The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 18

I B-2MetrO Till- CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Sunday, June 16, 1991 MO Safety incidents ILL Riders are turned upside down on the Vortex, one of the new breed of twisting, diving, looping steel roller coasters. I wouldn't hesitate to let my children ride any of the rides in any of the parks," said Tim O'Brien, author of The Amusement Park Guide, which dissects 250 major amusement parks in the United States and Canada. "It's true the parks can only survive with repeat business, but safety has never been better. You can't let your park sit there for three years and not change, but you can't scare people about safety, either." In the quest for change, old reliables sometimes get the heave-ho. Gone are the Ferris wheels, tumble-bugs and cuddle-ups of old.

In are the twisting, diving, looping steel roller coasters. It's rare that a park will pull a ride for safety reasons, said Dick Fuss-ner, owner of R.C. Fucsner Associates of Mason, which does safety consulting for amusement parks. More often, he said, the ride disappears because people find it boring and won't ride it, or because it's too much trouble for park employees to maintain. Surge in roller coasters "There has been a huge surge in roller coasters for about 10 years," Hays said.

"About all Arrow does anymore are coasters and flume rides. So, while some park may want a unique ride, we can draw on a lot of past experience to design it quickly and still know it will be safe." Thrill rides are lavish capital investments that amusement parks are willing to make. Peter Irish, executive director of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, said a survey by his organization earlier this year showed 112 reporting amusement parks spent $460 million for new rides. The 49 water parks that responded spent $54 million for new attractions. "There is some overlap, though," he said.

"A lot of amusement parks are adding water parks on the grounds." While amusement parks are safe, they are not perfect. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there Rides CONTINUED FROM PAGE B-l miniature golf courses. They can fold if they don't offer something new every year. Old rides may get crowded out in the quest for the newest one-of-a-kind thrill.

"Amusement parks are vying for your money," said Larry Hays, marketing director for Arrow Dynamics of Clearfield, Utah, a leading manufacturer of amusement-park rides. "Rides are getting bigger and faster as the public searches for the most bang for its buck." Arrow is a major player at Kings Island, having designed and built the Vortex, the Adventure Express and several water rides. Among the company's hundreds of rides in operation nationwide are six roller coasters at Cedar Point in northern Ohio. Disappointments, too Arrow also designed Kings Island's biggest disappointment, The Bat. The first suspended roller coaster in the world, The Bat offered a combination of a roller coaster and a swing ride, but the sophisticated attraction, which opened in 1981, never worked well.

It was plagued by down time due to minor mechanical glitches. While most thrill rides average 5 down time, The Bat averaged 30. It was scrapped by the park in 1984. "It may have been premature. We needed to work it through a little more," Hays said.

Today, Arrow has a half-dozen suspended coasters operating successfully nationwide. But not at Kings Island. At Kings Island, now in its 20th season, with 52 million visitors having taken 500 million rides, last weekend's tragedy has not slowed the turnstiles. Attendance has been average, and park officials say the park has a reputation for safety. Safety endorsement "I've visited 112 amusement parks in the past couple of years, and Since Kings Island opened in 1972, there have been several safety-related incidents involving rides.

April, 1977: With a storm approaching, Kings Island officials shut down the Sky Ride, but a malfunction caused several gondolas, which hung from an overhead cable, to bunch up and tilt at a dangerous angle. For several hours, 45 patrons were stranded until a crane was brought to the park to rescue them. The ride was dismantled after the 1979 season. August, 1977: Passengers on the Screamin' Demon, a looping roller coaster, had to exit on catwalks when the ride stuck for about half an hour. The ride stopped several times that summer and patrons had to be escorted off each time.

The ride was eliminated several years later when The Vortex opened. May, 1983: A 17-year-old high school senior fell from an inner staircase on the Eiffel Tower replica onto the roof of an elevator. He was then crushed to death by a counterweight. Park officials said he had to climb a high security fence to reach the inner staircase, which was designed for emergency evacuations. March, 1984: Park officials announced The Bat, a suspended roller coaster, would not operate all season because of continuing mechanical problems that caused it to be out of service about 30 of the time in previous seasons.

No one ever suffered injuries on the ride. It was dismantled in 1985. August, 1984: Eight people suffered minor injuries when one car on The King Cobra, a stand-up roller coaster, -derailed. It was later determined that a spindle holding a wheel assembly in place had not been properly manufactured. The ride is still in operation.

September, 1985: A grass fire underneath The Beast roller coaster damaged some timbers in the wooden support structure and slightly singed 16 passengers. All injuries were minor. July, 1990: A park worker was seriously injured when struck by a wheel housing of the King Cobra. The worker was standing close to the track, looking for a patron's purse, at the time. August, 1990: Sky Lab, a ride like a Ferris wheel, with patrons riding in cages, stopped suddenly because of an electrical shortage, slightly injuring 19 riders.

A backup electrical system was installed. The ride is still in operation. June, 1991: A woman was killed when she fell from the Flight Commander, a whirling ride in which patrons can cause individual cars to dive and roll. JIMROHRER rep 2 4 iff.By4r.ia1 mm SIS I were 90 ride-related deaths between 1973 and 1990. Ride-related injuries serious enough to warrant trips to a hospital emergency room have averaged about 7,000 a year nationally since 1985.

In 1990, 8,493 of the 255 million amusement park visitors received injuries and went to emergency rooms. Few serious injuries Only 2.5 of those injuries were serious enough to require hospitalization, and only 15 of all ride accidents result from mechanical failure. Lawsuits against amusement parks are common, though few of them stem from ride malfunctions. Since 1979, there have been 24 injury lawsuits filed against Kings Island in Warren County, home county to the park. Others have been filed in other counties and in federal courts.

Injury claims were caused by everything from lightning strikes to slippery floors and frequently by the herky-jerky motions of roller coasters. "Think of rides as people mov- Jf'iii Experts say amusement parks must keep moving, too. ers," O'Brien said. "In one year, they move 255 million people, with an injury rate so small as to be insignificant. Other people movers, from cars to planes to trains, don't do nearly as well." News in brief Suppose you caught the biggest bass east of the Mississippi and went sailing down the Ohio River Man dies in Preble County car crash A 37-year-old Arcanum, Ohio, man died early Saturday when he lost control of his vehicle in northern Preble County.

John D. Munn III was northbound on State Route 503 about a half-mile south of County Line Road when his vehicle left the right side of the road about 2 a.m., struck a culvert and tipped on its side, according to the Ohio Highway Patrol in Preble County. He was pronounced dead at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. Boy listed critical after beating A Winton Place teen-ager was in critical condition at Children's Hospital late Saturday, one day after he was severely beaten in a park one block from his home. Cincinnati Police say Teddy Copas, 13, was attacked by several people between 9 and 10 p.m.

Friday. The assailants took the boy's gym shoes and a beret. The boy suffered head and face injuries in the attack. Police did not know why the boy was attacked and had no suspects late Saturday. County workers sue building owner Seven Hamilton County workers have sued the owners of the Alms Doepke Building, claiming that their downtown offices contained environmental hazards that caused workers to become ill last month.

The county evacuated its 800 employees from the building on May 6, after 17 workers complained of dizziness and nausea. The suit, filed Friday, seeks $25,000 and an unspecified amount of punitive damages for each worker. a tLli ggsssr MM -in I Lottery numbers it Drawings of June 15, 1991 i 1 -4 -9R1 4. 'fit OHIO Pick 3: 9 5 5 Pick 4: 3 0 17 Cards: 10V 64 9 4 Super Lotto: 2 4 6 22 34 43 Kicker: 6 1 9 6 8 7 KENTUCKY Kentucky Cash: 9 3 0 Lotto: 15 18 25 29 32 38 INDIANA Daily 3: 5 6 0 Daily 4: 8 1 7 1 Lotto Cash: 4 7 12 13 15 29 LOTTO AMERICA: 1 5 12 16 24 54 'iff' jm Week in review Winning lottery numbers for June 9-14 Thu. 567 Fri.

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