Personal Injury Law

Theme park ride injury accidents: A cause for concern?

By Ryan Bradley, Esq.

As each week passes, we are starting to see more signs that summer is here. Baseball season has started, the pools are opening, and students are getting out of school. Amusement parks across the state are also gearing up for the busy season. If a park visitor is not careful, though, serious injury and even death can occur at a place which is normally associated with fun and excitement.

Many people have different reactions to theme park rides. Some people are daredevils that feel safe going on any thrill ride, while others swear those big roller coasters are just an accident waiting to happen.

The truth is that theme parks are relatively safe as long as both the guests and the park staff are attentive and use good judgment. This, as you probably suspect, doesn?t always happen and that?s when there?s a problem.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that more than 10,500 people are seriously injured each year on rides at both permanent amusement parks and traveling carnivals combined. This data is only an estimate as a true number would be very hard to calculate. Injury accidents at theme parks aren?t always reported and rules about documenting them vary widely from state to state.

Tragically, 5 people die each year in accidents at parks like these. Just last week, in fact, a young boy drowned in a pool at a Wet n? Wild amusement park in Anthony, Texas.

You might guess traveling carnivals, with those rickety mobile rides that collapse and reassemble in mall parking lots, might be less safe than a fixed-site theme park. This too is hard to gauge due to lack of information. We know fixed-site rides account for about 6,500 of the total injuries each year compared to only 4,000 or so for the mobile amusement rides. Fixed-site parks, though, presumably see more visitors a year, so they may be statistically safer. It?s impossible to know the exact rate for mobile parks as their attendance figures are not documented completely.

From a personal injury lawyer?s perspective, the big question is, ?Why are these accidents occurring?? The CPSC cites a few main causes for the incidents. A large number of injury accidents were blamed on rider behavior. Generally this means that a park guest did something reckless like standing up on a ride or removing safety restraints. Another main cause of accidents is negligence on the part of the ride operator. If a ride operator fails to properly secure a ride?s passengers, serious injury is often the result. Most of the remaining accidents are caused by mechanical failure.

If someone is injured by a theme park staff?s negligence or a mechanical breakdown, they may be entitled to damages through a personal injury lawsuit. A claim against a theme park or traveling carnival will probably fall under the category of a "premises liability" case. These cases are brought against business or land owners when an injury results from dangerous conditions on their property. Even if the accident might have been caused by a park guest?s actions, they should still contact a injury accident attorney to learn their rights as they still may be entitled to compensation.

Full post as published by Missouri Accident Lawyer Blog on May 21, 2009 (boomark / email).