The chief executive of Six Flags says the company will install seat belts on the Georgia roller coaster from which a rider fell to his death earlier this month. The company’s rides with similar restraints will also get the safety upgrade.
The theme park operator announced the extra safeguard less than two weeks after 42-year-old Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem of Atlanta died after being ejected from his seat on the Goliath coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia.
Did you feel like you were riding a flying carpet?
Honestly, everytime I road it I DIDN’T have that feeling because of the knowledge that I didn’t have a seatbelt on.
Youve got a lap bar, and the roller coaster lover in you wants to raise your hands and maybe even push off your feet a little to raise your body into the air. Which would be awesome, if you had a physical strap holding you under the main restraint.
But, I never did, the restraint feels like you can slip out. And, I remember “testing it” too. I sat forward in my seat and stuck by gut out, the operators let the ride go with the restraint clearly not tight enough on my body. I had ridden it enough times to know that I could still click it and lock it myself going up the hill. Which I did, obviously. But I can definitely see how that could happen without the rider even noticing.
But, is is kind of wild, to see this article after all these years. I always felt that the restraints on that ride were bad.