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Safety concerns rise with speed©Washington Post
© St. Petersburg Times, LOS ANGELES -- Climbing more than 200 feet into the sky, a rider on Six Flags Magic Mountain's Goliath roller coaster free falls to Earth before tearing along at 85 mph for three minutes of pulse-pounding terror. About 1.5-million thrill seekers have experienced that adrenaline rush since Goliath opened in February 2000. For Pearl Santos, it may have proved too much.
Santos' death, while highly unusual, has rekindled the debate on amusement park safety at a time when ride-related injuries are on the rise and coasters are pushing their own limits to the extreme. "These thrill rides are supposed to give people the illusion of danger, not actually put people at risk," said Ann Brown, chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. "For thousands of people every year, a fun outing to an amusement park is turning into a detour to the emergency room." Safety advocates argue that it's time for the federal government to regulate the industry. Leading that charge is Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., whose proposed bill on national amusement park ride safety would restore oversight of the parks to the Consumer Product Safety Commission for the first time since Congress took it away in 1981. Industry officials insist there's no cause for alarm, saying government data proves rides are safe. They note that the commission's own statistics show that golf equipment caused nearly five times as many injuries as amusement rides in 1999. "Safety is the hallmark of our industry," said Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services Inc., a Cincinnati-based consultant company. "If we're not safe, we're out of business." Hours after Santos died, Magic Mountain inspected Goliath, determined it was safe and reopened the coaster. Within 24 hours, however, a Los Angeles County coroner's official said Goliath had caused an aneurysm to burst in Santos' brain. Magic Mountain contacted state officials, who shut down the ride. The coroner's office recanted its statement the next day, citing the need for further testing before it can identify the cause of death. State officials let Magic Mountain reopen Goliath. "This is a very unfortunate occurrence, but there's no evidence to show that it was the ride in any way, shape or form," said Andy Gallardo, a Magic Mountain spokesman. A California state law mandated Goliath's closure, but in the absence of federal oversight, theme parks in other states are governed by a patchwork of varying regulations. Virginia, for example, inspects rides at carnivals and amusement parks and requires them to report serious injuries and fatalities. Other states allow parks big and small to regulate themselves. In Florida, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is responsible for inspecting rides at amusement parks and carnivals. But parks with more than 1,000 employees are exempt from the rule and conduct their own inspections. The state is home to 13 major amusement parks, the majority of which are operated by the Walt Disney Co., Busch Gardens and Universal Studios. Markey's bill would partly close this loophole by allowing federal inspectors to order changes to a ride after an accident happens. Until such an accident occurred, parks would still use their own engineers to conduct inspections. Robert Jacobs, field administrator for the state's Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection, said the state's inspection program is tough. State officials examine roller coasters and other rides at traveling carnivals every time they are set up. Major theme parks submit paperwork to the state annually showing that their roller coasters meet safety requirements. But the parks are also exempt from reporting accident statistics. The California legislature recently passed a law that would require state inspections of all parks and mandatory accident reporting. Fred Jacobs, a spokesman for Busch Gardens in Tampa, said the company isn't opposed to the California law but considers Markey's bill unnecessary. "I'm not sure what additional legislation can bring to the safety process as far as it relates to our park." Last year at the company's four Florida amusement parks Jacobs said only a "handful" of minor accidents occurred. But in May of 2000, David Feldman, a 30-year-old from Palm Harbor, died of a heart attack one hour after stepping off the Montu ride at Busch Gardens. Jacobs said the death was unrelated to the design of the ride because the man had a heart ailment. All thrill rides have signs posted to discourage people with certain medical problems from boarding. In 1995, 13-year-old Lacey Ingram suffered a heart attack while riding the Kumba at Busch Gardens. An autopsy could not determine whether the ride or a rare heart defect caused her death. Bill Davis, vice president of guest services, safety and ride operations, said Busch Gardens takes safety seriously and has nothing to hide. But Davis said the company won't release accident data voluntarily because numbers don't fully explain the severity or the cause of an injury. "We see no reason to release any figures unless our brethren in the industry are ready to release something. If one company releases data it's very easy to take that data and manipulate it," he said. The lack of a national policy alarms Brown of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Although the commission has no regulatory power, it has tracked an increase in ride-related injuries at permanently "fixed" parks from 3,720 in 1996 to 7,260 in 1999. Unlike traveling carnivals, which must report injuries to the commission, parks that remain in the same location are exempt from such oversight. In the past decade, ride-related fatalities averaged about two a year, but that number spiked to six in 1999. Rep. Markey says that if today's rides are safer, "the industry shouldn't fight having standards apply which are uniform around the country." Markey's bill on national amusement park ride safety, which he introduced in 1999, is now in a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee. No hearing on the legislation is scheduled. - Staff writer John Balz contributed to this report.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
There was no accident, no derailment. But when Santos ended her June 2 ride, she was slumped over in her seat, unconscious. Paramedics rushed her to a nearby hospital, where the 28-year-old California woman was later pronounced dead.
