Credit: Grona LundAfter a fatal incident over the weekend, some are calling for theme parks to conduct stricter inspections to avoid further roller coaster accidents.
First things first: roller coaster accidents are incredibly rare. To put it into context, the risk of getting into a car accident currently sits at one in 107. In comparison, your odds of getting injured on a coaster are one in 24 million. So, as we said, very unlikely.
However, accidents do happen. On June 25, one such incident occurred at Gröna Lund in Sweden. Open since 1883, this is Sweden’s oldest theme park. It’s best known for its star-studded concerts, led by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Dua Lipa, and “Weird Al” Yankovic, as well as its 30 attractions, including eight roller coasters – such as Nyckelpigan, Vilda Musen, and Jetline.
The latter made for a tragic scene on Sunday when a train derailed during a steep turn, killing one and leaving nine others injured. Of the fourteen passengers aboard the train at the time, multiple are said to have fallen off the attraction, including a 35-year-old woman who fell to her death. Witnesses report seeing the wheels come off the car.
Gröna Lund will now be closed for at least a week to be available for relatives and support our employees. We start our own technical investigation and assist the police in their investigation. We will contact those affected and their relatives and do what we can to support them. At the same time, we take care of the employees who need support.
This isn’t the first incident involving a coaster built by Schwarzkopf. In 1980, a 14-year-old boy was killed at Six Flags Great America when two trains of the Schwarzkopf-built Whizzer collided at the station. Eight others were injured.
While that incident wasn’t down to the brakes – not the wheel assembly – the latter has been the cause of two other thrill ride accidents. In 1986, Mindbender – a looping roller coaster at Galaxyland in Alberta, Canada – saw one of its train cars derail just before its third loop after four cap screws on the wheel failed. The car swayed on the tracks, unlocking and releasing each rider’s lap bar restraint and throwing all four passengers onto the concrete. Three sadly passed away, while the fourth was left with life-changing injuries. The ride later reopened in 1987 with additional seat belts.
In 2019, another roller coaster accident occurred at a now-closed amusement park in Mexico. A car flipped over mid-ride at La Feria de Chapultepec, falling 33 feet and causing the deaths of an 18-year-old and 21-year-old man. Two women were also hurt. Bystanders described seeing a passenger thrown from the car and other riders hit their heads as the coaster continued at a high speed while dragging the flipped car.
While Schwarzkopf hasn’t produced a new attraction in some time, some are now saying that the pattern of roller coaster accidents is strong enough for theme parks to step up and inspect their existing models.
One Twitter user, @CastorWheels, called for theme parks to “please please please inspect the wheel assemblies on their 80s Schwarzkopf coasters more carefully, this is the third fatal accident of this sort.”
Another user – @OnlineHyde – wrote: “Is it time to talk about Schwarzkopf rides’ safety? The Jetline accident is the third Schwarzkopf coaster to kill people because of issues caused with the wheel assembly on the train. Yes, millions of rides are given each year without fail, but that seems interesting.”
As user @The_Meme_Man18 pointed out, “Schwarzkopf went out of business a long time ago.” However, “safety standards weren’t the same as they are now,” and wheel assemblies have changed a lot since then.
Following the incident at Galaxyland, an investigation determined that four cap screws holding the wheel assembly together had failed – putting this down most likely to design flaws and an unsatisfactory maintenance routine. While we won’t know exact details about Gröna Lund for a while, with later roller coaster accidents seemingly very similar, it might be time for a thorough look at similar Schwarzkopf models.
What do you think? Should other Parks carry out inspections of Schwarzkopf coasters? Let us know in the comments!