Thrill Ride or Horror Show?

June 22, 2007 — -- Fans of amusement park rides would rather flirt with danger than experience the real thing.

But every summer, people are injured or killed while spinning, soaring or free-falling on different theme park rides.

Already this summer there have been at least a few dozen theme park accidents, raising questions about the safety of the rides. Thursday night's incident at the Six Flags Amusement Park in Louisville, Ky., in which a 13-year-old girl's feet were severed at the ankle when a cable snapped on the Superman Tower of Power ride, was just the latest.

In May, riders were left hanging upside down for more than an hour on a roller coaster at a theme park in Arkansas, and six people were hospitalized after a similar incident at a Six Flags in Vallejo, Calif., left riders suspended 70 feet in the air for four hours.

As advances in technology and engineering allow theme park rides to get faster and more adventurous, are they getting more dangerous? And are the the number of accidents increasing?

To the frustration of safety advocates, those questions are difficult to answer, because there are no clear statistics on accidents at amusement parks.

Varying Inspections and Regulations

According to the most recent numbers compiled by the Consumer Products Safety Commission, in 2004 there were an estimated 5,900 injuries for mobile rides, such as those found at traveling carnivals, and fixed-site rides, which exist at larger amusement parks like Six Flags and Disney World.

Although mobile rides are regulated by the CPSC, fixed-ride parks are not regulated by the federal government, and local regulations vary from state to state. Massachusetts and Pennsylvania heavily regulate theme park rides, but eight states, including Arizona and Wyoming, do not regulate or inspect them at all.

"Standards vary across the board -- where it's located and what kind of company it is," says Kathy Fackler, the president of Saferparks, a nonprofit group that works to prevent amusement ride injuries with a special focus on the safety of young children.

Fackler explains that some states only inspect the ride operators and not the safety of the actual rides, and not all states have trained inspectors to do the job.

Young Children at Risk

Fackler emphasizes that it's up to riders to check out the safety of the rides and their operators.

"Parents in particular should pay close attention," she says.

According to her group's findings, about half of all ride-related accidents happen to children age 13 or under. When it comes to falls and ejections from moving rides, the discrepancy is even greater: two-thirds of those victims are age 9 or younger.

As for the safest rides, kiddie rides and whirling or spinning rides were responsible for more injuries than roller coasters, water rides and bungees, according to data compiled by Saferparks.

Since 1990, Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., has pushed a bill to get CPSC to regulate fixed-site amusement parks, but it has never been passed.

"All we're looking for is for the CPSC to investigate accidents, develop and enforce an action plan to correct defects and to act as a national clearinghouse to provide data," says Jessica Schafer, a spokeswoman for Markey.

The theme park industry, which has consistently opposed further regulation of rides since 1981, argues that it has an excellent safety record.

The likelihood of being injured on an amusement park ride seriously enough to require overnight hospitalization for treatment is one in 9 million, claims David Mandt, spokesman for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. In general, industry representatives emphasize that accidents are more often due to human error than mechanical malfunction.

New Rides Faster, Safer

Despite their increased speed, newer rides often are designed to incorporate new safety technology.

"There is an added component of safety based on the newer technology," says Rob Ammons, a product liability attorney and the author of an article in Trial magazine titled "Is the All-American Amusement Park Safe?"

"The problem is many of the rides that are still used are 20, 30 years old, and so you don't have newer technology on those rides," Ammons says.

And larger parks are generally safer than small traveling carnivals, says Ammons, because they tend to employ safety officials who are responsible for inspections.

"Even if there is a system that requires periodic inspection, who is really checking on the inspectors for the small carnival company?" he says.

Back in Kentucky, state inspectors are still looking into how a cable on the Superman Tower of Power frayed and snapped. The ride was inspected earlier in the spring, prior to the opening of the park, says Bill Clary, spokesman for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture's Office of Consumer and Environmental Protection.

"If there had been any indication of a mechanical problem, then the ride would not be allowed to open," says Clary. "Last year, we had seven incidents where inspectors had to come in and look at things but none of them involved serious injuries. This is an unusual occurrence."