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Is it always safe to raise your hands on coasters?

Coaster Hipster

Coaster Hipster

Giga Poster
I love raising my hands when riding a rollercoaster. To me it is part of the fun and the thrill, I just enjoy the sensation of freedom I feel doing that :). Headchoppers spice it up with the excited fear I might collide with the beam or support right above, but generally I still feel secure with the reassurance the engineers have calculated and tested the heights properly.

But is it always the case ? I believe most current coasters are tested with special cars to check if there is no collision with any surrounding element, à la NoLimits tunnel test. I haven't heard of any gory incident of people getting injured that way (although a friend reported getting his hands slammed into some scenery at Golf Reef City's Golden Loop last year). However, some coaster videos still make me wonder. Togo Ultra Twisters for example, or those funky brutal tiny Pax coasters. I don't know if I'll be safe raising my hands on them.


So am I being over-anxious or is there a real concern on some coasters?
 
For all modern roller coasters, yes. As you mentioned, doing a train pull through with a large fin allows for proper testing of rider arm span. Millennium Force is my go-to example of adjusting a ride due to head chopper, where a chunk of the first overbank support had to be removed due to failing the fin test.

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Having ridden Jungle Storm, I can attest that that thing is insane. Everything from the super steep lift hill to the very small tunnel/rock archway screams of slightly ropey design. I'm in no doubt whatsoever that I could have hit my hands on other parts of the coaster or parts of the theming, but thankfully the ride is so chaotic and the trackwork is so poor that you're too busy holding on for dear life to be at any risk of putting your hands up!

But as @Hyde rightly says, on modern coasters there are lots of precautions taken to ensure riders aren't going to hurt themselves by putting their hands up. The "please keep arms and legs inside the train at all times" notices aren't really there because you could lose an arm if you didn't! The safety envelope on most modern coasters is really rather large (likely larger than any recorded person's reach), meaning you're at no risk - especially on any high speed sections!
 
Some of you were telling me about the lift hill on the Wild Mouse at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, saying you have to duck your head, let alone outstretched arms.
 
There could be the remote far away few i guess.. You could also consider whether their restraints reduce the ability to reach that far though?
 
All I know is that you can actually hit your hands on Eurosat at Europa-Park if you are tall. There are steel beams/supports above the track, but the critical ones are cushioned.
 
MestnyiGeroi said:
Some of you were telling me about the lift hill on the Wild Mouse at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, saying you have to duck your head, let alone outstretched arms.
Click to expand...

Yep, you can touch the track above as you go up the lift hill on Wild Mouse.
But it's historic (and you're going very slowly anyway). You really don't have to worry about this on any normal, new coaster.
 
At six foot four, I don't have to duck under the track on the Wild Mouse...though I have done so for years.
If you stuck your arms out sideways, they would be taken off at the elbows however.
 
I am pretty sure all modern coasters have a pull test with some sort of clearance jig before being commissioned. But two coasters I can think of that have close calls are Twister : Grona Lund on the lift hill and Thunderbolt :Kennywood gets close to the supports of Phantom. Not sure if its still there but I remember Kennywood having to put padding on the supports on Phantom's supports at the bottom of Thunderbolts first drop.
 
On older Schwarzkopf coasters you have to be careful. I have seen people banging their hands badly on the Double-Loop and Alpina-Bahn. On the Double-Loop some supports in the final helices are quite close, also as the train threads the loops. On Alpina its some supports. You can raise you hands inside the loops or zero-g-hill but should hold them down on any other parts of the ride to be safe. I have seen riders getting driven into a hospital with broken finger(s) or wrist. Later Schwarzkopf coasters got the shoulder clamps to prevent this kind of injuries.

However on both coasters there are huge signs prohibiting the raising of hands - so no liability in germany...
 
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