Another Coaster Accident
 

This time, in England. It's had a lot of problems this year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smiler_(roller_coaster)

From Wikipedia:

"2 November 2013 Ongoing Four people were injured when they were struck by guide wheels which came off as the car climbed the rides' vertical incline. The ride remains closed while the park investigates the ongoing issues."

Earlier this year I spent two full days reading all of the entries on rideaccidents.com. Strengthened my conviction to never ride on anything at a county fair ever again! It also opened my eyes to the vast number of injuries on those inflatable slides and bounce houses; I had no idea how dangerous they were.

One of our girls had a head injury when she was tumbling down an inflatable slide at the cheer gym. The slide, which was used when someone was working on a new stunt, had a lot of give and although she was an experienced tumbler, she bounced off sideways onto her head. I haven't trusted inflatables since.

Rides at county fairs for me are a big no-no too SigKapSweetie! The Smiler is based at Alton Towers, the UK's biggest Theme Park, I've had friends ride it and love it, but like the Wiki page mentions its been struck with numerous issues since opening this last May!

DH LOVES Alton Towers, where as I'm not overly impressed with Theme Parks!

Most rides at county fairs are assembled and disassembled so much that even I, also a member of American Coaster Enthusiasts ( www.aceonline.org ), will not ride at a fair, since most of the time, they are not inspected by OSHA or another governmental entity.