Markey Press Conference - 5-14-08

My name is Kathy Fackler.  I am president of Saferparks, a non-profit dedicated to preventing amusement ride accidents through research, information sharing, and advocacy.

Ten years ago, my son’s foot was torn in half in an unguarded entrapment hazard on a family roller coaster at Disneyland.  He had just turned five, not even enrolled in kindergarten yet.  In 1998, rides at Disneyland were exempt from both state and federal regulation.  No public report was required or made, no one outside the park investigated.  David’s maiming was treated as a dirty secret to be hidden away.

I was appalled by the absence of public accountability, the lack of even the most rudimentary public safety oversight.  Ten years later, when I look at the national picture, I’m still appalled. 

• Children are at highest risk of injury on amusement rides.  Half of all ride-related accidents and three-quarters of falls and ejections from moving rides involve children under 13.  Yet there are no mandatory national safety standards for children’s amusement rides. 
• The federal loophole leaves huge gaps in regulatory coverage of amusement park rides.
• No central agency has authority to track accident patterns or safety issues across state borders, or educate parents about the risks certain rides pose to young children. 
• California is the only state west of the Great Plains that requires investigation of serious accidents.  
• Florida “regulates” its theme parks the same way the federal government regulates all amusement parks -- by exempting them from compliance with safety laws.  No government agency has authority to investigate an accident at Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando, or Busch Gardens Tampa – Not even when a customer dies. 
• Texas has nothing but an insurance requirement and an unenforceable reporting law on the books.  The state doesn’t employ a single inspector, nobody to verify the reports, investigate accidents, audit safety records, or inspect rides.
• More than half the customers at the nation’s top 20 theme parks – 67 million people a year according to industry trade publications – are riding on unregulated rides and don’t know it.  No wonder Big Theme spends so much money and time lobbying Congress for continued protection.

Accidents happen everywhere, even at amusement parks.  No business niche or brand name is immune.  Every year brings new tragedies, new shell-shocked and grief-stricken families -- always followed by the same tired old arguments from the theme park industry.  Rides are safe, they say.  State regulation is working just fine, they say.  Multiple fail-safe systems protect your children from harm, they say.

Tell that to Kaitlyn Lassiter and her parents.

Last summer, Kaitlyn’s feet were torn off her body by a machine designed to sell amusement to children, and the federal government is prohibited by law from sending safety investigators.  That is an abomination in my eyes. 

This is an expensive ride at a major chain amusement park in a state that requires insurance and yearly inspections by state safety officials – those are all the points the industry hits when explaining why the federal government shouldn’t get involved in amusement park safety.  Yet neither Six Flags' in-house safety program nor the insurance company nor the state inspectors – who came out year after year – caught this problem until the wire rope had literally rusted away.  And when the cable snapped, there was no fail-safe system in place to stop the ride before it could do serious harm.

If this girl's legs had been severed in a lawnmower accident or an ATV accident, the CPSC would have investigated. If she were an employee of Six Flags, instead of a paying customer, OSHA would have investigated. In 2006, two cables snapped on a carnival drop ride in New York. The children on board that ride were much luckier than Kaitlyn, suffering only minor injuries, yet the CPSC was authorized to investigate that less-serious accident because it didn't happen in an amusement park. What is so special about amusement park companies that they should be exempted from such basic public safety policy?

With ticket prices as high as they are, families already pay dearly to visit U.S. amusement parks.  They deserve safe experiences on well-maintained, properly-operated equipment designed to be safe for children.   I urge the House Commerce Committee to schedule a formal hearing on this issue, as promised last December. 

Amusement park rides are the only products marketed to children that are exempt from all federal safety oversight.  Looking at Kaitlyn’s future, and what she’s already endured, that’s hard to justify.