Amusement Park Accidents Can Ruin More Than your Vacation

A teenage girl's feet were severed just above the ankles June 21, 2007 at a Kentucky amusement park after a cable snapped and broke loose on a ride called the Superman Tower of Power. According to park supervisors, the girl was riding the Superman Tower of Power ride, which is 177 feet tall and drops riders at 54 mph. People on the ride and onlookers said that as the ride came down, the wire swung and struck the girl. The girl was immediately transported to an area hospital; the ride has been shut down until the investigation is completed. A number of rides similar to the Tower of Power have been shut down across the United States pending the investigation.

Amusement park rides in the United States are regulated through a system of federal, state and local laws riddled with holes and special exemptions. Amusement park rides and water slides are exempt from all federal safety oversight. Some amusement rides are subject to safety regulation at the state or local level. A significant percentage of U.S. amusement park thrill rides operate without any government safety oversight.

State and local government regulatory programs keep track of individual rides and the way they're operated within a specific jurisdiction. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission looks at safety problems on carnival rides, go-karts and inflatables and can track problems that occur multiple times. The CPSC monitors incident data on non-exempt rides across the U.S. and looks for patterns that may indicate a safety problem or potential hazard. Some state and local governments hire and train amusement ride inspectors to audit the industry's performance of safety functions.

In the United States, no official source is keeping a complete record of theme park accidents, and in many states (e.g. Florida), theme parks are not even legally required to report accidents involving injury to anyone. The CPSC does survey hospitals to collect information about product injuries including those at amusement parks and estimated there were approximately 3,400 accidents in our country' amusement parks in 2004. According to a June 2005 report by ABC News, there have been approximately 10 deaths in amusement parks and at least 2 deaths in water parks since 2002.

Though not legally required to do so, all of Florida’s major parks (Disney parks, Sea World Orlando, Universal Orlando, and Busch Gardens Africa) report quarterly details surrounding accidents and other incidents at their parks. The following incidents were have been reported in the third quarter of 2007:
· On July 29, 2007, a 68-year-old woman fractured both legs and an arm while exiting the ride vehicle of Peter Pan’s Flight.
· On July 16, 2007, a 42-year-old man broke his left ankle while exiting the Kilimanjaro Safari ride vehicle.
· On July 17, 2007, a 14-year-old girl broke her arm on the Camp Jurassic climbing nets.
· On August 19, 2007, a 57-year-old man suffered chest pain while riding Revenge of the Mummy.