Six Flags Adds Seat Belts to Roller Coasters After Rider's Death

Six Flags will add seat belts to Goliath and other roller coasters with similar restraints, the company announced, after a rider died on the Georgia coaster on Oct. 12.

Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, 42, was apparently ejected from their seat on the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia, according to the company's account of the incident. Four other riders were reportedly injured. Six Flags did not disclose details of their conditions.

"We are reinforcing safety precautions at our parks and taking additional measures, including adding seat belts on Goliath and other coasters with a similar restraint," John Reilly, President and CEO of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, said in a statement.

Which rides are affected?

The Goliath rises 200 feet and reaches speeds of up to 70 miles an hour. It is one of nine rides across five Six Flags parks that are temporarily closed while safety investigations proceed.

According to PBS, all nine rides share clamshell restraints and were manufactured by the same firm: Bolliger & Mabillard, a Swiss roller coaster design consultancy. The clamshell restraint sits on top of a metal vertical bar placed between a rider's legs, with a locked restraint laying over the rider's legs to hold them in place during the ride.

Six Flags has not set a timeline for reopening any of the nine attractions. Kristin Fitzgerald, Director of Public Relations and Communications at Six Flags, told Fast Company that the schedule depends on several variables.

What happens before the rides reopen?

"The timing of when these seat belts will be installed may vary by attraction based on the reviews, engineering requirements, availability of components and applicable approval processes," Fitzgerald said. "We will not reopen an affected attraction until the necessary work and reviews associated with that ride have been completed. We will provide park-specific updates as information becomes available."

The closures have not stayed within Six Flags. Competitors and independent operators have proactively shut down rides with restraints similar to the Goliath's. La Ronde in Montreal, Canada, closed a coaster with the same restraint type. SeaWorld Orlando also closed its affected ride, though it has since reopened it.

That spread matters for the industry. Bolliger & Mabillard's clamshell restraint design appears across multiple parks and operators, meaning the Georgia investigation could force retrofit decisions well beyond Six Flags' portfolio. The company's move to add seat belts as a supplemental restraint — rather than wait for investigation findings — signals it expects the fix to apply broadly across rides sharing the design.

For now, nine coasters sit idle with no reopening dates. Each will return only after engineering reviews, component installation and approval processes finish, per Fitzgerald's statement — and park-specific updates will trickle out as that work concludes.