Alaska State Fair Story Mentions SOB

[The Interpreter]

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/state_fair/...p-8015554c.html

[Browntggrr]

Another prime example of the media hype that is just plain wrong.

Ironically, some of those examples given were unfortunate fatalities on rides that are "movable". And then to only get your information from rideaccidents.com is just insulting to those who actually follow some of these problems. Even mentioning about the boy who died on RRC is absolutely horrible journalism. The ride had nothing to do with his death, he had a unknown pre-existing condition, and the article made it sound like it was hte ride's fault.

Most fatalities that happen on rides that are not "movable" are because of pre-existing conditions, not ride malfunctions. But ironically, the fatality that happened to this traveling carnival some time ago was clearly spelled out, and a full story given so that the reader would not believe that it was a ride malfunction.

Even mentioning SoB is bad. Most of the story dealt with fatalities. And even so that the story mentioned that SoB had only injuries, to someone who just scans through the story could get the impression that there were fatalities on SoB.

Man it is only 7:00am and I'm wired over this one.

[BoddaH1994]

It's an excellent example of spin. Although more ride fatalities occur on stationary rides, you are still far more likely to be injured on a mobile attraction. The ridership is simply higher for stationaries.

[coaster-chickie]

Alaska has a state fair?

Ok I guess every state has a state fair....but when I think about alaska I think snow and igloos...not fairs...

back on topic...

"'My guys -- they're experienced with the equipment," she says. "They touch it every day. They're setting it up and taking it down. ... They can crawl under it and around it because the ride doesn't have any landscaping hiding it.'

It's different at major theme parks, where a greater premium is placed on the appearance of rides, and the exterior gloss can sometimes get in the way of purely mechanical considerations, Leavitt said. Hands-on expertise matters too. Her supervisors are real-world mechanics.

'They're Cat engineers. They're truck drivers. They know what they're looking at and what they're listening for. They might not be the most beautiful people you ever looked at, but they know machines.'"

Yeah, landscaping can make it harder to inspect a ride, I get that, but this lady here makes it sound like people who do maintenance on stationary rides every day don't know what they're doing...which is far from the truth. I'm sure that people who work on rides, both stationary and moveable, know them like the back of their hand, well actually, you know, I don't like that saying because, c'mon who actually looks at the back of their hands? And people who work on stationary rides are "Real world mechanics" because last time I checked, weren't roller coasters and other rides part of the real world?... Anyway...that part bugged me a lil' bit.

And RideAccidents.com? I'm not an expert or anything, but that doesn't seem like the greatest reference. And all those accidents that they listed, they didn't mention whether any of them couldn't be prevented or whether or not they involved a pre-existing condition.

This article is sorta...well ok very biased, but it's no worse than the other bajillion biased articles that people have posted since the SoB accident...that is unless people did this before then and I just missed it...but then I haven't been here that long sooo...lol

And the funny thing, no matter how many good things people say about rides at carnival and fairs, I probably still won't ride them...hehe...I just don't trust the dudes at the County Fair that only have one tooth...even if all they are doing is pushing a big green button that says go.

Now, back to listening to Linkin Park...