Family Wants More Ride Regulation

May 14, 2008— -- Almost a year after an amusement park ride severed both her feet, Kaitlyn Lasitter says it's "sad" that "it took my legs being taken from me" to have more attention called to the issue of amusement park ride safety. She and her family spoke at a press conference on Capitol Hill as part of the latest push to put the issue on lawmakers' agenda.

The ride at the Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, Ky., was called the Superman Tower of Power, described as a "stomach-wrenching thrill ride that lifts passengers 176 feet straight up, pauses, and then plunges them down at 50 miles an hour." On June 21, 2007, 13-year-old Lasitter and her friends decided to experience the thrill.

When they were about 20 feet in the air, pieces of cable began beating against their necks, arms and faces. One of the 10 cables snapped, wrapped around Lasitter's legs and cut off both her feet.

An investigation by the state of Kentucky concluded, among other things, that maintenance workers at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom failed to properly care for and lubricate the 10 cables that lift the Superman Tower of Power. Eight months after the accident, the park shut down the ride.

Lasitter, now 14, has one reattached foot and one prosthesis. At Wednesday's press conference, she described her painful recovery, saying she "won't be the person I was before," and that she fears for her life when she gets in a car or steps into an elevator. "It's hard for me to live my days like I used to ... I'm not as carefree as a 14-year-old child should be. And that, that really sucks."

She also said she has trouble sleeping, frequent headaches and bouts of nausea. She will heal, but "I don't want to wait for 'eventually,'" she said.

Though states set and enforce their own inspection guidelines for the rides, there are no federal regulations that cover "fixed-site" amusement park rides such as the Superman Tower of Power. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., wants to change that.