Roller coasters are made to be safe.  Like vehicles, everything man made tends to have flaws.  All it takes is one cable to break, one bolt to come loose, one wheel to fall off to make a fun day with the family a tragedy at the amusement part. Part of the fun of riding a big scary roller coaster is fearing you may fall.  But what happens when your biggest fear becomes reality? 

In all of my research, I have found that the worst accident happened on the Mind Bender in Canada.  The coaster was a triple lopper indoor ride. On the last train car a wheel sheared off at high speed and smashed into a concrete passenger killing every single passenger!!!

An accident that may be a little hard to stomach happened in June of 2007. The accident happened at six flags Kentucky Kingdom, in Louisville Kentucky on the Superman Tower of Power free-fall ride.  This is a ride where you go straight up in the air, and then just fall 177 feet to the ground. It reaches speeds of 54 mph.  20 feet from the ground the braking system engages and the gondola stops.  A 13 year old girl was riding this ride when a cable snapped, and wrapped around her legs.  She was left with no feet.

I decided to add this next accident in a big lighter side.  Not all accidents will kill the passengers or take off your feet on June 9th 1007 at Magic Springs and Crystal Falls amusement Park in Hot Springs Arkansas, a power outage left 12 roller coaster riders stranded UPSIDE DOWN 150 in the air for 30 minutes!  The firefighters had to come in their ladders to rescue the passengers.  No one was injured, however, one rider vomited, and another complained of a headache and neck pain.

On May 2007, at Expoland them park in Osaka Japan, a 19 year old girl was killed instantly when a roller coaster car derailed and crashed into a guardrail.  One other rider suffered a serious head injury, and 18 others suffered minor injuries.  This ride is called the Fujin Raijin II.  This is a stand up roller coaster.  Investigator says that an axle on one of the cars broke, causing it to derail. 

The last accident that I found happened in May 2007 in Rakvere Estonia.  This happened at an enterprise amusement ride.  The ride suddenly started fire!!!  37 people were burnt with some smoke inhalation injuries.  Luckily nobody was killed.  The fire broke out while the ride was going full speed!

So there you have it.  There are both pros and cons to roller coasters.  Adrenaline junkies may say that is the thrill, knowing something may happen.  I do understand why some people refuse to get on rides.  You cannot tell if a ride is going to defect when it is your turn. I guess that is why they call it fate!