Theme Park Ride Injuries Rise 87% Over Five Years
The federal Consumer Product Safety Commission says that emergency room injuries from amusement park rides rose 87% over five years.
Injuries at amusement parks that were serious enough to warrant emergency treatment rose from an estimated 2,400 in 1994 to 4,500 in 1998, wrote Ann Brown, the commission’s chairwoman, in a recent letter to Rep. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat.
Brown was responding to a request for information from Markey, who is the ranking Democrat on the House Commerce subcommittee on telecommunications, trade and consumer protection.
After several fatal amusement park accidents this summer, Markey said he would introduce legislation giving the commission power to set standards for amusement park rides, perform inspections and investigations, recall unsafe equipment and impose civil penalties.
Four people died in August in separate amusement park ride accidents, including one in California.
The state Legislature passed a bill in its latest session to create an inspection program for theme parks. Gov. Gray Davis said he will sign the bill, which was prompted by a string of accidents.
On Aug. 22, a 12-year-old boy tumbled 129 feet to his death at Paramount’s Great America in Santa Clara. Five people were injured on the GhostRider roller coaster at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park the next day. Days later, 28 riders dangled in midair for hours at Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo, and earlier this month at the same park, a 9-year-old boy was injured in a fall from a scrambler ride.
But it was the death of a Washington man after a Christmas Eve accident at Disneyland that spawned the legislation. The park visitor was hit by a metal cleat that broke loose from one of the tamest rides at the park, the Columbia sailing ship. His wife and a park worker were seriously injured.
The federal commission regulates so-called “mobile” rides that are hauled from carnival to carnival, but not rides at amusement parks and other permanent sites. To regulate rides at permanent sites, the commission would need at least a $5-million increase in its budget and additional staff, Brown said.
Regulation of amusement parks is now left to state and local authorities. Brown said 14 states plus the District of Columbia do not have inspection programs.
The International Assn. of Amusement Parks and Attractions has said that some states with no regulations also have no--or very few--parks. A call to the association Monday was not immediately returned.
Total estimated injuries from rides at all sites--permanent, mobile and unknown--rose to 9,200 from 7,400 over the five-year period, Brown said. Injuries on rides at mobile sites increased just slightly, from 2,000 to 2,100 over the period.
The commission monitors amusement-ride-related injuries through the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, which covers a sample of hospital emergency rooms. Fatality information is obtained through incident reports, newspaper clippings and death certificates.
