Never Trust a Six Flags Lap Bar

By Scott Willson · 2026-10-22

A 42 year old man died Monday after he was thrown from his seat on Goliath, the 200 foot roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia. Witnesses told the California Post he slipped out of his lap restraint while riding with his son, struck coaster cars three times and landed on the roof of a haunted house below. A mother says her own son’s restraint on the same ride kept locking and unlocking about an hour earlier. Six Flags has temporarily shut down nine similar coasters in the U.S. and Canada while the state investigates.

I have never trusted a lap bar in my life. You get strapped into a 200 foot steel death machine and the only thing keeping you in your seat is a padded bar that a 17 year old pushed down with his knee before telling you you’re good. Six Flags rides have always felt like they were held together by duct tape and churro grease, and now a dad is dead in front of his kid.

Video@californiaposton Instagram

Watch the video@californiapost

The craziest part is a mom says her son’s restraint on Goliath kept locking and unlocking an hour before this happened. He switched seats and the ride kept running. If that’s true, this wasn’t bad luck, it was a park that knew something was off and kept the line moving.

Now Six Flags has shut down nine coasters across the country, which is exactly what you do after it’s too late. Every theme park in America runs on the same plan, build the ride taller, make the line longer and sell you a $19 souvenir photo of the moment you almost died.

My heart goes out to his family, and I’m sticking to the bumper cars for the rest of my life.

Header photo: Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia by Coasterman1234, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.