The chief executive of Six Flags says the company will install seat belts on the Georgia roller coaster from which a rider fell to his death earlier this month. The company’s rides with similar restraints will also get the safety upgrade.
The theme park operator announced the extra safeguard less than two weeks after 42-year-old Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem of Atlanta died after being ejected from his seat on the Goliath coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia.
Seatbelts! Of course!
Seat belts in addition to the “bar” that goes across your lap…
Which still isn’t enough, they should all have the shoulder harness, but those are expensive.
Bolting in seatbelts doesn’t fix anything, but it’s cheap and reassures the idiots who still go to the capitalist hellscapes that are modern Theme Parks.
The only reason they’re doing the seatbelts is because the deaths hurt their profits.
I’m not sure why you think lap belts won’t help. There are some rides that warrant shoulder restraints, but typically engineers use physics to determine where the loads and accelerations are. It isn’t strictly a matter of cost. Roller coaster accidents are not some rampant death trap. They could be safer, and lap belts in many cases will help.
I think the main cost isn’t the purchase price, but rather the operational costs of ride operators having to individually check that everyone is buckled properly. It would slow down the ride and/or increase labor costs due to multiple attendants.