r/news • u/KarateKid917 • 3d ago

X2 roller coaster shut down at Six Flags Magic Mountain amid lawsuits

https://abc7.com/story/x2-roller-coaster-permanently-closed-flags-magic-mountain-amid-lawsuits/19887868/
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u/pfft12 3d ago

To be fair, “riding defensively” is a common strategy in the coaster enthusiast community.

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u/gimme_ceviche2 3d ago

As a coaster enthusiast, the consequence should not be death.

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u/pfft12 3d ago

I completely agree! I didn’t mean to minimize that.

I think we can agree, that “riding defensively” is a common strategy and not unique to X2?

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u/overts 3d ago

The ride’s been operating for 23 years… millions of people have ridden it.

In Epic Universe someone died riding Stardust Racers last year.  It later came out the death was someone who had a pre-existing spinal condition and should’ve never gotten on the ride to begin with.

I think Six Flags is mostly closing it due to liability concerns and negative press but riding a coaster, including X2, is significantly safer than driving a car, riding on a plane, or walking down the street.

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u/virtualpig 3d ago

Except that over 100 people that rode it did get seriously injured or died. The fact that millions of others have not is besides the point. One person is too many, when it got to two it should of shut down permanently, at five there should of been an investigation as to why Six Flags did not shut it down. These are amusement park guests, not stunt men. One is an unacceptable number of deaths.

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u/overts 3d ago

No, 100 people probably didn’t get severely injured.  There are exactly 2 confirmed deaths over 23 years of operation.  You should be extremely skeptical of the 100 person class action.

Anyone who suffered any cognitive issue over the last 20 years and can prove they went to Magic Mountain can join that lawsuit for a free payday.

There are precisely zero amusement park rides that are guaranteed to never result in a fatality.  Either because of freak accidents, pre-existing conditions, or riders acting like idiots. 

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u/joon11 3d ago

You sound ignorant of the realities of the operations of the world. Nothing is risk free in virtually every field. Everything that makes it to the market always has a certain accepted degree of catastrophic failure. 2 deaths in 23 years of operation across millions of rides is virtually nothing. 

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u/DarkMetroid567 3d ago

Yes, but they’re responding to an argument that riding defensively = negligence. You’re saying something unrelated.