Kentucky passes 18-year-old ride op requirement bill

I worked at a major amusement park at age 18 and 19. I received basic park training (2 days) after which I was then able to begin regular work (non rides posiiton). During the fall of that year I was allowed to operate a couple of the kiddie rides without additional training (some of them mechanical and 2 climbing structures). Normally I would have received another 2 or 3 days training before attending rides and required to have attended rides for ? days/hours before going through operators training then operate rides under supervision for ? hours before being allowed to go on my own. State law required operators to be at least 18, had I been age 16 and properly trained I would have been much better off than no training at 18. I believe Kentucky would do much better to create and mandate a ride operation safety course which would end in a simple multiple choice test, all administered by a trained park employee on-site. The test would be ensure operators were paying attention and absorbed something and would give the parks paper records of training.

This law may not make sense. And it definitely will not prevent accidents like this in the future. But reactionary legislation generally stems from public pressure. When a tragedy like this occurs it is the human condition to want to blame and to demand immediate action that provides the perception of safety. I said perception, because we know this law doesn't actually provide safety. But before we blast legislators, we need to remember that the government generally acts at the people's bidding.

I will also offer this likely unpopular thought. While it is undeniable that the cause of the accident had NOTHING to do with human ride operation, you cannot ignore the fact that this ride operator was 24 inches away from preventing the accident from being as bad as it ended up being. It is unfortunate that this person didn't have the wherewithal to react in a crisis. Was that due to age? Maybe, maybe not. But I can at least follow the dotted line reasoning that has people looking to ride operation and considering changes.