Injuries at the Carnival are not Amusing – The Dangers of Amusement Park Rides
Last week there was a serious incident at a state fair. According to local news reports out of the North Carolina Star Fair, on Thursday night a ride called “The Vortex” was tampered with, causing serious injuries to at least five people. According to a description of the Vortex, the main arm is hydraulically lifted to a 30-degree angle, and the V-shaped center of the ride starts rotating while car arms on each side spin, twirl and flip passengers upside down. The ride started back up while customers were attempting to exit the ride, and people fell form heights of up to 30 feet.
By Saturday, police had arrested the operator of the ride following an investigation that determined that the ride had been tampered with and “critical safety devices” were compromised.
To make matters even more tragic, while working on another ride (also called the Vortex), a worker at the fair was injured yesterday when part of the fair ride fell on him. These are just the latest in a series of thrill ride incidents. This past July, a Dallas woman fell to her death from the Texas Giant roller coaster at Six Flags Over Texas. Last fall, a Louisiana State Fair customer was thrown 20 feet from a ride called the Fun Factory and sustained broken bones and internal injuries. A few years ago at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom the Superman Tower of Power had a cable snap and severed a young lady’s feet.
Carnival injuries in Tennessee are too familiar to us
Every year here in Tennessee there are dozens of County Fairs, as well as stationary rides at parks across the state. These Tennessee fairs and carnivals are supposed to provide safe and entertaining rides for Tennessee families, and most of the time they do. But sometimes, for one reason or another, something goes tragically wrong and people are hurt or even killed by amusement rides.
Just last year, Rocky and I resolved a case for a woman who was injured by a malfunctioning ride at her County Fair here in Tennessee. She ended up needing knee surgery to fix her injury, and a strenuous course of physical therapy to recover from the incident.
What every Tennessean should know is that carnival rides, or “amusement devices” as the law refers to them as, are strictly governed by Tennessee law. The Tennessee Statute creates a safety board and puts in place rules and regulations for people/companies who want to operate amusement rides in Tennessee. One of the biggest requirements is that operators must have annual permits issued by the State. They also need to have the rides regularly inspected, and carry insurance with at least one million dollars in coverage. The State also requires that ride owners shut rides down immediately following an injury, and they are not to be restarted until a new inspection can occur to determine what caused the problem.
The rules and regulations in Tenn. Code Ann. §68-121-101 et seq.do a good job of protecting Tennesseans from most of the harm that can happen as a result of the inherent dangers associated with amusement park style rides. They also provide good protections for people who get injured as a result of a faulty ride or a negligent ride worker.
Having handled these kind of cases before, we here at Rocky Law Firm understand that in addition to the owner of the ride being liable, sometimes the person who hired the carnival may be at fault. In the case we handled last year, Rocky and I sued the County Fair Association in addition to the carnival company for negligent hiring. In that case, the group that owned the land where the fair was held did not do any sort of background check on the company hired to provide rides. So, even if you have a ride company that violates the rules about the amount of insurance required, there can still be avenues of recovery, depending on the facts.
Have you been injured at a Tennessee carnival? Call Rocky McElhaney today.
If you or someone you know has been injured by a carnival ride, whether it be at a rural county fair, or at a large amusement park, call us. We’ll fight for you.