In the news…

The Star reported an accident at Berjaya Times Square where a woman was injured after a roller coaster rail bar fell on her head.

Berjaya Times Square opened a couple of years back, boasting Malaysia’s largest indoor theme park. Since it opened, I’ve been to the shopping complex a total of two times. One was a work-related visit and the other was to show my parents around while they were in town. I can’t say I was particularly impressed by this mammoth construction, however, that wasn’t the part that concerned me.

What alarmed me, when I first saw the theme park, was that people could literally walk underneath the roller coaster while it was in operation. It looked to me like an accident waiting to happen. Sad to say, a couple of years later, an accident did happen. It amazes me that the construction of something like this was so easily approved without any safety considerations.

Once again, it seems that yet another structure has been built with dubious safety measures taken into consideration. I’m talking about the ferris wheel in Titiwangsa park that has just been completed. It sits on the edge of the park’s lake (which was formerly a mining pond) and is intended to be Malaysia’s newest tourist attraction for the 2007 Visit Malaysia Year – the “Eye on Malaysia”. Each carriage takes up to eight adults and is fully air-conditioned, taking into consideration the heat of the afternoon sun. The ferris wheel will provide rides overlooking the KL city skyline.

Now I may not be an engineer, but the words “mining pond” and “edge of the lake” certainly do ring alarm bells. I’ve also heard from my MIL who takes regular walks at the park that she didn’t see any pilings being constructed before the ferris wheel was erected. Perhaps my MIL didn’t see the pilings and perhaps because the ferris wheel will only be up for a year, I’m probably over-reacting. Even so, I certainly won’t be rushing over to take a ride on it.