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| Accidents |
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| Although roller coasters are extremely safe, there have been many accidents, usually due to computer malfunctions. Since there are so many, I can only list a few. In 1990, the Timber Wolf`'s computers at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, MO, went berserk! The cars smacked into each other and broke 48 peoples' legs! In 1997, young Ryan Bielby, a fourteen-year-old female, slipped out of her restraints to try and switch seats ,but never made it to the other seat and fell to her death. A sixteen-year-old boy flew out of the front of the Timber Wolf and broke his arm and a rib. He says his restraints came loose, but Worlds of Fun says that is impossible. His parents sued, and got 2.5 million dollars. |
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| The lap bars popped up, two people died, and three were injured on the Thunder Runner at Kentucky Kingdom. Again at Kentucky, seven-year-old Mary Noonan suffered a collapsed lung after her car crashed into another! |
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| On the Texas Cyclone at Astro World in Houston, designers added better head rests because sixteen-year- old Cesar Gonzalez` head was whipped so badly, that he ruptured a vein that sent a blood clot to his brain, leaving him paralyzed. Joni Crawford, age 31, heard her neck pop, and felt her right arm go numb on the Georgia Cyclone! This type of thing often happened on the Georgia Cyclone, about three or four times a year, but they fixed that. A fourteen-year-old boy was killed, and two were injured when the Wild Cat, at Bell`s Traveling Amusement Park, malfunctioned, sending them backwards and slamming into another car. |
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| Perhaps one of the scariest roller coasters, the Stratosphere Tower, got even scarier on May 10th, 1996! While the coaster was circling the top of the 1,149 foot tower, the cylinder fell off, crashing into the observation tower. Soon after, the entire train plummeted to the ground. Fortunately, no one was killed, just injured! Now, after hearing about all those accidents, you`ll probably never go on a roller coaster again. But don`t worry, it`s a one in a million chance that it will happen to you! |
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