Federal Regulation of Amusement Rides

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission currently has product safety jurisdiction over 15,000 types of consumer products, including mobile amusement rides (i.e., traveling carnival rides). Congress exempted fixed-site amusement rides from CPSC jurisdiction in 1981 without ensuring that state or local governments filled in the gap. No federal agency has authority to set uniform safety standards for amusement park rides, investigate serious accidents at permanent facilities, or require mitigation of hazards that may lead to rider injuries on those machines.

• The CPSC acts as a clearinghouse, collecting and disseminating information on mobile amusement ride incidents, recalls, and safety concerns to state and local regulatory officials.  
• CPSC staff investigates incidents involving mobile rides to identify defects and, where appropriate, obtains corrective action to address those defects.  
• The CPSC is the only regulatory agency authorized to "connect the dots" between accidents that happen in different states.
• CPSC's Amusement Ride Injury Data

• In 1981, following a number of legal challenges by owners of large theme parks, Congress limited CPSC authority to only those rides "not permanently fixed to a site.
• In 1984, and again in 2000, Congress held hearings to reassess the wisdom of the loophole deregulating theme park thrill rides.  In both cases, the hearings were triggered by a spike in the number of publicized fatalities on permanent amusement rides. In both cases, legislation was killed.
• Congressman Ed Markey introduced legislation in 1999 to repeal the theme park loophole. The National Amusement Park Ride Safety Act remains stalled in committee.
• History of CPSC Jurisdiction Over Fixed-Site Rides

That depends on which park you're visiting, and which state, county, or city it happens to be in.  As of 2007, only 27 states had implemented government inspection programs for amusement rides.

• Rides at Florida's theme parks (Disney World, Universal Orlando, Busch Gardens) are exempt from federal regulation and state regulation.
• In states like Utah and Arizona, all amusement park, water park, and carnival rides are allowed to operate without government safety inspections and accident investigations.
• States like Texas and Virginia have ride safety laws that allow parks to hire their own inspectors and police their own accidents.