Panel OKs Ride Inspections

In the wake of back-to-back accidents at California theme parks, including one in which a board flew free from a Knott’s Berry Farm ride Monday and struck five people in the head, a state Senate committee voted to require statewide inspections of all amusement park rides.

Though Senate committee members did not discuss Sunday’s tragedy--a 12-year-old boy fell to his death at a Bay Area amusement park--Assemblyman Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch) said the incident added momentum to support for the bill.

“In memory of these individuals and young people who have been killed, we need to try to get this legislation in place,” said Torlakson, the bill’s sponsor.

The bill now goes to the full Senate, where it is expected to be approved and then sent back to the Assembly. The Assembly already passed the measure but must approve Senate changes before the bill goes to Gov. Gray Davis.

Davis “hasn’t committed to any particular bill, but he is working with the author on this bill,” said Hilary McLean, a spokeswoman for the governor.

The Senate committee vote came hours after a 3-foot section of a 2-by-2-inch wooden board snapped loose beneath the GhostRider roller coaster at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, flipped into the air and struck five riders.

GhostRider, billed as the West’s biggest wooden roller coaster, opened in December as a key part of a strategy to boost Knott’s appeal by adding new thrill rides.

Shino Shoji, 59, a tourist from Gumma, Japan, was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he received stitches to close a 4-inch cut on his head. Four youths were treated for minor scratches on their faces, said Buena Park Police Sgt. Terry Branum.

Though the park was busy, it was not packed; attendance typically tails off on late-August weekdays. But as news helicopters buzzed over Knott’s at midday, the park closed GhostRider and turned disappointed customers away from the ride.

GhostRider will be closed indefinitely “until we figure out what happened and know we’ve fixed it so it won’t happen again,” said Jack Falfas, Knott’s general manager. He declined to predict how long the ride might be closed pending a briefing today by experts who will examine it.

Two representatives from Custom Coaster Inc., the Cincinnati, Ohio, company that built the ride, left Monday for Buena Park. “They’re going out there to inspect the coaster and see what happened,” a company employee said.

Falfas said the ride also will be examined by two other experts: Gary Gast, a wooden roller coaster specialist from Knott’s parent company, Ohio-based Cedar Fair LP, and Richard Brown, a dynamics expert who has done extensive work for amusement parks.

Falfas said he wants to install metal brackets at every joint in the wooden track and replace the entire top layer of boards supporting the track. “It will be very time- and labor-intensive,” he said. “But I have to sleep at night.”

Knott’s officials say the entire length of the track is inspected each day before the GhostRider begins operations, and bolts are tightened and wood pieces replaced at any sign of weakness. Since the ride opened eight months ago, no serious accidents had occurred until Monday, said park spokesman Bob Ochsner.

Boy Falls to Death at Santa Clara Park

The roller coaster incident followed Sunday’s tragedy at the Drop Zone Stunt Tower in Paramount’s Great America Theme Park in Santa Clara. Joshua Smurphat of Sunnyvale, a disabled boy, apparently slipped out of a safety harness and plunged to his death as his mother watched from below.

“There is no excuse for someone to die with a safety harness on,” said Kathy Dresslar, a consumer lobbyist for Children’s Advocacy Institute.

The Drop Zone, which opened in 1996, drops riders in a free fall 129 feet at 62 mph. Sunday’s incident was the first for the ride. A 24-year-old man was killed at a different ride at the park last year when he climbed over a 6-foot security fence to retrieve his wife’s hat.

Knott’s maintains a ride similar to the Drop Zone, called Supreme Scream, but has no plans to shut it down, Knott’s Falfas said. The ride is made by a different manufacturer but uses a similar type of restraint system for riders.

Falfas said he walked into the park Monday morning, before the GhostRider accident, to look at the Supreme Scream and try to envision what had happened in Santa Clara.

“Every time you hear of anything like this, you’re more acutely aware, and you look at yourself,” Falfas said.

Supreme Scream at Knott’s was built by S&S; Power Sports Inc. in Logan, Utah. The Santa Clara ride was made by Intamin AG, a Swiss company. There are some mechanical differences. At Knott’s, Supreme Scream is braked by air instead of magnets, but the restraint systems both use shoulder harnesses and straps between the legs.

“I don’t think it had anything to do with the ride,” Falfas said. “I don’t know how the kid got out of it.”

Safety Issue Raised by Disneyland Tragedy

Safety of permanent amusement park rides emerged as a political issue after a fatal Christmas Eve accident at Disneyland. A metal mooring cleat tore loose from the Columbia sailing ship, killing a tourist from Washington state and severely injuring his wife and a park worker.

Disneyland was fined $12,500 by state safety regulators, who ruled that managers of the park inadequately trained a worker on the ride and misused equipment.

The accident prompted legislative action, including Torlakson’s bill, to set safety standards and require state inspections of rides and public reports on accidents.

The details of those inspections have been the subject of numerous amendments, including some backed by the amusement park industry that would have limited regulation to self-inspections.

California is one of 12 states that do not regulate permanent amusement park rides. It already regulates rides at traveling carnivals.

Sunday’s fatal accident did little to sway opponents of regulation.

“I think the major players in the park industry have incredibly good safety records as a whole,” said Assemblyman Ken Maddox (R-Garden Grove), who opposed the measure. “I’m unwilling to support any legislation that doesn’t have a strong rider responsibility clause.”

Maddox said many accidents are caused “by people who had too much to drink acting like fools.”

Sen. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine), a Senate Appropriations Committee member, said he is sympathetic to those injured but doesn’t believe regulation is needed.

“As tragic as these events are, I’m just not persuaded how having some bureaucrat look at [rides] from time to time is going to prevent accidents,” said Johnson, who also is the Republican leader in the Senate.

The latest version of the bill almost died in committee when proponents couldn’t muster the seven votes needed to pass it on to the full Senate.

“I don’t really think the bill is at the top of anyone’s agenda,” said Sen. Tim Leslie (R-Tahoe City), the Senate Appropriations Committee’s vice chairman. “That’s not to say it’s not important, but it’s one of thousands of bills moving through the Legislature.”

Leslie voted against the bill early Monday but later changed his vote. The final vote was 9 to 3 to approve the measure.

Times staff writer Scott Martelle and correspondent Jason Kandel contributed to this report.

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Accidents Put Focus on Safety Bill

Five riders were injured Monday when a 3-foot wooden piece flew off the GhostRider roller coaster at Knott’s Berry Farm. The Buena Park incident was the second amusement park accident in as many days--a 12-year-old boy was killed Sunday when he fell from a ride at a Santa Clara park. On Monday, a state Senate committee voted to require statewide inspections of all amusement park rides.

Safe Rides Act

A legislative bill to regulate California’s amusement park rides has gone through numerous changes, as the industry has sought to weaken it and consumer advocates have tried to toughen it. Highlights of the latest version:

What the State Must Do:

- Visit parks and inspect rides annually

- Inspect training records, maintenance logs and accident reports annually

- Shut down any ride, if necessary, that causes death or serious injury or is deemed unsafe by state inspectors

What the Parks Must Do

- Inspect their own operations, using state-certified inspectors

- Report all serious accidents and injuries requiring more than first aid

- Preserve evidence at accident scenes

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Source: The proposed California Permanent Amusement Parks Safety Act

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Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times