face turns blue...but the fact of the matter is that while it is true that nothing in this world is truly 'safe' by any measure because...stuff happens...amusement park rides are a risk you choose to take and you cannot get upset if something negative happens. I think it is sad that people get so angry when them or someone they know gets hurt on an amusement park ride...either because of neglegence on the part of the park staff, or stupidity on the part of the person....they sue the park. It is ridiculous because it isn't always the parks fault. Besides that, who told you the ride was entirely safe when you got on it in the first place? No one, that's who.

You all know perfectly well that people get hurt and/or die on amusement park rides across the United States everyday...if you don't know that already then go ahead, do a little research. I have. I found out tons of web pages with accounts relating how they or someone they know was paid off to lie about a leg they broke on a ride at some park. They get money, and they tell their friends they broke their leg falling down the stairs. I've found pages that show records of accidents at amusement parks across the nation, they keep accounts of it so that people will know. Not every accident or death makes the media. Not every accident or death has tons of witnesses. Some of the accidents and deaths happen after hours when staff people are using the rides. It happens, and the park covers it up often enough. You know that there are liars and cheats in the world, that being the case, it isn't too far fetched to think that there are more amusement park accidents than you know about, or want to think about.

All that aside, nothing in this world is safe no matter what we do...that doesn't mean amusement park rides are automatically safer just because there is supposedly less occurance of death and/or injury. Just because you have gone to Six Flags every day of your life since you were born and nothing has happened to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen at all.

Amusement park rides are not safe, no, but they are fun...and to some they are worth what is viewed as a small risk.

Remember, the human factor always raises or lowers the safety of something depending. Now more and more amusement parks are hiring younger and younger people to run the rides. There was a case not too long ago, some 17 year old accidently leaned on the emergency stop button for some ride and the patrons were stuck upside on the ride for about 2 hours before the fire department could get them down. That doesn't sound like a safe person running the ride to me. It sounds like someone who was getting a little lazy, or not paying enough attention. I know accidents happen, but when you are in charge of a ride that has people on it their lives are in your hands. Not everyone cares about your life enough to worry about whether or not they run the ride right. Not everyone worries about your life enough to care whether or not accidents happen while they are in charge.

People do dumb stuff sometimes while riding, and, amazingly enough, at times those dumb actions put OTHER peoples lives at risk. Things have been dropped from tall rides that injured patrons below, people have done stupid things while riding a ride that caused the ride to derail and injure others besides themselves, people have done things in which they or body parts of theirs were flung at high speeds into riders behind or in front of them causing injury or potential death. I understand these things are preventable, but the fact that they happen at all means the ride is not safe. Being able to prevent something doesn't mean it won't ever happen at all, it means there is something you can do to help prevent it from happening. That doesn't magically make a ride safe.

On top of all that there is the fact that anything that is 'safe' usually doesn't include a ton of warnings before you do it. Don't do this if you have heart problems, back problems, get motion sickness, are pregnant, are too tall, too short, too stupid, don't stand up, don't touch this, make sure you're strapped in or you'll fall out, don't put your hands in the air, don't throw stuff while in motion, don't open your eyes, don't touch anything, don't do this...don't do that...if you do you might die or kill someone...blah blah blah...sounds perfectly safe to me...

It is a known fact, people die on amusement park rides.

That means they are not safe.

Sorry if it bursts any bubbles to know that, but it is a sad fact of life. A lot of fun things aren't safe. It doesn't mean you shouldn't ever do them...it means you should exercise precaution when you do. It is a choice just like anything else in life. But factually speaking, no, they're not safe and they never really will be.

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