Study Says Thrill Ride Injuries on the Rise

Riders of roller coasters face a small but real risk of brain injury, according to a recent article in a medical journal that warns emergency room physicians to be on the lookout for injured patients who might have recently visited an amusement park.

The article appears in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, the journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

There have been several cases of brain injury allegedly associated with roller coasters in Southern California.

Minnesota emergency room doctors Robert J. Braksiek and David J. Roberts wrote that they had found in the medical literature 16 cases of head and neck injury suffered during roller coaster rides.

Breaking down the figures revealed a disturbing trend, Braksiek said, with one case in 1979, none in the 1980s, 14 in the 1990s and one through August 2000.

“Look what happened in the 1990s,” Braksiek, who works at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, said in an interview. “What’s going to happen in the 2000s?”

The authors wrote that although the risk is low, reported injury rates at amusement parks increased 95% from 1996 to 1999 even though attendance increased only 6.5%, according to data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The cases cited in the article range from people who have made full recoveries after bleeding in the brain to a 77-year-old man who suffered nausea, vomiting and headaches after a ride, and died 13 days later.

Researchers compared roller coaster brain injuries, such as bleeding, with those suffered in a high-speed car crash or from shaken-baby syndrome.

The roller coaster injuries are caused by the sudden stops and starts and changes in direction, Braksiek said.

The International Assn. of Amusement Parks and Attractions issued a written statement in response to the article, which it said presents no new information or analysis.

“IAAPA would encourage physicians to ask any questions they may consider necessary to determine the condition and treatment of any patient,” the statement reads.

The trade group also said that although news coverage of injuries has increased, amusement parks continue to be one of the safest forms of recreation.

Still, some safety advocates, including Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), have suggested that amusement parks limit roller coasters’ G-forces, the gravitational effects of acceleration on the body. In recent years, amusement parks have been opening faster, steeper and sometimes more jolting rides.

The precise effects of G-forces--and how much is too much--remain unknown when it comes to roller coasters because there have been no published studies.

“We need to do G-force studies on roller coasters, attach equipment to the head and neck and monitor what the forces are,” Braksiek said in the interview. “Any time we’re putting our children on machines that go 100 mph, there has to be some type of regulation, and studies that prove they’re safe.... At some point, we’re going to pass the human threshold of safety.”

Barry Novack, a Beverly Hills attorney who settled two cases with Disneyland stemming from brain hemorrhages allegedly suffered on the Indiana Jones Adventure ride, said the doctors’ article confirms his contention that there is a risk.

“I think it will bring to light the silent majority out there who have suffered injury that we don’t know about,” Novack said.

Novack is also the attorney handling the cases of two Southern California deaths connected to roller coasters last year. Justine Dedele Bolia, 20, died Sept. 1 after suffering a brain aneurysm and collapsing shortly after riding Montezooma’s Revenge, a roller coaster at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park. And in June, Pearl Santos, 28, of Fontana suffered a ruptured aneurysm on the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia. The stress and strain of the ride may have contributed to her death, a coroner’s report stated.

The Brain Injury Assn. of America said this week that it is assembling a panel of doctors to review medical literature on the topic. It hopes to make recommendations in the spring.

The review is being done at the urging of Rep. Markey. David Moulton, Markey’s chief of staff, pointed to the vulnerability of children to such physical forces.

“Unfortunately,” Moulton said, “we are going into yet another riding season without any notion of how much force is too much force to apply to the bodies of child riders on these supersonic coasters.”