Roller coaster design and human limitations.

 Roller coasters are already extremely safe, however, there is always room for improvement During active operations it’s unlikely for a disastrous event to occur, the continuous cycling of coaster trains will make any missing individuals or trains obvious,  however during any downtime there may be some errors in coaster configuration. The accident on the smiler in 2015 was due to a lack of situational awareness when the 5 th train was left on the track prior to opening. A possible way of preventing this kind of accident from happening again would be to have a “walkaround” of sorts prior to opening the coaster after any stoppage, not necessarily having a person walk the entire length of the track, just have someone go outside the station and visually follow the track from the end of the lift hill to the last brake run beginning to end. If a train was stuck on the track then the walkaround would catch it and prevent the ride from opening. If the ride were to have a sectio...

 Riding a Roller coaster or other similar ride Is extremely safe, however, accidents still happen, according to Global Incidence of theme park and amusement ride accidents (2019) 75% of all theme park ride accidents are due to rider error, which can include failure to heed warnings, loose items, wearing clothing that boosts the height of the passenger, and tampering with restraints. Note that these statistics include mobile parks, as well as waterparks, which includes drownings, of the major accidents, reported for rollercoasters the types of failures that would be due to operator error would be clearance failures, which include collisions and ejections, of the reported period between 2007 and 2017 there were 3 of these accident types, 2 clearance failures and 1 ejection worldwide(Woodcock). This is an incredibly low number, given that the sheer number of riders going through a coaster every hour ranges into the thousands if the line doesn’t backup too much. This begs the questio...

 I am an adrenaline junkie. I enjoy going fast on seemingly dangerous machines, however, due to my geographic location I don't often get to experience one of my favorite forms of engineering. That being rollercoasters. these machines are a delicate balance of energy, speed, G-forces, and theming to give the riders an enjoyable experience.  however, there are some serious limitations that need to be taken into account. In general, humans can only withstand about 5 Gs momentarily before losing consciousness, furthermore, 2 lateral Gs are generally considered excessive. it's important for a ride designer and operator to take these limitations into account. furthermore, it's important to take into account that roller coaster trains can behave very differently when loaded compared to when empty, with some of the largest trains being multiple tons heavier when fully loaded. A photo of the Flip Flap Railway.  The photo above is of the Flip Flap Railway one of the first-ever loop...