I do not go on roller coasters, save for the odd Tilt-a-Whirl, and even then it’s been years. Here are my reasons: for one, as soon as I discovered as a kid that there were water amusement parks, the dry ones lost all appeal. Floating in a raft on Sesame Place’s rubber ducky ride is as wild as I need for a thoroughly delightful time! Second, I get too many headaches as it is over the course of life with my feet on the ground. I don’t need to court the malady, thankyouverymuch. Here’s a brand new third reason: I’d like to avoid a serious brain injury. Since it opened in 2002, the X2 roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California has garnered multiple reports of injuries and hospitalizations and at least one death. But still the ride rode on. Until this July, when in the span of one week, two riders suffered similar brain hemorrhages requiring surgery. The doctors who saw these patients said the conditions resembled the impact they see from high-speed car accidents. So X2 has been closed since July 12, but Six Flags hasn’t (yet) committed to closing down the ride altogether. From The Hollywood Reporter:

According to a CNN investigation, two women who rode the X2 coaster six days apart both lost consciousness and ended up in surgery with similar brain hemorrhages of a type that’s “typically associated with high-speed collisions.” Three neurosurgeons who treated the women declared in an email, “the severe brain injuries requiring emergent neurosurgical attention were the result of a traumatic rapid acceleration-deceleration event experienced while on the X2 ride.”

The second of the two riders is currently in a coma, and Six Flags reportedly has only offered her food from McDonald’s. Her father told the network that whoever decided to keep X2 open after the first July injury case “has a lot to answer for,” and declared, “It’s got to stop.”

Furthermore, CNN uncovered a long history of injuries associated with the ride, claiming there have been more than a dozen reports of injuries and hospitalizations related to X2, and two of the cases were fatal (both riders were in their twenties and perished from brain injuries, though one had a preexisting brain abnormality). In additiona, unearthed Six Flags records listed at least 70 head and neck injury complaints between 2019 and 2022.

X2 is high-speed “4D” coaster with near-vertical drops and independently rotating seats which flip riders around. The ride is considered much-loved among hardcore coaster fans and it was voted “Coaster of the Year” when it first opened in 2002,

Six Flags has defended the coaster by pointing out there is signage warning customers “there are inherent risks” in park rides and that X2 is regularly tested and meets industry safety regulations. The company’s attorneys have argued that forces generated by the ride are not strong enough to cause a brain injury in a “normal” rider if the ride is used “as instructed” (in at least one case, the park’s attorneys said a rider’s injury was due to her negligence).

The park is declining to answer inquiries about the July injuries. A park spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter, “The ride remains closed at this time.”

[From THR]

The full CNN article is horrifying. The first rider injured in July — a mother who did not want to go on the ride, but did so at the request of her 16-year-old daughter — had to be helped out of her seat, then immediately started vomiting before passing out. When she woke up two weeks later, she had 20 staples in her shaved scalp and had to relearn how to speak and walk. She told CNN, “You go in as yourself, and then when you come back, you’re a medical emergency,” and “There’s a difference between being jerked around and brain damage.” And because Six Flags didn’t shut down X2 at that point, a young woman got on a week later, suffered the same brain hemorrhage, and she’s still in a coma. Her family confirmed to CNN that yes, the only contact they’ve had from Six Flags was an offer to send McDonald’s to the emergency room when she was first sent there. Keep in mind, this past June Six Flags BANNED a punk influencer for eating McDonald’s chicken nuggets on a ride at a park in Ohio. At the time, Six Flags said, “Safety is a cornerstone of our business, and we have zero tolerance for inappropriate and unsafe behavior.” Just not when the inappropriate and unsafe behavior is their own, apparently.

PS — Travis Kelce just launched a big ambassadorship with Six Flags after investing in the company last year. How fast do you think that partnership is going to end? Or, I guess the better question is, which gets permanently shut down first: Travis’ involvement or X2?