Austin Amusement Park Injury Lawyers

Amusement Park Accident Statistics

Pinpointing the rate of injury at amusement parks is not necessarily an easy task. In fact, the injury rate depends greatly on your point of measurement; there were 4.8 injuries per million attendees and 0.8 injuries per million riders. The accuracy of the reports released by the IAAPA may be slightly affected by amusement park participation; 413 parks were invited to participate in the study, but only 84 provided attendance and rider data. This is still enough to give an accurate estimate of total injuries, as participating parks provided 71 percent of total ridership data throughout the U.S.

It’s estimated that, on average, about two to three people die every year at amusement parks. One such accident at a waterpark in Kansas has stirred much conversation about whether theme park rides are safe, whether the employees operating them are competent enough, and whether proper warning is given to riders of potential dangers.

Texas Amusement Park Ride Regulations

The federal Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) handled all amusement park regulations until 1981 when Congress revoked that authority and left it up to the states to decide how they would conduct their inspections and regulate rides. The CPSC does still report on mobile and inflatable rides, such as bounce houses, but state departments handle all fixed-site rides.

In Texas, the Department of Insurance (TDI) is in charge of regulating this. The TDI requires an injury be reported when it necessitates medical treatment administered by a professional. This does not include one-time treatment of minor scrapes, bumps, or bruises. All amusement park ride operators are required to disclose this in a quarterly injury report should one of these occur. All individual rides, and not just the park in general, must have liability insurance as well.

Texas defines two different types of rides:

• Class A, which is any ride with a fixed location and designed for use by children 12 years of age and younger. Class A must have not less than $100,000 bodily injury and $50,000 property damage per occurrence with a $300,000 annual aggregate or $150,000 per occurrence single limit with a $300,000 annual aggregate.
• Class B is any other type. Class B requires $1,000,000 bodily injury and $500,000 property damage per occurrence or $1,500,000 per occurrence combined single limit.

Common Causes of Amusement Park Injuries

Most injuries are nothing worse than a bad cut, but a few can be severe enough to require weeks or even multiple months’ worth of recovery.

The common reasons for an injury are:

• Mechanical failure – The lap bar on a roller coaster could malfunction or the harness could come undone. This failure could be a result of a manufacturing error or the park not maintaining the ride adequately.
• Improper operation – A ride attendant could incorrectly latch a seatbelt or stop it too suddenly.
• Passenger misuse – Many times, a park will do everything it should, such as provide warnings about the ride and ensure all safety precautions are followed. But if a rider stands up or unlatches their own harness, the park likely won’t be responsible.
• Inherent nature of the ride – Some park goers just shouldn’t ride a few of the attractions. Whether it’s high speed, twists and turns, or flashing lights, the ride itself can be unsafe for a lot of people. Seizures, concussions, and whiplash have been known to happen, even if the rider and operator make no mistakes.

Head and neck injuries are by far the most common types at an amusement park, as well as broken bones, torn ligaments, and even drowning deaths. Water park injuries can happen, particularly in wave pools and lazy rivers. Theme parks have an obligation to their customers to provide a safe and secure environment on all of their rides, as well as enforce any height or weight restrictions a particular ride might have. The assumption of risk and disclaimers on the back of a ticket only cover so much.