Markey introduces bill requiring adult ride ops

This is a matter for the states and the park's insurance companies, not the Federal government. As many have mentioned there is no correspondance established between the operator's age and the incidence of accidents attributed to operator erroe.*** This post was edited by Jim Fisher 5/30/2004 9:41:12 PM ***

I think this is a stupid idea. If the people are trained properly and do they're job, this wont be a problem. Having 18+ year olds operating these things wont make the differance, people being responsable and doing they're job will. All we will see is increased ticket prices. If Markey feels this way perhaps he should change the driving age to 18, driving is FAR more dangerous, and kids are constantly getting killed.

As Howie Carr likes to say, "How many more, Mr Speaker!"

*** This post was edited by cp 5/30/2004 12:52:43 PM ****** This post was edited by cp 5/30/2004 1:14:10 PM ***

Here's my point....

ya gotta be 16 to drive, 18 to sell cigs, and 21 to sell beer. I find this legislation a good idea...kids goof off too much (yes i am still a kid and I know!), but a feel that older people can sometimes be more responsible and cautious when doing things...so all I can say is i support this bill!

Hey, if 16 year olds are allowed to drink, they should be allowed to operate roller coasters.

Umm, last I checked, 16 year-olds were not allowed to drink.

Depends on what country you are in.

From my POV, this bill is downright terrible. Im a 16 year old ride-op at Six Flags, and it was very hard for myself to find a job anywhere. At many places i had to be at least 18, and some jobs weren't hiring. So restricting teenage ride-ops may worsen the current teenage unemployment where TEENS literally is 70% of the park's workforce. Also, the whole MOMMY/DADDY support is not true. THAT'S THE MAIN REASON WHY I GOT THIS JOB. I dont live in a very rich city or well-off suburb. Here in New Orleans, the main reason why our teen crime rate is one of the highest in the nation is because of Teens not having any positive things to do with their time. So, with poverty and a lack of available jobs I am very much against this bill.

Pointless legislation. If this is in reaction to the SFNE incident, the operator of the ride was 18, as were all ride operators at SFNE. The attendants may have been under 18 but few enthusiasts even make the operator/attendant distinction.

This legislation probably won't go through. But I hope that more parks make their own policies about minors not operating rides.

While I trust that most minors do their jobs effectively, I think there is significant benefit to having only adults operate thrill rides. 16 and 17-year-olds do not always have the maturity and confidence to enforce rules, especially when rule violators (usually other teens or young adults) don't respond to the ride ops first request. What happens if the patron doesn't respond? Teenage operators are more likely to just "let it go" rather than take steps to remove patrons from the ride or queue. I've seen this happen in many parks, the worst of which is Six Flags La Ronde in Montreal. Patrons simply don't respect teenage staff the way they respect adult staff.

And I don't just mean safety rules. Think about the last few times you heard a ride-op tell patrons to stop smoking in line or stop sitting on the handrails. Who had more convincing authority? I bet it wasn't the teenagers. I've even seen younger ride-ops openly ignore patrons cutting in line. (Take note Six Flags La Ronde!) There's a reason that the industry leaders such as Cedar Point and Disney have policies about operator age.

It isn't always about safety, it's also about ensuring patrons are less tempted to push the limits and don't disrespect ride ops or other patrons.

The only problem is that 18 year old ARE teenagers.

Are we suppossed to have a maturity test? I mean common, the most important thing they do is check restraints, if you cant do that, you probably shouldnt be working anywere. Also, the operator was 18, right? So what the heck does any of this crazy bill have anything to do with saftey?

This guy sounds like an ambulance chaser.

It's just stupid... you can't compare running a coaster to operating any other heavy machinery. You can't consider it the same as transporting people.

The majority of coasters today, even most of the older ones, only require two things: check if the bars are down, then press a button.

It's a whole hell of a lot harder to drive a car, operate a forklift, even run a slicer in a deli. I could see if they had to steer the things to keep them on course.

Honestly, computers operate rides. Ride ops just dispatch them.

I'd feel a lot safer if everyone on the road had a beer or two to calm themselves down... same goes with coasters.

Although I think that it is pointless for Markey to bring up this type of thing for federal legislation, I do think that it reflects better upon parks where they require you to be 18 to run the rides rather than 16.

Let me tell you that if that bill passes the amusement park industry would lose a lot of money. Therefore tourism goes down, therefore that stupid democrat would lose votes and money too.
I personally would not like to see this bill pass

I don't think having 18 plus ride ops is a better thing, I think they need to put into place an additional interview, which will see if the op can be mature enough to enforce rules to the fullest, as well as acting in a proper manner (i.e. not pushing other ops, or ignoring guests and the train before it has dispatched). A big problem i see is when they do these immature acts, it reflects bad on the image of the park.

Most ride ops are college students, and many who are 21-22 are like this. it isn't just theme park ride ops, it is sttore clerks, waiters, and other places of employment, because they look at it as just a job, and if they get fired, they don't care.

I had an incident with line jumpers at Seaworld (almost a fist fight-i got way out of line mad, and then so did they ) and the ride op supervisor couldn't have been more than 18. I was 18, and the other guy was like 24, and the 18 year old had no problem calming us down, and kicking him out of the line. I even got an extra ride for the inconvenience. very well handled.

In the old days they had adults operating most of the "adult" rides at many of the traditional parks. They even had several adults operating one ride at some parks like Steeplechase in Coney Island. The big problem today is the pay wage. Most kids and young adults don't mind working their summers at theme parks for extra "spending money" but don't expect an adult to work for those same "teen" rates. If you raise the pay scale you could attract more adults to these jobs but then the economic flow will continue onwards to an increase in entrance gate and parking costs.

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that stupid democrat

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To be fair, I don't think the democrats have a monopoly on stupidity.

Nevertheless, I think that like seatbelt and helmet laws, this is a state issue.

This has to be one of the dumbest bills. We are in the middle of a war and in a billion dollar debt and all Ed Markey can think about is trying to enforce more rules on theme parks. You cant always determine maturity on age. Unfortunately, I dont see a reason why congress wouldn't pass this bill, do you have any reasons why they wouldn't. What state is Ed Markey representing, because whoever voted for him in that state is an idiot