Each year numerous people are injured or killed on rides at theme parks, carnivals and fairs. While many of these injuries or deaths are related to poor maintenance, an alarming number are alleged to have occurred due the design of the ride itself. In another words, the ride performed exactly as it was designed to do and the rider still became seriously injured or killed. I was alarmed when I recently read an article concerning Florida theme parks, the surprising number of injuries and lawsuits and the failure of the parks to report these injuries and deaths. I recommend reading it and thinking twice about some of those rides.
Virginia does have regulations regarding amusement rides, entitled Virginia Amusement Device Regulations. While the regulations do require the reporting of any accident involving serious injury or death to the local building department, it allows the device to be put back in operation after inspected by a private inspector or inspector of the local building department, except where the owner or operator determines the cause was not related to malfunctions or improper operation of the device. Serious injury is not defined, and the lack of a central office for reporting of these injuries, could result in poor record keeping.
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