Lawmakers Pose More Regulation of Thrill Rides

Seizing on a series of amusement park fatalities over the summer, lawmakers proposed Wednesday giving the government expanded authority to regulate all rides.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission now regulates rides that travel from site to site with carnivals and seasonal fairs.

Regulation of roller coasters and other rides at amusement parks is left to the states, more than a dozen of which lack inspection programs, the commission said in a recent report on amusement park injuries.

“Many states have simply failed to step in where the federal safety agency has been excluded,” said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the lead sponsor of the bill introduced Wednesday.

“States are not equipped and not inclined to act as a national clearinghouse of safety problems associated with particular rides. . . . That is a federal function,” Markey, the top Democrat on the House Commerce subcommittee with jurisdiction over the commission, said in a statement.

With regulatory power over amusement parks, the commission could set standards for rides, perform inspections and investigations, recall unsafe equipment and impose civil penalties.

The safety commission recently reported that injuries from amusement park rides that resulted in emergency room visits have risen 87% over the last five years.

John Graff, president of the International Assn. of Amusement Parks and Attractions, said that the increase reflected a change in how injury data are collected and analyzed more than a true rise in injuries.

Among the accidents at amusement parks this summer:

* A 12-year-old disabled boy was killed Aug. 22 after he slipped out of the harness and fell out of the Drop Zone Stunt Tower at Paramount’s Great America in Santa Clara, Calif.

* On Aug. 23, at Paramount’s Kings Dominion in Doswell, Va., a man who had partially wiggled out of a shoulder harness died when he fell from the Shockwave, a stand-up roller coaster.

* On Aug. 28, a mother and daughter died when they were ejected from a roller coaster car at Gillian’s Wonderland Pier in Ocean City, N.J., after it suddenly slid backward and crashed into another car.