Are Amusement Park Rides Getting Too Dangerous for Children?

By Linda Orlando

Last year more then 328 million people worldwide visited amusement parks. Amusement parks have been a popular staple of American culture for over 100 years, and designers of amusement park rides today seem to be focusing intently on creating rides that are more and more interesting, entertaining, and exciting for park visitors. But a disturbing trend has been growing over the past couple of decades that could mean parents should be more cautious about letting their children ride whatever appeals to them. Like many of the entertainment products designed for today’s youth, thrill rides are becoming increasingly fast, scary, and heart-pounding, meaning that a child’s health can actually be affected by riding a thrill ride that is too thrilling.

In July, a 16-year old British girl was riding a thrill ride at Disney World Orlando when her heart stopped. Leanne Deacon said she felt strange when the ride stopped, and she was feeling dizzy as she departed the "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror," a haunted hotel where riders are placed in an elevator that shoots up 13 stories and then plummets 100 feet to the ground twice. Park officials called for an ambulance, and before Deacon reached the hospital her heart had stopped beating and she had to be resuscitated. By that evening, she was in critical condition. Disney closed the ride temporarily, but reopened it the following day.

Just a few weeks earlier, 4-year old Daudi Bamuwamye died while riding the "Mission: Space" attraction at Walt Disney World’s Epcot Center. Although the boy met the proper height requirements and apparently had no medical conditions that would be aggravated by such a ride, he collapsed about two hours into the ride and became stiff and rigid, and his mother had to carry him off the ride. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and an autopsy is still pending, but parents and some lawmakers have become alarmed and taken note. The ride was temporarily closed that day, but reopened the next day, ready to thrill and possibly harm more riders. In its first eight months of operation, six people were hospitalized for at least a day after riding the Mission: Space launch, according to the Florida Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection. Shortly afterward, Disney began distributing sickness bags and posted additional warning signs saying that the ride was intense and riders should be in good health.

Amusement park rides don’t necessarily need to be intense to be dangerous, as evidenced by an accident recently at Disney’s California Adventure theme park where one roller coaster train rear-ended another, injuring some of the 48 riders onboard. Although none of the injuries were serious, 14 people had to be taken to local hospitals for treatment. Just four months earlier, a 4-year old boy broke his finger and severed the tip of his thumb while on a canal boats ride at Disneyland. In another incident, a 7-year old boy was found dead in the water at Playland in Westchester, New York, a historic amusement park. The ride is one of the most benign attractions at the park, with boats propelled slowly into a tunnel where the water is only 2 ½ feet deep at most, and the boy passed the 42-inch height requirement for riding in the boat, but apparently he climbed out of the boat and got caught in the conveyor belt that pulls the boats through the water. A little over a year ago, a 7-year old girl was killed at the same park, in the spinning Mind Scrambler ride. Investigators determined that she climbed past the restraining bar, knelt on the seat, and fell off the ride moments after it started.

Kathy Fackler is president of Saferparks, an organization whose goal is to provide consumers with information about how to keep children safe at amusement parks and carnivals. Fackler’s son was injured on an amusement park ride when he was only 5 years old, so Fackler knows how quickly an entertaining ride can become a life-threatening situation. Her organization continually pushes for the amusement park industry to sponsor outside research aimed at making rides safer, rather than trusting their own employees to evaluate the safety of rides. "I think any time you have the death of a paying customer, you ought to have someone in there who is impartial," says Fackler. Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts hopes to pass legislation that would close a loophole in existing laws that prevent federal officials from conducting investigations into amusement park accidents. Fackler applauds Markey’s efforts, believing that parents need help in the way of government regulation in order to keep their children safe. "Parents can't possibly assess, you know, whether their 4-year-old child is suitable for a particular motion on a ride. They don't have the expertise to do that," says Fackler. Her organization’s website lists "five steps to safer thrills" that will help keep your child safe while enjoying an amusement park ride:

• Dress for safety. Wear stable, closed-toed shoes; avoid dangling jewelry, drawstrings, or anything that might get caught in the machinery; and tie back long hair.
  
• Find the ride that fits your child’s body, age, and personality. Thrill rides are physically demanding, so your child must be strong enough to hold on and keep his body immobilized in place. Make sure the restraint system fits closely against your child’s body, and don’t put young children on rides designed for older riders. If your child is timid, he may panic on a wild ride; if your child is a risk taker, he may be temped to endanger himself on a slow ride if he finds it boring.
  
• Learn about the ride before boarding. Make sure your child understands all the safety rules, and teach him what to do if something unexpected occurs. If the ride stops before it ends, be sure your child knows to stay seated and wait for instructions from the ride operator. Tell your child it’s okay to scream if he feels frightened, but he should stay seated, close his eyes, and hold on tight until the ride stops.
  
• Ensure that your child rides the safe way. Be sure to load children on the side away from open sides, and use all the safety equipment provided. Double check restraints before the ride starts moving, hold on tight, and ride facing front while sitting stationary in the seat.
  
• Get off safely. Stay seated and keep your arms and legs inside the ride until the restraint system releases or the operator tells you to get off. Watch your step when getting off, and walk calmly to the exit.
  

Despite the fact that children are injured every year at amusements, the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions are in strong opposition to Markey’s suggestion that government should regulate amusement park rides.

J. Clark Robinson, president of the association, believes that Markey’s approach has "very little, if anything, to do with the reality of today’s amusement industry." Industry officials argue that internal checks of amusement park facilities and rides are thorough, not only to meet their own individual standards, but also to meet regulations set by insurance companies. Robinson adds that "amusement rides are exceptionally safe, and government data shows that there is virtually no safer form of recreation."

According to the Consumer Product and Safety Commission, the risk of death resulting from an amusement park ride is only one in 250 million riders, and people are more likely to be injured riding a bicycle or playing in sports. The CPSC says that amusement park injuries have not demonstrated any particular trend over the past seven years, either positive or negative. But statistics such as these do little to ease the minds of American parents, many of whom feel that there are still far too many amusement park accidents than there should be.