Dingy Bumper Cars a Hit At Culture Shock

by Jess LaVopa

Bump if ye Dare (Photo by Jess LaVopa)

“Scooter safety rules” read a large white sign surrounded by vanity lights that no longer worked. Rule number one, keep your hands inside the car. Number two, keep your shoulder strap on, and, rule number three, avoid head on collisions. At Culture Shock 2019, the rules were thrown out the window.

This year was the first year that Culture Shock added bumper cars to the amusements lineup. Many students loved the ride but some were disappointed.

Jordan Suleiman, a Purchase student, thought, “They were really fun.” Tabetha Rosado, a theatre major, loved the bumper cars. Although the ride was fun and made people smile, the quality of the bumper cars threw some students off.

“I like them a lot, I think they were really fun,” said Purchase student Samantha Vitabile.

“They weren’t the highest quality bumper cars ever but I wasn’t complaining.”

Only five of the cars were in use during the music festival and many students reported that even the cars in use didn’t entirely work.

“My friend and I had a really hard time getting our car to work,” said Purchase student Sarah Siano. “Even though the guy running it claimed that we were just ‘doing it wrong,’ but the cars were just not great.”

Bee Moore had a similar situation. “Trying to drive them was weird. It was hard to figure out how to go forward,” said Moore. “Turning didn’t do what you expected it to, our car just ended up going backwards and left a lot.”

One incident specifically, shocked Purchase student Billy Yates. According to Yates, when he was riding the bumper cars he hit one of the cars off to the side that wasn’t in use and it started smoking.

“It started smoking and sparking,” said Yates. “Then the guy ran up to fix it and told me ‘I should have known better,’ and ‘shouldn’t have hit that one.’”

The cars that were not in use lined the perimeter of the bumper car driving space, taking up a decent amount of room on the track.

“The cars wouldn’t really work and we only got to drive for a minute until we were kicked off,” said Em Word, a Purchase student. “That’s typical for bumper cars but I wish there was a larger space to drive. I feel like we were so cramped.”

Another Purchase student, Amirah Everette, also thought the track was too small. “What do you expect from carnival rides that are put together by hand and thrown up in one day?” said Everette. “They only had five cars and the arena was really small. Also, it looked old and dingy.”

Old and dingy they may have been, but the line for the bumper cars was still the longest out of the three rides and some students even went for a second round.