Rollercoaster restraints, and why as a 300lb man I should not be worried about it, as long as it locks? What forces are at play with the safety systems and how are those designed so that some one like me does not extert enough force to break the restraint during the ride?

Question

Rollercoaster restraints, and why as a 300lb man I should not be worried about it, as long as it locks? What forces are at play with the safety systems and how are those designed so that some one like me does not extert enough force to break the restraint during the ride?

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Answer 1

The seat restraints are pretty dang tough. You should be concerned about rollercoasters for a variety of other reasons. They usually are not maintained as much as they should be and the travelling ones that move around are often put together by some cracked out individuals. So when they fail it is usually some point on the ride and not on the seat restraints that is engineered to hold many times the weight and in one direction.

Think about car accidents and how often the seatbelt snaps vs how many times something else on the car breaks either from lack of maintenance or home job repairs.