Frequently Asked Questions

The risk of injury to most adults and teens at most parks and carnivals is very low, assuming you follow the posted rules and operator instructions. Parents of younger children, the elderly, obese patrons, and those with pre-existing medical conditions or cognitive deficits should take special care when choosing and using amusement rides. For more information visit the Child Safety section and the pages on Age and Health and Riders With Disabilities.

Although the statistical odds of injury are low, the consequences of even a single accident can be catastrophic for the riders involved. Some amusement experiences are more risky than others. Be a careful consumer when choosing rides, particularly for children. If a ride looks poorly maintained or the operators appear distracted or your child looks like she's not well restrained, don't board the ride. No two-minute thrill is worth risking your life or your child's life.

Patrons can significantly reduce the risk of injury to themselves and other riders.

• Pay attention, follow the rules, and don't horse around -- those are the best preventative strategies for most riders.
• Be realistic when choosing rides for small children, older riders, obese riders, and people with pre-existing injuries, disabilities or medical conditions.
• If you have a condition or limitation that might weaken your bones, your spine, your strength or your stability, take the time to learn about the potential interactions before visiting an amusement park or carnival.
• More safety tips

Equipment failure accounts for only 4% of all ride-related accidents reported to state regulatory agencies. Because these accidents carry the highest potential for serious injury, prevention of equipment failure is a high priority for industry and government regulators. Click here for more information.

Read all posted rules and restrictions and, if possible, watch the ride in operation before deciding to board.

• If it looks too rough or fast or scary for you, choose another ride.
• If you're a lot smaller or larger than average, take a careful look at the containment system and watch others riding before you board.
  • Small riders -- especially young children -- are more likely to "rattle" around in the containment system, or even slip all the way under or over the bar due to the ride's motion.
  • Large riders may be uncomfortably constrained. Lap restraints don't always work reliably for obese riders, especially on highly dynamic rides.
  • If you have any pre-existing medical conditions, check with your doctor before riding thrill rides.
  • Don't board a ride if it looks poorly-maintained or the operator is inattentive. While most parks and carnivals pay close attention to ride safety, there are unfortunate exceptions - just as in any industry. Follow your instincts. If something about a ride seems out of whack, don't ride it.

If you're too small to be closely restrained by the lap bar or belt, or if you're too big to fit comfortably under the restraint, you may be at higher risk of injury.

This is a particular danger for young children because they aren't as well-restrained as adults in many industry-standard rides. If the restraints don't fit closely or the child's feet don't reach the intended bracing points on the floor of the car, he or she may be vulnerable to falling or being thrown off. Kiddie rides, older model full-size spinning rides, and Ferris wheels are the rides most commonly involved in childhood falls.

Obese patrons may be at higher risk of ejection on certain high-acceleration rides with lap-only restraints. For a detailed discussion on restraint fit, visit the Size Mismatch page.

Modern roller coasters may look wilder than rides from the 60s and 70s, but they're not necessarily more dangerous. Improved restraint and track technology allow designers to push the envelope of extreme experiences while smoothing the ride and keeping riders more securely contained than older designs.

With that said, certain rides do have a rougher feel, and can have higher injury rates than other rides. Speeding, spinning vehicles and rapid changes of direction can apply significant stresses to the human body. The odds of injury from riding a thrill ride are very low for most people, but motion-related back/neck injuries and damage from impacting the containment system are the most frequently-reported ride-related injuries. High energy rides are designed for strong, healthy young adults and teens. If you have back, neck, bone, or joint problems, it's wiser to skip the wilder rides. For more information, visit the Acceleration section.

Patrons should treat the machines and the people who operate them with due respect. Many types of ride-related injury can be prevented if patrons follow the rules and pay attention to what's going on around them.

• Long, loose hair, necklaces, and dangling strings on clothing should be avoided as they can get caught in the machinery. If that happens, the rider can be pulled into the machine.
• High heels and other non-walking shoes can increase the risk of trips and falls on unsteady surfaces, such as moving walkways or while trying to board a slow-moving car on a dark ride.
• Behaving courteously helps operators attend to their jobs by reducing conflict and distractions. Encouraging kids to be courteous can actually prevent accidents; it's harder for kids to be polite and misbehave at the same time.
• Staying well-hydrated is important, particularly for patrons who like high-acceleration rides. Frequent stops for water or soda keep your blood volume at normal levels, which can help guard against certain types of rare health interactions.

The amusement ride industry uses a simple 3-bucket categorization, blaming any injury not directly tied to equipment failure or obvious operator error on the patron. The 3-bucket sorting scheme provides obvious benefits to the industry by limiting the scope of safety issues they have to address.

The New Jersey Dept. of Community Affairs categorizes ride-related accidents differently. With the addition of a few more buckets, New Jersey regulators show that deliberate misbehavior causes no more accidents than equipment failure. The vast majority of amusement ride accidents are simply mishaps, the natural consequence of loading a high volume of untrained children and adults into open cars on powerful spinning and speeding machinery.

Willful misbehavior is a serious problem for the amusement ride industry, and should be addressed. But other factors play a much greater role in accidental injury. Youth, inexperience, confusion, and lack of secure containment/restraint are also serious problems for the amusement ride industry. They require different preventative strategies than those used to combat misconduct.

According to accident records from state safety agencies, toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary school-aged children account for half of all ride-related accidents and three quarters of accidents where a rider falls or is forcefully ejected from an amusement ride.

Young kids need attentive adult supervision when they visit a carnival or amusement park.

• Never fudge the minimum height limits to get a smaller child onto a ride - it could put your child at risk for serious injury.
• Restraints should fit your child's body and be difficult for your child to open.
• Make sure your child can reach the bracing points with hands and feet. Otherwise, your child will be less stable within the moving ride, and may slide or move into a dangerous position.
• Ride with your children until you're confident they can handle themselves safely, even in an emergency such as an unexpected stop midway through the ride.
• Additional tips for parents

Prepare kids for the unusual experiences they'll encounter when they visit a carnival or amusement park. Kids' amusement rides might seem simple and oh-so-familiar to us older folks, but remember that most everything is new to a child.

Explain how the rides work, what the rules are and why they're important, and set up consequences that encourage your kids to be safe riders. For more information, visit the Teaching Kids page.

Teaching kids about safety is very important, but parents and chaperones should never rely on rules and instructions alone to protect young children around heavy machinery. Hands-on adult supervision is the safest course when children are small, so make sure a responsible adult rides along. If your child is too young to cross a busy street by herself, she's probably too young to protect herself from amusement ride dangers.

Manufacturers set minimum height limits based on a number of different factors.

• In some cases, the physical size of the rider is important. If a smaller rider gets on board, the restraints may not safely contain him.
• In some cases the height limit is used as a rough measure to screen out children who might be too young to safely handle the experience.

The answer depends on how well-secured small children are in the ride, the potential hazard exposure, your child's temperament/personality, and the level of risk you're comfortable taking on her behalf. Here are a few questions to ask:

• How securely are small children restrained on this ride?
• What are the potential hazards (falls, exposure to moving parts, etc.)?
• How might your child react to the ride's motion and special effects?
• If the ride stops unexpectedly due to a temporary breakdown, will your child panic?
• What does your gut tell you?

If your child is too young or too small to ride alone, either skip that particular ride or make sure the child is accompanied by a responsible adult. Don't let kids supervise kids on thrill rides.

Some amusement ride manufacturers and owner/operators set low minimum height limits and allow very small children to board if accompanied by another child. This may be a viable way to increase the market for their product, but it is not a safe strategy for young children. Accident reports from state regulatory agencies highlight the danger of this practice.

Young children cannot protect each other from injury associated with the use of heavy machinery, even if it's painted and themed to look like a friendly cartoon character. And parents cannot protect children while they're standing outside the fence watching, no matter how vigilantly they're watching. If the younger child decides to climb out of her seat, you'll be too far away to do anything.

Some kiddie rides are not strong enough to bear the weight of adult riders, so kids cannot ride with their parents, yet the manufacturers have set extremely low height limits that allow children as young as 9 months on board. This is a risky practice, but it's legal for parks and carnivals to operate rides that way.

Accident reports from state regulatory agencies show toddlers and preschoolers are at risk for serious injury when they ride kiddie rides alone. More 2-year-olds fall out of rides than any other age group. That's because parents can't always ride with their toddlers on kiddie rides, but the height limits suggest that the rides are safe for use by toddlers. It's a deliberately confusing situation. The ride owners hope parents will buy tickets. They also hope the kids stay seated, but many don't, especially when they see their mom or dad getting further and further away.

Small children are top-heavy because they're heads are bigger in relation to their bodies than ours are. 71% of toddlers who fall from kiddie rides wind up injuring their head. Most injuries are minor, but some are not. 23% of the accident reports for kids who fell out of kiddie rides state that the child was struck by, run over by, or dragged by the machine after falling out. Restraints aren't required to be child-safe.

Many parks and carnivals take extra care in choosing rides and operational policies that protect small children, but the market and the current regulatory system allow riskier operators to stay in business as well. Parents can help to protect their children by learning about the common causes of childhood injury and tips for avoiding dangerous amusement experiences. For more information, visit the For Parents section and the Child Safety section of the Risk Factors page.

• Talk to the children before you get to the park, so they know what to expect. Then repeat the rules when entering the park (for example, "hold mommy's hand" for preschoolers or "always stay together" for older kids who go off in groups).
• Point out uniformed park attendants or security guards and tell children to ask those people for help if they get lost.
• Pick a landmark as a place to meet if someone gets lost.
• Each family should make and follow a plan that works for them. Go over the plan in advance and repeat it at several points in the trip so kids remember.

ASTM International oversees a volunteer committee that drafts, debates, and adopts consensus safety standards for U.S. amusement rides. Most of the 400+ members of the ASTM F-24 committee work for the industry in some capacity.

The industry's design standard, ASTM F2291, grandfathers older ride designs in perpetuity. Since rides can have an operational life of 50 years or more, the level of safety-by-design provided to child riders varies widely depending on the age and type of ride, the manufacturer, the company operating the ride, and any state/local regulations.

Parents are an important part of the child safety system for amusement rides. Don't assume an industry standards organization will safeguard your child. Industry and regulators count on parents to protect children from dangerous amusement ride experiences. To learn more, visit the For Parents page.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that 100,000 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries related to mechanical amusement rides, inflatable amusement devices, and waterslides between 1997 and 2004, an average of 12,500 injuries per year.

• 60% of the injuries were related to the use of amusement rides.
• 20% of the injuries involved inflatables.
• 20% of the injuries were related to the use of public waterslides.

The most common amusement ride injuries stem from impacts and body strains caused by the ride's normal motion, such as whiplash or smacking against part of the carrier as the ride makes a sudden turn. Females seek treatment for amusement ride injuries more often than males, with adult females well in the lead. Head, neck, and lower trunk (back) are the most common injury sites.

Roller coasters are, by far, the most commonly cited ride in both state accident reports and hospital injury records for riders over the age of six. Kiddie rides are cited most often for children 6 and under. Whirling/spinning rides are the second most frequently cited ride type. Click here for more information.

Falls and ejections occur far less frequently than whiplash and simple head-smacks, but deserve special mention. These types of accidents almost exclusively affect children under 10 and the consequences can be severe. Parents should be pay special attention when choosing rides for young children, as the restraints are not required to fit children securely. Kiddie rides, older model full-size spinning rides, and Ferris wheels account for most child falls.

The most common go-kart injuries are caused by collisions with other karts and impacts with barriers. Victims are twice as likely to be male. Boys age 7-12 suffer the most injuries.

The most common waterslide injuries stem from impacts and body strains caused by the ride's inherent slip-and-slide nature, such as smacking against part of the flume. 13% of state reports indicated that two patrons collided. Boys suffer more injuries than girls during childhood. Teenage boys are treated least often for waterslide injuries; adult females are treated most often. Head, face, and back are the most common injury sites.

The most common accidents on inflatable devices involve patrons falling or colliding in a way that causes injury. CPSC hospital data indicates that 18% of victims, mostly very young children, were injured falling out of the inflatable onto a harder surface. Children 12 and under account for the vast majority of injuries. Boys are injured more frequently than girls.

Click here for more information.

The graphs, charts, and figures on the Saferparks website are drawn from two primary sources of ride-related accident/injury data:

• State Regulatory Agencies have provided public records of accidents reported by parks and carnivals under their jurisdictions according to state ride safety laws. Not all states have public reporting laws, and not all states that collect safety data on amusement rides respond to Saferparks requests. Years covered, equipment types included, and level of detail provided vary by jurisdiction. In aggregate, the regulatory records are of sufficient volume to provide insight into the ways in which patrons are hurt using amusement rides and attractions. Click here to view the accident records.
• CPSC NEISS Hospital ER Records are collected by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) through the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). Approximately 2% of hospital emergency rooms in the United States participate in the NEISS system. Standardized data is collected on injuries associated with a wide array of consumer products, including amusement rides, go-karts, inflatables, and public water slides. NEISS data is a probabilistic sampling generally used to estimate national injury rates, however there has been legitimate controversy over this use for products with non-uniform distribution, such as amusement rides. The raw data is useful, however, in analyzing common patterns of ride-related injury. The NEISS records have an advantage in that they cover almost all states (albeit only tiny portions of each), and the record format is standardized. The Saferparks Database has incorporated NEISS data from 2002-2006 (approx. 4000 records). Click here to view the NEISS records.

The amusement park industry creates its own safety statistics. The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions produces yearly estimates of injuries on U.S. amusement park rides derived from honor-system reports by member parks. IAAPA asks its clients to submit an annual attendance figure and a count of injured riders. The National Safety Council is paid by IAAPA to total the park tallies and publish the industry's numbers. The data is privately collected and privately held.

IAAPA calculates its estimate from an annual survey of client parks. The two systems don't count the same thing. The Consumer Product Safety Commission's NEISS system samples emergency room records to estimate the number of injuries actually treated. IAAPA's system asks amusement parks to report the number of credible customer claims made for injuries treated by a physician. Logic suggests that not all injured customers will bother to file claims.

The potential dangers posed by thrill rides are unique; they can't be compared with any other activity. Real people don't make obscure comparisons like "should we take the kids to Six Flags for summer vacation or use the washing machine instead". We use the washing machine because we need clean clothes. We drive or fly because we need to get somewhere faster than our feet would take us. And we spend our hard earned dollars at Six Flags or the State Fair because we want to safely experience the fantasies and thrills promised by the amusement ride industry.

Families need reliable information about automobile safety and airline safety if they drive or fly. They need to know about safety issues involving home appliances, especially where young children are exposed. And they also need reliable information about amusement ride safety when planning a visit to a theme park or a carnival. Accidents can happen on amusement rides in the blink of an eye, the consequences of even a single failure can be catastrophic, and hundreds of millions of children and adults are exposed every year. That is ample justification for serious study of ride-related safety issues.

Amusement ride safety in the United States is regulated through a patchwork of voluntary standards and federal, state, and local laws. overview of state regulations

• As of 2008, 28 states had government officials with ride safety training and some kind of significant oversight authority. 16 states rely on insurance companies or 3rd party inspectors to audit industry compliance with safety standards and regulations.
• The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission monitors the safety of portable amusement rides, investigates serious accidents, and works with manufacturers to correct defects or hazards. Rides at amusement parks and water parks are exempt from all federal safety oversight.
• There are no mandatory national safety standards for amusement rides. The industry has developed an extensive suite of voluntary safety standards for amusement rides through the ASTM F-24 committee. Most of the states that regulate ride safety make reference to the ASTM standards.

Accountability and government audit rules for theme parks vary widely from state to state. Amusement park rides are exempt from all federal safety oversight, and there is no uniform system of state or local regulations.

• Disney and Universal Studios operate parks in California and Florida. 75% of their parks are exempt from federal and state safety laws.
  
  • California investigates thrill ride accidents at amusement parks, inspects the rides, and audits the safety records.
  • Florida does not. All accidents at Florida's major theme parks are handled privately by the company. All findings remain confidential.
• Busch Entertainment operates theme parks in Virginia, Texas, Florida and California. State accident investigation reports are only available for the California park.
  • Texas has an insurance requirement and an honor system reporting requirement. The state doesn't employ a single inspector or technical investigator for amusement rides. State law authorizes local police to shut down unsafe rides at carnivals or small parks, but police are prohibited from shutting down an unsafe ride at a park that sells more than 500,000 tickets a year.
  • Virginia law requires that the park investigate its own serious accidents and submit reports to county officials. County building code inspectors may follow up if the park reports an equipment failure; otherwise the public safety report is dictated by the park.
• Six Flags and Cedar Fair operate parks in a variety of states. Some have laws authorizing state ride inspectors to investigate serious accidents; some (e.g., Texas, Colorado, Washington) do not.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has authority to investigate serious accidents involving traveling carnival rides, monitor safety trends, and work with manufacturers to correct product defects. Ride inspection and operational safety audits are handled by state and local governments. These rules vary widely from one jurisdiction to another.

• Traveling carnivals may be subject to state and local government regulations, but in some areas that is not the case.
• Most states that regulate rides require that carnivals purchase liability insurance, and insurers may send out inspectors once a year.
• Some states and cities send government inspectors out to inspect rides, or require that ride owners hire a private inspector, either annually or each time the rides are set up at a new location, but this is not required in all areas. Jurisdictions that have government ride inspection programs typically investigate accidents as well, although there are exceptions (e.g., South Carolina inspects rides but does not investigate accidents).
• Fair boards at larger events sometimes hire private companies to inspect rides and handle accidents.

In 1980, the Consumer Product Safety Commission investigated the death of a child in a roller coaster accident at Marriott's Great America park in California. The agency's report alleged that safety hazards involving the same model of coaster in two different Marriott parks were covered up. In response, Marriott lobbied Congress for an exemption from federal safety oversight, arguing that CPSC accident investigations imposed a financial hardship on the industry. Congress quietly slipped two lines into a 1981 omnibus budget bill prohibiting any federal involvement in amusement park ride accidents. Amusement park rides were exempt from state safety regulations in California at that time, which left Great America unregulated.

Marriott sold its theme parks, but the exemption lives on. In 1999, four people were killed on theme park rides within the space of one week, including a child who fell more than 100 feet to his death at Great America park in California, then owned by Paramount and, at that point, still exempt from state safety oversight. That child's death was not investigated by federal or state safety officials. In response to the 1999 string of fatal accidents, Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey introduced legislation to repeal the "roller coaster loophole".

From 2001-2007, according to The Washington Post, the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) spent $5.4 million lobbying Congress to preserve the loophole. Disney, Universal Studios, and Anheiser-Busch have separately spent millions lobbying against Markey's bill. Their theme parks in Florida are exempt from state safety oversight as well as federal safety oversight, so they have the most to fear from repeal of the loophole. The industry's lobbying machine has, so far, kept Markey's bill safely stalled in subcommittee. In December of 2007, the chairman and ranking member of the Consumer Protection Subcommittee jointly called for a hearing on the loophole, but the hearing was never scheduled.

The National Amusement Park Ride Safety Act would eliminate the loophole that exempts fixed-site amusement rides from compliance with the Consumer Product Safety Act. The Consumer Product Safety Commission would have the same authority over amusement park rides that it currently has over traveling carnival rides. The Commission could investigate serious accidents, monitor safety trends, work with manufacturers to correct product defects, and keep consumers informed about amusement ride safety issues.

State and local agencies would continue their critical role in auditing operational safety and inspecting rides. Federal safety officials would monitor the big picture and provide additional resources for major accidents.

Layers of safety improve the odds that problems will be found and corrected before someone gets hurt. Amusement park and carnival staff are obviously the first line of defense. Industry standards require parks and carnivals to inspect each ride daily before allowing customers on board, and implement a maintenance program to ensure each ride is thoroughly inspected for cracks and wear as recommended by the manufacturer.

Additional inspections provide backup and overlap, supplementing and auditing the park's inspection program. State and local laws may require that rides be periodically inspected by someone other than the park or carnival's in-house safety staff. This provides an important double-check. Redundant inspections are a good thing when human lives hang in the balance. Laws vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Some states/counties/cities have trained government safety officials to inspect rides. Some allow the park's insurance company to conduct the backup inspection, or allow the park to hire a 3rd party inspector.

As long as the outside inspector has sufficient training, experience, authority, and independence from the park or carnival, any of the options listed above will provide an effective double-check. The commercial relationship between rider owners and those who sell them insurance or sell them inspection/consulting services can undermine independence and authority. Laws that depend solely on 3rd party inspection have the potential to create a market that favors those who provide the cheapest, easiest-to-pass inspection. Government oversight of the process is crucial.

State ride safety programs focus primarily on ride inspection and code compliance within their jurisdictional borders. The federal safety agency takes a broader view, watching the entire chain of commerce from product design and manufacturer to consumer education and alerts. The Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) authorizes the federal government to:

• Protect the public against unreasonable risk of injury associated with the products it regulates;
• Assist consumers in evaluating the comparative safety of products;
• Develop uniform safety standards for products and minimize conflicting State and local regulations; and
• Promote research and investigation into the causes and prevention of product-related deaths, injuries, and illnesses.

Each accident can provide critical information about the safety of the ride and the conditions under which it is operated. The companies that designed, built, operated and insured the ride are too financially and emotionally invested in the situation to provide a thorough, unbiased assessment of cause after a major accident. Imagine if our laws allowed automobile drivers to investigate their own vehicle vs. pedestrian accidents. The accidents would be blamed on the pedestrians and we'd have walker-responsibility laws instead of crosswalks, low speed zones in front of schools, and pedestrian right-of-way rules.

There is a history behind every serious amusement ride accident that, if uncovered, can illuminate a path to prevention -- not just on that ride or in that park, but on similar equipment across the globe. Uncovering that history means digging into all the available evidence without regard to what it might cost your company or your client, without preconceived notions about who or what to blame. This is the job of the government, not the companies who built, operated, and insured the ride.

Good government investigations ensure that safety-critical information is available to all who need it, expanding the knowledge base of the engineer and inspector communities, and allowing consumers the right of informed choice in the marketplace.