FAD WATCH : Bungee or Bust?

We don’t begrudge anyone that exquisite jolt of adrenaline that can transform a hot, sleepy, end-of-summer day into a lasting memory. The way Southern California baseball teams are playing these days, we all need a wake-up call.

But bungee jumping? In case you’ve been sweating out this summer incommunicado, bungeers lash themselves to long, elastic ropes and dive over the sides of bridges. High bridges. The type James Stewart had nightmares about in “Vertigo.”

Bungeers hurtle toward the pavement below until the tether snaps taut and they bounce safely skyward. Practiced somewhat surreptitiously in these parts by people who pay firms for a safe leap, the fad is a well-established sport and major tourist attraction in New Zealand.

Now it’s spreading to Southern California. One promoter is trying to persuade a major theme park to open a bungee-jump attraction.

Aficionados say bungee jumping is safer than hang-gliding (8 deaths among 7,000 participants in 1987, according to the National Safety Council) or sky diving (28 deaths among 115,000 participants).

We just want to know one thing: Why this? Why now? Have the old standby thrillers--plunging roller coasters, fast cars, rock climbs--become tame with overuse? Just can’t seem to get the same rush from white-water rafting? Or is this more of that famous California exploration of the outer edges of adventurism? Or insanity?

So bungee jump, if you must. Just do us one favor:

Don’t tell your mother.