Six Flags will add seatbelts to some roller coasters after rider’s death

• Six Flags will add seat belts to select roller coasters after Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, 42, died on Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia. The ride is closed while state and police investigate.
• The company said independent engineers and inspectors are reviewing all rides. John Reilly said Six Flags will take action to “further strengthen” safety standards.
• Nitro and Raging Bull will also get seat belts. The move follows lawsuits over X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain and wider scrutiny of ride safety.

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina – Six Flags will add seatbelts to select roller coasters across its parks, the company said on Oct 23, weeks after the death of a man who fell from a ride at one of its properties.

This comes as it is contending with recent lawsuits over safety concerns.

Six Flags Entertainment president John Reilly said in a statement that it hired independent engineers and inspectors to conduct safety reviews of all rides and attractions as the additional safety measures were put in place.

“We are committed to carefully evaluating their findings and taking appropriate action to further strengthen standards and safety,” he said.

Earlier in October, Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, 42, was thrown from his seat and declared dead after riding Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia in Austell, Georgia, the state’s tallest roller coaster. That ride is temporarily closed and will include seatbelts when it reopens.

Goliath was previously equipped with the commonly used lap-bar “clamshell” restraints, which swing down to lock above riders’ laps.

The Cobb County Police Department is investigating the death, but there is no single federal agency responsible for enforcing safety standards for rides like Goliath, which passed its most recent state inspection on March 16.

The other attractions to get safety additions are Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, and Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois, which is north of Chicago, a company spokesperson said on Oct 24.

Aside from Goliath, eight rides at five other parks are temporarily closed, Reilly added.

Ride safety at Six Flags parks has come under intense scrutiny over the past several weeks, even before Kariem’s death.

In September, three people sued the amusement park company and the ride’s manufacturer after suffering what they said were catastrophic brain injuries from riding the X2 coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Southern California.

The lawsuits accuse Six Flags and a manufacturer of X2’s parts of operating a defectively designed ride and failing to adequately warn passengers about the risk of serious brain injuries.

That month, Six Flags Magic Mountain said the X2 would permanently close.

Before those lawsuits, Reilly said during an August call with analysts that the company incurred higher repair and maintenance expenses at certain parks as it reduced downtime, adding: “We will not compromise on safety.”

In its second-quarter financial filings released in August, Six Flags reported that its net revenue was US$865 million (S$1.1 billion), a decrease of US$65 million from the same time in 2025. Attendance for the quarter was just above 13 million visits, a decrease from more than 14 million for the same period in 2025.

There are currently more than 220 coasters operating across all Six Flags parks, Reilly said. NYTIMES

• This article originally appeared in The New York Times.