Entirely avoidable injuries and deaths happen to (mostly) young men and boys all the time, for reasons noted in several posts. They don't think anything can happen to them. They don't think they can die. They take ridiculous risks. It is in the nature of most young males to be this way, always has been, and all you can do is tell them over and over to be careful and hope they reach maturity in one piece.

This incident gets widely noticed because a roller coaster and a macabre death are involved. More often, it is a car that kills young men, or a boating accident, or a fall, and these only make the local news.

As for the guest that started this: I really wonder what motivates people to post such threads in a forum they don't use themselves. This story isn't even controversial; it's just sad and horrifying.