Six Flags announced Tuesday it will permanently shutter its most famous roller coaster, ... investigation exposed a long history of life-altering injuries and deaths linked to the ride.
Six Flags Magic Mountain President Brian Oerding wrote in a blog post Tuesday that while its X2 roller coaster has "consistently passed a multitude of safety tests, we have decided to close the ride because we believe it's the right thing to do."
... more than 100 new victims have come forward alleging X2-related brain injuries of varying severity sustained after riding the roller coaster in the last two years alone.
Hawley, who died from a traumatic brain injury hours after riding X2 four years ago
So did you ride the X2? Was it fun? Or a death-trap?
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/29/us/six-flags-roller-coaster-x2-invs
(Score: -1, Insightful) by Whoever on Friday October 02, @07:59PM (9 children)
The problem is that shaken baby syndrome is bullshit. It's simply not possible for a human to create those forces on a baby's head without either bashing the head on a hard object, or breaking the baby's neck. There never was any science behind the signs used to "diagnose" this.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 02, @08:39PM
Andrew Tate, is that you?
(Score: 5, Informative) by DaTrueDave on Friday October 02, @09:35PM (5 children)
Incredibly wrong. While it may have been overdiagnosed in the past, and there may have been some horrific cases where the diagnoses was improperly used as evidence of a crime, there's no evidence that "shaken baby syndrome is bullshit."
https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/155/3/e2024070457/201049/Abusive-Head-Trauma-in-Infants-and-Children [aap.org]
(Score: 2, Troll) by Whoever on Friday October 02, @10:47PM (2 children)
Nothing in that study refutes my point about SHAKEN baby syndrome. Yes adults can and do advise kids causing brain trauma, but not by shaking alone.
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Friday October 02, @10:50PM
That was meant to be abuse, not advise
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 02, @11:11PM
You sound like a guy that knows a lot about shaken babies.
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Friday October 02, @11:19PM (1 child)
Try this study
https://www.explico.com/post/a-biomechanical-engineering-insight-into-shaken-baby-syndrome [explico.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by PiMuNu on Friday October 02, @11:55PM
Reading the text, it looks like explico is a private company that is trying to sell expert witnesses. They may not be independent.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by VLM on Saturday October 03, @12:18AM (1 child)
AFAIK you're accurate, its just I don't think the downvoters understand it's just the polite way to say
without actually saying
Makes convictions easier at trial if it's described as "shaking" rather than beating the heck out of the kid.
That said, in the context of the carnival ride, people who are 99.9999% dead and don't even know it, will surely die on a ride that pushes them the last 1 ppm over, and I'm sure something similar could happen to babies, if there's a genetic defect or birth defect type thing such that the kid is almost dead then a pretty minor push will push them over. Like an aneurysm situation. If they were "naturally" going to have an aneurysm next morning by rolling over in bed, surely a relatively relaxing ride would off them a couple hours earlier, with massive legal repercussions.
The meta issue is "giant playground theme parks" are a privilege of rich monocultural high trust low crime civilizations, kind of like shopping malls or pro sports, so kind of like those two cultural icons, they're going to go away one way or another.
I've been on roller coasters and "northern pothole roads in the Frozen north" far exceed the violence of anything I've experienced on a ride. Of course road potholes probably kill people who are almost dead all the time, also. I wonder how the prevalence of "had a stroke while driving" correlates statistically with road maintenance budgets. It's a legit issue.
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Saturday October 03, @05:20PM
https://share.google/S6O5kiQFnGhZ3WJ0M [share.google]
"Mostly dead"
(Score: 2) by fliptop on Friday October 02, @09:27PM (3 children)
...and you ride at your own risk.
I enjoy riding roller coasters and have ridden quite a few in many different parks but I've never been to a Six Flags. My absolute favorite amusement ride [wikipedia.org] also has a checkered past but if you get another enthusiastic partner in one of those cages you can really get it spinning unpredictably at some pretty serious G's.
How many millions of people have ridden the coaster in question? A few hundred out of those millions...I'd still ride it if I had the opportunity.
Ever had a belch so satisfying you have to blow your nose afterward?
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday October 03, @02:55AM (2 children)
Even if it doesn't run at full G-force, I'm wondering if running it at a much slower speed (ie. "medically safe") would be commercially viable. Make it a scenic ride instead of a thrilling one. It's already built, so,,, just throwing out ideas to keep it from going to waste and ruin, given it's a local icon.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by canopic jug on Saturday October 03, @03:00AM (1 child)
They run on gravity which is why the first hill is always so high. It's not just to give you the biggest thrill right out of the gate. It's to give the coaster enough momentum to make it through to the end of the track over all the obstacles. That's also why the subsequent hills and loops are much lower.
From the title, I was expecting a description of one intentionally designed for a sustained 10g ride long enough to finish off the passengers. It looks like the did a little of that by accident though maybe not 10g.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday October 03, @03:19AM
So, probably not practical to slow it down per se, without some motorized control on the downslopes.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 03, @01:38AM (5 children)
As a little guy, I rode a couple of tame roller coasters. I mean, tame. The first time I heard something like "death defying", I pretty much lost interest in roller coasters. I mean, there's no prize at the end of the ride or anything, why bother?
Alternative für Deutschland
(Score: 0, Insightful) by turgid on Saturday October 03, @08:32AM (4 children)
Your sig really is pretty tasteless. Why are you advertising for the Nazis?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 03, @04:51PM
Because it is a douchebag.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 04, @02:24AM (2 children)
Grow up, dude. You're much too old to be playing these silly word games the kids are playing. There may be some Nazis left in Germany, but the AfD is NOT the Nazi party.
If you want to discuss the issue, you might start a journal entry.
Alternative für Deutschland
(Score: 3, Informative) by turgid on Sunday October 04, @12:31PM (1 child)
Jacob Rees-Mogg accuses Tucker Carlson of ‘verging on defending Hitler’ [theguardian.com]
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 04, @03:50PM
There is an element of truth in Tucker's bullshit. The allies created the environment in which Hitler came to power. Unlike Carlson, I'm not making excuses for Nazi Germany, but if you are honest, you'll admit that the Allies really fucked over Germany post WW1.
Alternative für Deutschland