The Coaster Critic's Blog

This summer has been a tough one for the theme park industry in terms of accidents and coaster-related deaths. After an already eventful season with several incidents, July ended with two more deaths. One incident invovled a rider who had just ridden Six Flags over Georgia's brand new Goliath roller coaster. The other recent incident happened at Busch Gardens Africa in Tampa, FL. A 52 year-old man died shortly after riding Gwazi.

In both cases, and in the vast majority of cases, the causes appear to be a result of underlying medical conditions. Which reinforces the importance of posted health warnings at ride stations and queues. Aside from the deaths, there have been an unusual amount of breakdowns and non-lifethreatening accidents. Son of Beast, Volcano: The Blast Coaster, and Wild Thing are a few that have fallen victim to accidents resulting in downtime for the rides. Hopefully, this season will end without anymore deaths or accidents.