Roller Coaster Dangers As Discussed By Los Angeles Amusement Park Injury Lawyer

Amusement park and theme park roller coasters and similar rides are designed to thrill its riders.  Unfortunately, in an attempt to attract more guests, the roller coasters which have been designed lately have been causing serious injuries to amusement park guests. 

Roller Coasters Are Now More Dangerous And May Cause Serious Injuries

Just a few years ago, the average roller coaster traveled around 55 miles per hour.  With ever increasing technology, the amusement parks, theme parks, and water parks began building all of their rides higher, faster and scarier.  As these new rides were being built, the average speed of these rides began steadily increasing where some roller coasters now travel over 100 miles per hour - nearly double the maximum speed from just a few years ago.

Roller Coaster G-Force Serious Injuries

The G-force experienced by someone at rest is 1 g.  Fighter pilots in loops or tight turns may experienced G-forces in upwards of 7 to 8 Gs.  A roller coaster's G-forces are generally around 4 to 5 Gs when the roller coaster changes direction or makes a sharp turn, ascent or descent.

With the increased height and speed of today's amusement park roller coasters, this has created extreme g-forces on the roller coaster riders.  Gravitational forces or g-forces pulls and pushes on the roller coaster rider's body as the roller coaster climbs, descends, loops, twists, makes sharp turns, stops or rapidly accelerates.  All of these motions of the roller coaster can cause serious g-force injuries such as brain injuries, diffuse axonal injuries, brain trauma, spinal cord injuries, brain hemorrages, paralysis, paraplegia, blood clots, and quadriplegia.

The G-Forces experienced by a roller coaster rider are the most extreme at the bottom of a hill where the roller coaster pushes the roller coaster rider's body down into the seat of the roller coaster.  When a roller coaster is making a turn, G-Forces are excerted on the roller coaster rider on the side of the body.  Similarly, as the roller coaster is accelerating, G-Forces push the roller coaster rider backward into the roller coaster back support, and similarly when a roller coaster brakes or stops suddenly, G-Forces push the roller coaster rider forward into the belt support, belt restraint, or shoulder safety restraints.

How Should Roller Coasters Be Designed?

The majority of amusement park roller coasters are designed where the roller coaster is brought to an apex and the roller coaster then descends and goes into a curve where the roller coaster rider is never totally weightless.  However, as the limits of roller coasters are continually challenged, some roller coasters are traveling at such high speeds that the roller coaster rider experiences negative gravity.  When negative gravity occurs, the roller coaster rider will experience being momentarily separated from the roller coaster seat.  It is then the responsibility of the roller coaster's safety restraint system to keep the roller coaster rider safe by preventing them from falling out of the roller coaster.  When these safety restraints are faulty or improperly secured, the roller coaster rider may fall from great heights resulting in broken bones, brain damage, quadriplegia, loss of a limb, amputation or even death.

Do Roller Coasters Effect Everyone The Same?

While the effects experienced by roller coaster riders are generally the same, small children and those roller coaster riders who are of light weight may not be properly secured in the roller coaster safety restraint system.  As a direct result of the safety restraints being built for a one-size-fits-all mentality, these lighter weight riders may slide around within the confines of the roller coaster and may suffer serious injuries.  Similarly, large or heavy roller coaster riders may not be proprely secured by the restraint system where the restraints may fail or were initially improperly secured where that roller coaster rider may fall out of the roller coaster and suffer serious roller coaster injuries.

Amusement parks, theme parks and water parks attempt to limit their liability on roller coasters by occusing injuried patrons and guests of their roller coaster ride that the forces experienced which caused the injury were beyond their control.  However, it is the responsibility of the amusement park to run tests and evaluate the safety of all of their rides, and they should be held responsible for any roller coaster injuries they directly cause. 

Amusement parks, theme parks and water parks also attempt to limit their exposure to lawsuits by posting signs that they are not responsible if the roller coaster rider was suffering from a pre-exisitng physical condition or where the roller coaster rider's caused his own injuries.  It is therefore imperative that you hire a Roller Coaster Injury Lawyer to evaluate your case and provide legal advice on how to proceed in recovering for your roller coaster injuries resulting from your roller coaster accident.

Contact Our Los Angeles, California Roller Coaster Accident Lawyers

If you or a loved one has suffered serious injuries as a result of a California Roller Coaster Accident, please call and speak with one of our Roller Coaster Accident Lawyers for a free confidential consultation.

Call our Los Angeles Roller Coaster Accident Lawyers today at 800-715-4489.