The accident that killed one man and injured several others at Six Flags Over Georgia this week follows accusations of slipshod maintenance and hundreds of injuries at Six Flags parks over the past few years, according to CNN.
On Monday, 42-year-old Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem fell to his death after being ejected from the Goliath roller coaster, striking others as he fell; several riders were injured. The incident prompted Six Flags to temporarily close at least 10 rides at various parks and has further shaken confidence in the company’s recovery, according to the Wall Street Journal (stock is down 80% since the close of a 2024 merger with Cedar Fair).
CNN found that maintenance and safety records across more than a dozen Six Flags-owned parks in three states (of 30 parks across 13 states) show that within the last five years, incidents included “a train derailment, faulty restraint bars and guest injuries including dislocated joints and concussions.”
In California, since 2021, Six Flags has reported nearly 300 accidents under a state law that mandates reports on any that result in a person requiring “medical service other than ordinary first aid.” Incidents at New Jersey’s Six Flags Great Adventure included a 2024 train derailment, seven separate evacuations of a log ride, and a child who injured his head on a coaster restraint, according to CNN—not to mention a coaster called El Toro that the state found structurally unsound and shut down for most of a year after a jolt injured over a dozen riders in August 2022. (It’s also the subject of lawsuits.)
Reports in Texas often concerned patrons thrown from water park ride inner tubes, as well as various other ride-related injuries, CNN wrote.
A Six Flags representative didn’t immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment, but CNN wrote the company said in a statement that any guest injuries are “taken seriously.”
The incidents “span multiple parks, attractions, years, jurisdictions and circumstances, and may reflect differing state reporting requirements and a wide range of incidents and outcomes,” the statement continued. “As a result, broad conclusions drawn from a compilation of reports may not provide the full context surrounding any individual event or our overall approach to safety.”
The incident in Georgia follows a separate CNN investigation into a coaster called X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain, which Six Flags shut down permanently last month after two female riders required brain surgery in July and over 100 others said the ride caused brain injuries. Two separate ongoing investor lawsuits from last year claim Six Flags had failed to adequately invest in routine maintenance for years, according to CNN.
Popular Mechanics reported that while the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) originally had jurisdiction over fixed-site theme parks, Congress stripped it of that authority in 1981, leaving it to states to regulate them in the absence of any binding federal standards. The result is wild variance between states as to who the relevant safety regulator is and their requirements.
While the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions estimates the risk of serious injury on a ride at a fixed-place theme park at one in 15.5 million, The Regulatory Review notes that data is incomplete and voluntary, Popular Mechanics wrote.
