Carousels, not roller coasters, account for most amusement park injuries

This gives me flashbacks to the emotional injuries of someone getting to the tiger before me at the mall carousel.

Can someone send this along to Ed Markey?

The perception of safety increases the actual risk of injury....

Pretty much the same rationale on our continued insistence of lock-out/tag-out procedures.

I say put OTSRs on Carousels.

Laugh at Markey all you want, but he's well on his way to becoming the next Senator from Massachusetts. Let's hope that once he's truly on a national stage (more so than being just one of 435 congresspersons) that he'll move on to some other crusade.

It's actually nothing that the underwriters didn't already know. Now that the information is "public" let's see how fast the rates go up.

Don't let Cedar Point see this...They'll put a height requirement on all of theirs of 54 inches, add seatbelts, lower the RPM, take away the music so you can hear safety instructions all through the ride, add orange lap bars, etc...

I witnessed a very nasty accident on the Columbia Carousel a couple of decades back. A wrought iron gate broke off the second level and fell on a woman's head. It was a bloody mess. My Mom is a nurse and was able to administer first aid. Let's just say that Great America made a T-shirt sale the hard way that day.

CreditWh0re said:

Laugh at Markey all you want, but he's well on his way to becoming the next Senator from Massachusetts. Let's hope that once he's truly on a national stage (more so than being just one of 435 congresspersons) that he'll move on to some other crusade.

If that happens, I actually wouldn't mind if he continued to focus on amusement ride safety so he won't have time to turn his attention to the unnecessary over-regulation of something that actually matters.

Dutchman said:

It's actually nothing that the underwriters didn't already know. Now that the information is "public" let's see how fast the rates go up.

I'm not an expert, but I'd guess that the payout from carousel accidents is quite low. Falling off of a carousel animal probably does not have the same type of payout as the drop tower at Kentucky Kingdom, the double amputee falling out of a coaster at Darien Lake, etc.

What is wrong with Massachusetts that they'd elect that guy as a senator? He's an ambulance chasing asshat. He embodies everything that's wrong with American politics (or at the very least, the left side of politics).

Perhaps the other candidate "embodies everything that's wrong with American politics (or at the very least, the [right] side of politics)"

RollerCoasterGod said:
Don't let Cedar Point see this...They'll put a height requirement on all of theirs of 54 inches, add seatbelts, lower the RPM, take away the music so you can hear safety instructions all through the ride, add orange lap bars, etc...

You realize that the only ride where I can ever recall Cedar Fair REMOVING seat belts from a ride was the Geauga Lake carousel?

That said, I guess they also slowed that ride down significantly when they moved it to Kansas City.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Markey is an ambulance-chasing asshat; and his opponent manages to make Markey the more responsible candidate...

Cap, what you said is quite true. From my personal experience most of the claims are broken arms, wrists, fingers, sometimes teeth, cuts and lacerations. Surprisingly (or not) it's not the kids that get hurt most of the time, it's the adults doing something stupid. I did have an obese Japanese tourist collaspe on the ride and expire once, but that was the most serious thing we had happen. Now the kids are grease magnets. If there is any trace of lubricant on the machine it will find it's way onto them. I eventually went to nylontron bearings on the cranks and hangers, then I only had the horse pipe telescopes to contend with. Greatly reduced the amount of clothing we had to buy.

Tekwardo said:

Can someone send this along to Ed Markey?

Now when you say "Markey," I assume you mean the future senator from MA. So in a month he'll be much more powerful and influential than he is now...he'll start the anti-amusement park movement.

Im not so caught up on my American Politics but sounds to me like this guy is pretty Dou'che. Oh wait is that meant to be one word? Oops! my bad! ;)

bjames said:

Tekwardo said:

Can someone send this along to Ed Markey?

Now when you say "Markey," I assume you mean the future senator from MA.

If you would have read some of the dozen or so posts in between yours and the one you quoted, you'd have the answer to this.

I worked Cinderella's Carousel at WDW for a short time. It was a simple ride to operate, needing only one cast member to attend it. Most horses/ animals "gallop" by means of a rotating cam above. And all the the horses are at different positions during the ride. I can see accidents occurring getting on and off horse in the 'high position'. This horse is at least a foot higher than the 'low horse'. It was difficult for me to get off the 'high horse' and imagine difficult for others, especially kids. WDW's carousel is a restored PTC model and thus pretty typical example of a carousel. Also note, that Cinderella's Carousel is a high-capacity ride, with a 1350 rider-capacity per hour.

Therefore a undestand on why 20% of the accidents happen from a carousel. But, how significant are these injuries?