Want to enjoy the ride of your life along with the last ride of
your life? That’s what Julijonas Urbonas envisions with his Euthanasia
Coaster. The three-minute ride involves a long, slow, climb — nearly a
third of a mile long — that lifts one up to a height of more than 1,600
feet, followed by a massive fall and seven strategically sized and
placed loops.
The final descent and series of loops take all of one
minute. But the gravitational force — 10 Gs — from the spinning loops at
223 miles per hour in that single minute is lethal.
That’s because Euthanasia Coaster isn’t simply meant to be about
death. Urbonas sees it as both an intellectual and artful departure
from the world, one that isn’t about the paperwork and medical issues of
the current euthanasia system. The few places where voluntary
euthanasia is legal include: Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,
Switzerland, and the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington.
“There is no special ritual, nor is death given special
meaning except that of the legal procedures and psychological
preparation. It is like death is divorced from our cultural life…”
Urbonas writes. “…But if it is already legal, why not to make it more
meaningful?”
How do you turn a roller coaster ride into a “meaningful”
death? Urbonas has built in a long, slow trek to the top before the
first fall. In fact, of the three-minute ride, two minutes are devoted
to the climb. Urbonas writes: “…The rider has a few minutes to
contemplate his decision and his life in retrospect. He would find
enough time to adapt to the height and get through a series of imaginary
fatal falls, while realizing that the objects on the ground are getting
smaller…The slightest movement of the car would trigger intense
heart-beating and goosebumps and most importantly it would test your
decision. Therefore the very top of the tower is an ideal place to give
the very last word.”
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