Breaking news! Banshee Bungees are dangerous!
I’m not sure if that is really breaking news to those of us who have ever used a Banshee Bungee even once, but the media is certainly portraying it as such. A story came out in the news a little over a year ago, and since then this Facebook page has been created with hopes to completely ban the Banshee Bungee.
Here’s a quick rundown:
A young lad was using the Banshee Bungee to skimboard when the anchor it was attached to came out of the sand and shot at him like a missile. It ended up shattering his heel and breaking his tail bone in two places. He has had quite a few operations on his foot to try to get it good as new, but it was significantly damaged. If you want the entire story, enjoy this little video courtesy of Local 15 in Pensacola, FL.
Now that you know the jist of what happened, allow me to offer my thoughts. For starters, this really is a terrible accident and I couldn’t imagine how terrifying it would be to have a steel anchor come rocketing at you while you’re just trying to have some good ol’ fashioned fun. I do hope Casey has a speedy recovery and his foot regains full functionality.
With that said, I in-no-way think the Banshee Bungee should be completely banned from stores. I myself have been smacked by a loose bungee and, needless to say, it hurts. Banshee Bungees are dangerous and unpredictable, but here’s the twist, so is every single extreme sport! Any number of things could have gone wrong while skimboarding! You could step on a rock, a shell, a piece of glass, smack your head on the ground, or you could even drown for crying out loud! A ridiculous amount of things could have happened that had nothing to do with the Banshee Bungee. Does this mean we should ban skimboards? Or skate and snowboards? You have to realize that the very activity you are participating in is dangerous and that accidents happen. I don’t think any one company or sport should be attacked because s#!t happens.
See, these Banshee Bungees work perfectly fine, and this is way more dangerous than skimboarding.
I would like to address a particular argument from the article if I may. The mother states, “It needs to be modified, there needs to be heavy warning labels on it if they are going to continue to sell it. People need to understand. This could kill you.”
Allow me to now post word-for-word a couple excerpts from the GIANT WARNING TAG on the outside of the bungee bag:
“USE OF THIS PRODUCT AND PARTICIPATION IN THE SPORT INVOLVES INHERENT RISKS OF SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH.”
And another one:
“When at the beach:
CEO of Banshee Bungee Irwin Mainway?
I realize I may be coming off as very cold and cynical in this post, but I want to assure you that I do feel very badly for the boy injured and his family. I am sure when I have kids that I would be absolutely devastated if an incident like this were to happen. With that said, I still think things are getting blown out of proportion. Maybe certain beaches could decide to ban Banshee Bungees if they are worried about a lawsuit. I’ll admit, I would feel safer if I knew there were no anchors about to be flung at me while I’m trying to get my tan on. However, I do not think a company that has made skating and snowboarding better should go out of business because of isolated incidents. That’s like saying Sector 9 should go out of business because I broke my collarbone longboarding 4 years ago.
Thanks a lot Sector 9.
Hopefully this little rant was the tiniest bit thought provoking, although it may have just pissed you off. Either way, hit us up on Facebook because I would love to hear your thoughts and feelings on the matter, especially if they involve a gnarly story. No matter what, we should all just shut up and get these things. Cheers.
