Carnival rides are exciting partly because we’re never quite sure just how safe they are. After all, the supposedly safe hunk of spinning metal you’re riding was, quite literally, unfolded just hours before — after spending hours on an 18-wheeler flatbed bouncing along a pothole-filled highway.
If you’ve always had a fear of these carnival contraptions, it will be reinforced after hearing of the incident at the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City, Michigan. Video has been shared showing a ride full of passengers shaking violently on a carnival ride to the point where it looks like it’s going to fall over as it swings passengers back and forth.
Luckily, a group of quick-thinking spectators jump on the ride to hold it down and keep it from tipping over as the operator brings it to a stop.
A representative for Arnolds Amusements, the operator of the ride, said that the ride has already been dismantled and is on its way back to their facility in Ohio to determine what went wrong. The company says that their rides are “rigorously inspected” every day by their employees, in addition to undergoing yearly inspections by the state and third-party inspections three times a year.