News – Page 9 – Kathryn Woodcock, PhD CCPE ICAE PEng

June 2021 Ride Report Recap

The pandemic-suppressed operation of amusement attractions has in turn suppressed the occurrence of patron injuries, as reflected in media coverage. However, as attractions worldwide resume operations, the number of media-reported cases has slightly increased. There were 13 covered events from June and 5 reports from previous periods that had not been recapped.

A mountain coaster is not a roller coaster

The case of an injury on the Branson Coaster

Like many reports covered in the RRRR database, multiple media reports used imprecise terminology that has real implications for potential misunderstanding of hazards to the public. While it is understandable that a reporter may not know the difference when beginning to collect information for a report, it is irresponsible to be cavalier about terminology in the published version. Any hazards that may be implicated in this case have no relevance to “roller coasters”.

May 2021 Ride Report Recap

The pandemic-suppressed operation of amusement attractions has in turn suppressed the occurrence of patron injuries, as reflected in media coverage. There were two (2) reported cases from May, plus two (2) cases from previous periods not previously recapped.

April 2021 Ride Report Recap

The pandemic-suppressed operation of amusement attractions has in turn suppressed the occurrence of patron injuries, as reflected in media coverage. Two (2) reported events were recapped and recorded. The media also reported on one excluded event, recapped for general interest.

March 2021 Ride Report Recap

The pandemic-suppressed operation of amusement attractions has in turn suppressed the occurrence of patron injuries, as reflected in media coverage. There were three (3) reports recorded and recapped, as well as one occurrence from a prior period that had not previously been recapped.

February 2021 Ride Report Recap

The pandemic-suppressed operation of amusement attractions has in turn suppressed the occurrence of patron injuries. There were two (2) cases reported and recapped, plus one case occurring in a prior period that had not previously been recapped.

2020 Summary

Note: During the pandemic, exposure to amusement rides has been greatly decreased by closures and facility capacity reduction.

Reports collected in 2020 covered 66 unique events in 2020 or previous years, as tabulated below. Reports describing events of earlier years typically arise when a news report covers emerging litigation.

Year occurred	2015	2017	2018	2019	2020	Uns. year
	2	2	5	8	48	1

This post reports a cross-tabulation of factors in the reports collected in 2020.

For information on source data, see the main page.