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Summary of Injury Trends for Amusement Park and Carnival Rides
The following graph shows the age distribution for the types of amusement rides identified most often in accident reports sent to Saferparks by state safety agencies. Trends are summarized below.
Roller Coasters
- Injuries peak at age 11.
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Most common injuries related to the normal motion of the rides:
- Onset of pain during ride (e.g., whiplash, headache, sore back, etc.)
- Ride's motion caused patron's body to impact containment system.
- Accidents getting on/off ride machinery or closing/opening restraints.
- Collisions and abrupt stops reported.
- View database records from state regulatory agencies and CPSC hospital ER records
Whirling/Spinning Rides
- Injuries peak at age 7.
- Most common serious accidents result from mid-cycle fall/ejection from vehicle.
- Other accidents:
- Ride's motion caused patron's body to impact containment system.
- Patrons injured while getting on/off ride machinery or closing/opening restraints.
- Equipment Failure.
- View database records from state regulatory agencies and CPSC hospital ER records
Kiddie Rides
- Injuries peak at age 4.
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Most common causes of injury:
- Load/unload/queue injuries (29%)
- Fall/ejection from ride mid-cycle (26%)
- Child's body hit something while riding (10%)
- Child injured by the restraint system (9%)
- View database records from state regulatory agencies and CPSC hospital ER records
Summary of Injury Trends for Go-Karts, Waterslides, and Inflatables
The following graph shows the age distribution for the types of amusement rides and devices identified most often in accident reports sent to Saferparks by state safety agencies. Trends are summarized below.
Go-Karts
- Injuries peak at age 12.
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Accidents most often caused by excited, unlicensed, untrained children and adults driving motorized vehicles they may be unfamiliar with.
- Collisions with other karts
- Collisions with stationary objects
- View database records from state regulatory agencies and CPSC hospital ER records
Water Slides
- Injuries peak at age 10.
- Most common accident - Impact injuries caused by high velocity, slip-and-slide nature of water slides.
- Patron's body hit against slide or pool.
- Patrons collided with each other.
- Patron's inner tube flipped.
- Onset of pain during ride (i.e. patron didn't identify moment/mechanism of injury).
- View database records from state regulatory agencies and CPSC hospital ER records
Inflatables
- Injury peak plateau at ages 3 through 7.
- Most common accidents are caused by collisions with other patrons and falls or awkward landings.
- Most serious accidents are caused by equipment/operator failure (i.e., tip-overs, blow-overs, collapses), and patrons falling out of device onto something hard.
- View database records from state regulatory agencies and CPSC hospital ER records
