Someone’s vomit is no longer one of the scariest things flying off a roller coaster at amusement parks — cellphones have become the new fear.
Videos of people recording their thrilling roller-coaster ride moments before letting their phone slip out of their hands have spread across social media. Unfortunately, those phones have to land somewhere.
Rebecca Gillespe, 18, was waiting in line for a ride at the Oklahoma State Fair when a phone slipped out of a rider’s hands and hit her in the head. She was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with a traumatic injury.
“All I heard was ‘oh my God your head is bleeding,’” David Carter tells Inside Edition.
Carter was riding a roller coaster at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, when a phone came flying at his head.
“My first diagnosis was intermittent headaches as well as a concussion,” Carter tells Inside Edition.
Amusement parks are cracking down on their phone rules.
At some parks, if they see a phone out, workers will stop the ride and send an employee climbing up the rollercoaster to confiscate it.
“You’re going 35, 40 miles an hour, and you throw a little metal box at somebody’s head, it’s gonna do some damage,” George Frantzis, owner of the Quassy Amusement Park in Connecticut, tells Inside Edition.
“It’s getting worse and worse as the years progress. I think with social media, they want that TikTok shot.” Frantzis says. “It’s not worth it.”
A poll found that of all amusement park injuries, 60% are due to people not following the rules.
