The Euthanasia Coaster is a hypothetical steel roller coaster designed to kill its passengers. In 2010, it was designed and made into a scale model by Lithuanian artist Julijonas Urbonas, a PhD candidate at the Royal College of Art in London. Urbonas, who has worked at an amusement park, stated that the goal of his concept roller coaster is to take lives "with elegance and euphoria". As for practical applications of his design, Urbonas mentioned "euthanasia" or "execution". John Allen, who served as president of the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, inspired Urbonas with his description of the "ultimate" roller coaster as one that "sends out 24 people and they all come back dead".
Design
The concept design of the layout begins with a steep-angled lift to the top, which would take two minutes for the train to reach. Any passengers that wished to get off could then do so. From there, a drop would take the train to, close to its terminal velocity, before flattening out and speeding into the first of its seven slightly clothoidinversions. Each inversion would have a smaller diameter than the one before in order to maintain the lethal 10 g to passengers while the train loses speed. After a sharp right-hand turn the train would enter a straight, where unloading of corpses and loading of new passengers could take place.
Mechanism of action
The Euthanasia Coaster would kill its passengers through prolonged cerebral hypoxia, or insufficient supply of oxygen to the brain. The ride's seven inversions would inflict 10 g on its passengers for 60 seconds – causing g-force related symptoms starting with gray out through tunnel vision to black out and eventually g-LOC. Subsequent inversions or another run of the coaster would serve as insurance against unintentional survival of passengers.
In 2013, Norwegian rock groupMajor Parkinson released "Euthanasia Roller Coaster", a digital single with lyrics alluding to Urbonas' Euthanasia Coaster. Lavie Tidhar's short story "Vladimir Chong Chooses to Die" incorporates Urbonas' Euthanasia Coaster into the ending. Glenn Paton's short filmH Positive explores the motivations of a wealthy man who, upon discovering that he is dying, commissions an architect to build a Euthanasia Coaster identical to Urbonas' design. Although Urbonas is not mentioned during the film, the end credits affirm that the film was based on Urbonas' project. The rollercoaster used in the film is, a floorless roller coaster at Parque Warner Madrid and built by Bolliger & Mabillard.
