Deadly Fun, Part 1: Pennsylvania Amusement Park Fatalities
The demise of the Blue Streak at Conneaut Lake Park (Photo: Shannon Roae, Meadville Tribune) Despite state-of-the-art roller coasters that hurl riders at speeds of nearly 160 mph (such as Falcon's Flight at Six Flags Qiddiya City in Saudi Arabia) or send riders plunging down a 400-foot drop (such as Cedar Point's Top Thrill 2), amusement park fatalities are exceedingly rare in these modern times. Depending on the source, statistics show an average of 3.7 to 4.5 ride-related deaths per year in the United States. Considering how many millions of people enjoy these rides every year without incident, the odds of losing your life on an amusement park ride are substantially slimmer than the odds of losing your life performing ordinary everyday activities like driving to work or hitting the gym. While the majority of amusement park deaths are attributed to undiagnosed medical conditions, the unfortunate reality is that mechanical error and rider misbehavior still result in the occas...
