I recently came across one of Krishan Coupland’s posts on The Liminal Residency, in which he reflects on deaths at theme parks. In part, Coupland reflects on the difference in the reaction to deaths and injuries according to the setting in which they occur. Specifically, he contrasts the giant reaction to the life-changing injuries experienced in an accident aboard the Smiler rollercoaster at Alton Towers with the muted reaction to a much higher number of injuries and deaths experienced on a particularly dangerous road to Alton Towers.

This is not a new observation: we all know that fear of flying in the aftermath of 9/11 led to people taking a much riskier car journey, perversely increasing the rate of death and serious injury among travellers. I wrote about something similar on 14 April 2021, when I did some back-of-an-envelope calculations about covid vaccine risks versus the risk of travelling to venues.

But I’ve never thought about it in a theme park context, and—perhaps partly because I’ve recently visited The Hoppings—I thoroughly enjoyed Coupland’s reflections.

The image at the top of this post was generated by Midjourney.