Every time I have gone to a major theme park, ride operators will tell their guests to put away any loose articles and even if you have a GoPro secured (not a loose article), they will ask you to put that away as well. However, when I go to the local carnival they are not as strict. I can walk directly onto the ride without the operator checking my GoPro mount or even tells me to put it away. I'm not blaming or judging anyone at all. I'm simply trying to bring this to people's attention in hopes that people who do try to do on ride filming would do it in a safe way and ride operators would be more aware of their guests safety.
From personal experience, sometimes the mounts that hold the GoPros tend to crack from normal wear and tare. I got onto a ride unaware of this and the ride attendant didn't check my setup or anything. Thankfully nothing happened, but this just proves a point that a ride operator and GoPro users need to ALWAYS check their equipment prior to use and not use it if not secure.
I recently spoke to a safety manager for North American Midways and he exclaimed that he has seen many people try different ways to film while on ride, one method included a rider duct taping their camera to their body. I'm sorry, but that is just not safe. Parks may never allow GoPros on their rides if people continue to do careless things. The purpose of this blog is to promote SAFE GoPro filming while on rides and one that respects the park polices that are in place.
Some traveling carnivals have security at their entrances and strictly say no cameras , which was the case at North American Midways, but not every location a traveling carnival goes to may have that luxury.
I saw a video a long time ago of someone filming themselves using a selfie stick on a KMG Inversion and you could actually see the selfie pole. That should NEVER have happened! I just recently found a video of someone riding a KMG Speed and it looks like they are using a selfie stick to record. THAT IS NOT SAFE!!!!!!! Speed pulls 3.5-3.7Gs and for someone to think they can hold onto a selfie stick like that should NEVER be allowed to ride using that kind of setup. Below is the video:
Here is an article of someone using a selfie stick on a roller coaster:
I have started to see a mount called GoKnuckles that looks like a knuckle buster with a GoPro attachment, but even still that is not really secure. Now it might be a great mount for other types of activities, but not while riding an intense thrill ride. Check out their link below:
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