While height, drop length, speed and inversions are often the focus behind what makes a roller coaster great or not, the restraints can play a significant role into how much a ride is enjoyed.
If there’s one universal emotion that everyone has felt in a specific situation, it’s likely at least a little bit of fear associated with roller coasters – even for the adrenaline junkies that claim it’s only excitement.
Whether it’s the sight of a towering lift hill or the sound of chains rattling as a train takes off from the station, riding a roller coaster is supposed to get the senses heightened. It’s an unnatural, thrilling experience that’s entirely made by humans, with high-octane rides designed to scare and thrill at equal levels.
Perhaps the most vital component of a roller coaster, particularly those that are built to instill fear and trepidation, are the restraints – a universal safety feature in roller coasters that ensures guests are secured to their seats throughout the duration of the ride.
Restraints have come an incredibly long way in the century-plus that roller coasters and amusement parks have been a cultural fixture. With many old wooden coasters gaining their notoriety with single-position lap bars, affectionately known as “buzz bars” among coaster enthusiasts, there was literally and figuratively plenty of room for improvement.
Although buzz bars remain in use today on a few old wooden coasters and are prized by enthusiasts for their loose feeling and propensity to allow huge moments of airtime, they have largely been replaced by restraints that are seen as more comfortable and secure.
Ultimately, that is the preeminent challenge when designing a restraint – it has to be fully secure and able to keep riders in their seats through all of the coaster’s most intense elements, all while also not making the rider uncomfortable.
The latter is perhaps a greater challenge than it may seem to many developers of yesteryear and today alike, with the biggest drawbacks of certain roller coasters often boiling down to the restraint simply being uncomfortable.
Perhaps the most universal example of this experience comes with older over-the-shoulder harnesses used on many looping coasters from Arrow Dynamics, as well as older floorless and inverted coasters from Bolliger & Mabillard. On these rides, a rider not fully keeping their head back could experience their head pinballing between the two harness bars – a cage-rattling experience that likely was the reason behind these restraints being phased out.
With restraints more comfortable and secure today than ever before, here’s a look at the three restraints I look forward to the most when riding coasters – the ones that I feel best balance the feeling of being safe and secure with a comfortable ride experience:
3. Rocky Mountain Construction lap bar/leg restraint combo
While RMC coasters are known for including high speeds and plentiful inversions, you probably wouldn’t guess it by their trains and restraints, which seat riders two across while including an incredibly sturdy lap bar/leg lock combo – serving as a replacement for the shoulder harnesses for inverting coasters.
Although I’d certainly understand an initial feeling of uneasiness when boarding an inverting coaster that does not have shoulder harnesses, RMC’s lap bars feel incredibly secure, with the leg locking lower portion of the bar resting securely around the rider’s shins before dispatch from the station.
The rather large size of the bar allows for an ideal mix of feeling fully safe while also getting a good chunk of airtime – the later only exasperated from the fact that there really isn’t anything for the rider to hold on to – save for a small black strap that is typically placed on the outer side of the restraint.
Though that doesn’t bother me all that much, especially because a rider can hold on to the indented middle portion of their seat as well, the lack of headrests on the seats does negatively affect comfort for some taller riders – although that is more of an issue with the train that it is with the seat itself.
2. B&M vest restraints
While these restraints are at least mildly polarizing among coaster enthusiasts, they are a noted improvement over the more rigid shoulder harnesses that were used for well over a decade on B&M coasters.
The vest restraints, now used on modern B&M dive, floorless and inverted coasters, excel in making the rider feel secure. In addition to a large lap bar at the bottom of the harness that features a buckle to be strapped to the seat, the restraint features a large vest that secures the rider from over the shoulders, with two bars emerging from the harness for the rider to hang on to.
These feel comfortable off the jump and also eliminate any issue of headbanging on the ride, but these restraints are not without flaws – with one flaw being seen as a major drawback from some riders.
The vest component of the restraint, while pliable before the ride begins, does lock into place before dispatch from the station. Riders shifting their upper bodies a bit may find themselves suddenly squeezed into the seat by the vest restraint – which can get pretty uncomfortable as the restraint tightens around the collarbone.
While I’m usually able to avoid this by sitting still before a ride, I have been stapled by the vests before, and it creates for a less-than-pleasant ride experience. If not for this feature, these restraints would be effectively perfect in my opinion.
1. B&M clamshell restraints
The iconic, rounded lap bar restraints that are used on every B&M hyper and giga, these lap bars the pinnacle of comfort and security in a roller coaster restraint.
Made of a heavily padded material with two bars for the rider to hold on to, the rounded shape of the lap bar works excellent with fitting riders of most sizes, fitting securely around the lap while also allowing for a healthy amount of airtime – which B&M hypers are of course known for.
These restraints never feel like they’re crushing your lap or pushing down too hard, but you also certainly never feel loose in them either – with some B&M hypers also including a seatbelt beneath the lap bar as an additional failsafe restraint.
Adding to the comfort of the restraints is the positioning of the handles for the rider to hold on to, ideally placed at the center of the restraint, giving those that are perhaps a bit nervous about the ride an easy way to hang on and distract themselves.
While these restraints specifically work with the four-across trains used on B&M hypers, it’s hard to imagine another lap bar, larger or smaller, that could dually excel in comfort and safety like the clamshell restraints.
Initially introduced with Apollo’s Chariot at Busch Gardens Williamsburg in 1999, the restraints are still used to this day – serving as proof of their longevity and popularity.
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