Are Roller Coasters Safe?

Aug. 1 -- On the first plunge, riders on Six Flags' Goliath are dropped 120 feet into a mist-filled tunnel, then fly out and climb slowly up a banked 200-foot high turn. As they hit the air, negative G-forces induce a few seconds of a sense of floating.

Then riders whirl through a quick set of curves that drop finally into three spirals. The ride reaches speeds up to 85 miles per hour and lasts about three minutes.

Some people don't think this is safe.

Several studies have documented neurological injuries, mainly sudbural hematomas or brain bleeding, occurring in riders of coasters. None of the studies has concluded that the rides cause subdural hematomas, but some neurologists warn that the incredible G- forces [force of gravity, which changes with inertia and momentum on a roller coaster and in space] and speeds of the new coasters may cause this brain bleeding to occur.

To top it off, federal regulation by the U.S. Consumer Protection Safety Commission of coasters ended in 1981, before the impressive new coasters were built.

Newer, Faster and Linear

Last month, a 28-year-old woman died after riding the Goliath at a Six Flags in Valencia, Calif. The Los Angeles coroner's office said Monday she died from a brain aneurysm.

The office, in a statement, said the cause could not be linked directly to the ride. There is some evidence that the woman had previous vascular problems. Most parks advise people with stroke history or high blood pressure not to ride the new super coasters.

"The roller coaster did not cause the aneurysm to form butthe stress and strain of the ride probably was a factor" incausing the fragile, blister-like flaw in a brain artery to burst,Scott Carrier, spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner, said in a written statement.

"Although it is rare for people to develop subdural hematomas after riding roller coasters, it can happen," said neurologist Toshio Fukutake of Chiba University School of Medicine in Japan.

Fukutake is the author of a study published last year by the American Academy of Neurology. It looked at several cases of subdural hematomas occurring in people who rode several roller coasters in one day at a theme park in Japan.