Fatal rollercoaster crash in Georgia sparks safety debate

A terrifying rollercoaster crash that claimed a life has sparked fresh anxiety about how safe thrill rides truly are. Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, 42 years old, died after being thrown from his seat at a Six Flags park in Georgia and discovered trapped beneath the attraction by rescue teams. The tragedy comes on the heels of other recent safety scares involving theme parks, including claims that another coaster at Six Flags left riders with brain injuries. This begs the question: are these rides getting more dangerous, or do fatal accidents remain incredibly uncommon?

Professor Doug Perovic, a forensic engineering expert from the University of Toronto, says there is no need for panic. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he called it 'a really unusual event.' The Cobb County Police Department confirmed the incident happened on Monday just before 4pm local time at Six Flags Over Georgia. While officials have not officially named the ride, video footage from news helicopters showed Goliath halting halfway through its run. Witnesses also pointed to Goliath as the site of the fatal crash.

In a statement released Tuesday, the police explained that officers responded to an issue involving a male guest on a rollercoaster. Preliminary details gathered from interviews with employees and witnesses suggest Kariem was ejected from the ride and struck other patrons before falling beneath the structure. In response, Six Flags temporarily shut down nine coasters across the United States and Canada as a precautionary measure.

Professor Perovic points to a failure in the restraint system as the most probable cause of the accident. The Goliath attraction uses only one restraint with no backup safety features or redundancy. If that single lock fails, the rider can be thrown from their seat. Several factors could trigger such a specific malfunction, according to the professor. One possibility is a design flaw in Goliath itself, though this seems unlikely because a major design issue would likely have caused many more incidents over the years of operation. Similarly, Perovic does not believe operator error would cause a failure isolated to just one chair.

The more plausible explanations include a manufacturing defect that broke down a specific chair, an inspection mistake that allowed faulty parts to remain in service, or something Mr Ibn Kariem did while on the ride. Six Flags has not yet released initial findings from their investigation, but one or a mix of these factors likely caused the single restraint to fail.

Despite the horror, Professor Perovic insists this was 'a very very rare' incident and does not reflect a broader trend in rollercoaster safety. 'Rollercoasters are safe,' he said. The systems governing design and manufacturing are built well, and inspection and maintenance happen on a routine, regular basis. When asked if he personally would ride or take his sons on such an attraction, the answer was yes.

There's always some risk in the things we do, but the risks in this case are so, so small." That statement sits beside a troubling reality. The Doan Law Firm tracks injuries at amusement parks, and their records show this incident is just one of several deaths linked to Six Flags Over Georgia. Two occurred when guests suffered medical emergencies during visits. Two died in car-related incidents. One person passed away months after using the park's pool. Another two were struck by rides after entering restricted areas they should not have accessed.

Consider the case of Michael Corry, a 45-year-old man who lost consciousness immediately after riding Goliath and subsequently died from what appeared to be a heart attack. An autopsy revealed a congenital heart condition was the true cause. The coaster reopened shortly after workers determined it was operating properly. This highlights a key point: deaths directly caused by malfunctioning or unsafe rollercoasters are extremely rare, yet they do happen.

The Six Flags Entertainment Corporation stands as the largest theme park operator in North America by number of locations. They manage 20 amusement parks, 14 water parks and nine resorts across Canada, the US and Mexico. Over the last 15 years alone, two deaths related to falling from the company's rollercoasters have led to lawsuits and settlements. In a 2011 case involving an Iraq war veteran, he was ejected from a ride in New York and hit his head on another car. Then in 2013, a woman slipped from the restraints of a rollercoaster in Texas and fell 75ft (23m), resulting in her death.

This recent tragedy follows a specific event at Six Flags Magic Mountain where the popular X2 rollercoaster was forced to close after a report linked it to more than a dozen severe injuries. Christopher Hawley, pictured centre, died in June 2022 on the day after visiting that park and riding the X2. He was not alone. It later emerged these incidents were just the latest in a string of life-changing and fatal brain injuries related to the ride.

Statistically speaking, rollercoasters have generally proven to be extremely safe over the last few decades. Despite around 300 million people riding rollercoasters each year in the US alone, injuries and fatalities remain exceptionally uncommon. A 2013 study found that 4,423 children in the US went to the emergency room each year between 1990 and 2010 for treatment of injuries resulting from amusement park rides. Common injuries were to the head and neck, usually caused when a child fell off, onto or against a ride. But these injuries tend to be minor. Deaths usually occur as isolated cases rather than being caused by unsafe rides in general. Hospitalisation rates for rollercoasters are low, sitting at just 1.5 per cent annually, with an average of 4.5 deaths per year.

However, ejections aren't the only possible source of danger. Even coasters that are working perfectly well can cause fatal injuries if they are too extreme. A 2005 study found there were 39 deaths associated with rollercoasters in the US between 1994 and 2004. Fifteen of those were caused by bleeding of the brain or cardiac problems. Scientists have found that the forces created by most rollercoasters are lower than those exerted by football headers, but X2's unique design created a much greater impact.

On July 12, Six Flags permanently closed its X2 ride a day after the second of two catastrophic brain-injury incidents occurred less than a week apart. It later emerged that these incidents were just the latest in a string of life-changing and fatal brain injuries related to the ride. Studies suggest that the forces exerted by a typical rollercoaster are generally not sufficient to cause brain trauma. According to one 2017 study, rollercoasters lead to brain strains smaller than mild football headers and comparable to the forces exerted while running. However, X2's four-dimensional design makes it significantly tougher on riders' bodies.

In addition to reaching a top speed of 76mph (120km/h) and featuring a 215ft (65m) drop, the seats also rotate independently. During two so-called raven turns, the carriages spin upside down while looping, sending the riders backwards into sheer drops. Experts now believe that the rollercoaster's design pushed the human body beyond safe limits, leading to extremely rapid acceleration in the brain. As the brain accelerates within the skull, this creates very rapid deformations in the brain, which can lead to diffuse axonal injury, tissue tears, and vascular disruptions. Studies show that the peak velocity exerted on the brain by a rollercoaster is comparable to sprinting and less than a header, but exceptionally dangerous rides like X2 require further investigation.

Professor Perovic suggests this extreme design may have arisen as coaster manufacturers continue to try to one-up each other with faster, higher designs. He adds that X2's intense G-force generating turns appear to have gone over the limit. People have a duty to find out whether they are medically safe to ride a coaster, but when it comes to that level of brain injury, that is not something an individual can control. The question now is whether there should be regulations on rollercoasters just like we have with speeds on motorways.

A spokesperson from Six Flags Over Georgia told the Daily Mail: "The safety of our guests and associates is our highest priority. While we are unable to comment on specifics related to the incident or currently closed rides at this time, we are committed to rigorous ride inspection, maintenance and safety procedures that meet or exceed industry standards.