State officials say they can't enter park to investigate Superman accident

I think this article goes with Jeff's editorial about the bad media coverage. They try to make a case for Markey by saying that a federal law prevents inspections of the ride. If this was true, Markey or the consumer product safety commission would not be able to take control of the rides without the "law" being challenged in the Supreme Court, and being declared unconstitutional. (A long and hard process). This is an interesting article.

I think the states should handle ride inspections and stuff like that and i feel the feds should concentrate on more pressing issues. i'm sure there are more important things for congress to be looking at than some piece of sh*t bill from some retarded congressman who talks about "children getting on 100 mph coasters." please.

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Feds need to mind their own f'n business.

Calm down people and remember, the LEISURE industry can stop all of this by simply implimenting THEIR own plan of compliance NOW! A good defense is a STRONG OFFENSE! Since they are NOT volunteering information or setting their own standard of disclosure, once again WHY?

Because they do have things to hide! That is what is most disturbing! They want your money, and safety is NOT the platform that gets you into the parks... is it? I think you all go for the RIDES...the premire RIDES! that is why I used to go...

We are not a country that needs more federal regulations.. we are a country that needs to take more personal responsibilty for our own actions and INACTIONS!

So lets stop blaming everyone else and diluting the issue.

*-BB-*

listen. the feds don't need to get involved because an amusement park only concerns the state. airlines are mobile and cross the country several times a day. amusement parks stay where they are (with the exception of SFEG, but that stayed in-state). in any case, the states are already inspecting the rides. its not like there is no government interference, its just that the feds aren't involved. and they don't need to be. the only thing that it would do would take money away from you.

the reason why different clones are inspected differently is because of different state laws. in Cali. any coaster that inverts is required to have an OTSR. go to florida and ride Scorpion. how would the feds handle this? in one area you have to treat one ride one way and in another area you have to treat a simillar ride a completly different way. how would the feds make rules and standards then? I'll tell you how. they'd put the max restrictions on all rides and you'd have no more fun on your rides.

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it's a mexican pirate!~Track 15 Blink 182 Take Off Your Pants and Jacket

This will make me unpopular by many who don't understand what the bill will really do, but...

Why shouldn't big parks like Six Flags be subjected to the same inspections that traveling carnivals are? That is all that the bill would do, and would allow people like us to hear what really happened instead of the parks censored, buttered up version.

Markey's bill does nothing to ride requirements, g's, or any such thing (and those who say it does don't know what they are talking about). It just means that the CPS that inspects for safety regulations and oversees carnivals can do so for big parks to. It closes a loophole, nothing more.

And I don't know about you, but the carnival I was at last night gave me plenty of g's!

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Willow? Yes, my name is Willow. Would you stop pecking on me on this big droooopppppppppp......

What the heck does PRESIDENT Bush have to do with anything!!! And what about those quotes around the word president??? How incredibly ignorant. You should be ashamed!

This is just another reason for Bigger government to spend our tax money for something that is already taken care of.
A park is required to have insurance for there rides and no company would insure these rides if they were unsafe or the parks would not build them if they were unsafe. A park would go out of buisness if it got a reputation of being a dangerous park.
I have never felt unsafe at an amusement park.
Beyond the experience of terror and adrenaline pumping thorugh my body.
But I know that these rides were safe if I don't do anything stuipid to cause an accident. If I was injured or killed on an amusement ride than I would pursue the park to pay for the injury and maybe a little compensation for my trouble if it was due to the park or an operator. (I am not talking anything Huge) And if I was killed on a ride at least it was on something I loved to do and seconds before I was killed i had a smile on face, and also My wife is Rich due to the wrongful death suit. That is what the insurance is for, If the injuries and accidents where so High that Insurance cost too much money than the park would not operate the ride.

Get a Life Markey stop trying to spend My taxes on useless government jobs and travel expenses that will be needed to pay these inspectors to do a job that is already taken care of on a daily basis by the parks themselves. You are gravedigging, threatening, and warning people of danger that is not all that dangerous and as present as you make it out to be just to get your point across. As many people have proved it is safer to ride a coaster than for me to drive and go get the mail. That alone tells me something is being done right, if they have made it so safe at an amusement park that I have a better chance of dying on the way to the park.

I'm really not too concerned about Markey's proposed bill or whatever. Now, I'm no politic but it seems to me that any person who takes a good look at all the safety stats and standards around right now could see perfectly clear that there is just no need for this bill. It's a waste of time.

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come on, I'm a coaster freak to0...but I care most for safety. Saying that coasters need not to be officially regulated by government agencies because they are safer than this...safer than that is obsurd. It doesn't matter if it's safer than the roads, it is still a pretty big scary machine-entertainment...with moving parts and everything. The government should put at least a minimum inspection policy or something. Why are you guys so scared of safety policies. Like some said before, if you want to get rid of government involvement in unneccesary places, then let's do it in the workplace, in the pharmacy, in the other places too. Regulation approved by me!

The bigger problem with the news media is not the fact that it is inaccurate or sensationalized; it's the fact that the vast majority of people believe it. It's all about the sound bite. Once it's out there - true or not - people will retain it.

Add this to the other incidents this year. Public perception may change, and there may be irreparable damage to the industry as a whole.

And what will become of the second "golden age"?

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So many coasters - so little time.

Sir Willow asks:
"Why shouldn't big parks like Six Flags be subjected to the same inspections that traveling carnivals are? That is all that the bill would do, and would allow people like us to hear what really happened instead of the parks censored, buttered up version. "
THe answer is simple. Traveling carnivals fall under federal jurisdiction because they often travel to different states. This places them under the expanded jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission. It's too difficult for individual states to keep track of traveling carnivals and rides because it's easy for carnivals to move from place to place. However, this is not a problem with amusement parks. Parks cannot run to a different state to avoid prosecution. Therefore, federal regulation is needed for traveling carnivals and not needed for parks.


BB states:
Calm down people and remember, the LEISURE industry can stop all of this by simply implimenting THEIR own plan of compliance NOW!

Actually, I doubt they can. The problem with the government is that once they decide there is a problem, there's nothing that can be done to stop them. It's a fact that Markey wants this bill. As long as the media over sensationalizes these incidents, there's nothing the parks can do. As prove of the media's new bias against parks I offer a comparison of the coverage of the recent Titan coverage to the coverage of the accident that you were involved in. Ask yourself, which incident received more coverage. It seems obvious that the incident that you were involved in was much more serious than the recent Titan incident. However, I bet they didn't interupt national programming to inform us of your accident.

Of course one reason for the over hype of these incidents is the lack of any real news this summer.

BTW, I hope you get everything your suing for and then some. Frankly, I'm surprised that the park is leting this even get to court. I would have thought it in their best interest to resolve this as quietly as possible. Go get the B*****ds!

PointMan-

LOL :) Thank you! :)

My story wasnt covered partly because my family wanted it low key.. I had gone to the east coast to see my grandmother, who was dying of cancer.., we didnt want to upset her anymore then she already was..I have Dr's in my family ( father, grandfather), so they took me to a smaller hospital...and I flew out only 5-7 days later to get home and get the physical therapy and other treatments going...

I thought they would have wanted to make me an offer , that I could accept, too! So who knows.. you may be hearing about my case this Fall/Winter as we head to trial...( cant wait to see those posts!-NOT)


I wish I would have just won the Powerball Lottery tonight! Being the 1 of 22,000,000 and hearing its easier to win the lottery... sheesh people if I had my choice.. I would take winning the lottery!

*-BB-*

Sir Willow: I don't think anyone thinks that the rides shouldn't be inspected by some level of government. I think most people would agree that it's not a federal issue. Again, we have a great program here in Ohio, and it appears that some of the surrounding states do as well. However, I'm not going to pay for Massachusetts to have inspected rides when I'm already paying for that here in Ohio. It doesn't make sense. Should Hawaiians (who have no coasters) be paying for it as well? That's even more absurd.

The most rational approach to all of this is that state agencies are best equipped to handle the inspection and regulation of amusement rides. That said, most states who have a significant number of rides have their own programs in place. The Ed Markey's and Kathy Fackler's of the world have every reason to lobby and be concerned (that is if the former wasn't so busy grandstanding), but they should be doing so in the states that lack good programs, not in Washington.

Markey's bill basically sets up a reporting agency. That's it. You'd never know it with all of the other emotionally charged crap he puts out there, but that's all it does. Now, if someone can give me some reasonable explanation about how that would prevent any of this year's accidents, let me know, because I don't think there is one.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"

This is an interesting problem we have. How the press, politics, and the courts can interact to distort an issue is fascinating. The press needs to get people to read their papers or watch their newscasts, so they report anything that seems slightly sensational. They also report items that are true (so there can be no accusation of libel), but are not fully explained, causing the reader to infer other "facts" which often turn out to be falsehoods. A good example is found in the cited story, which mentions both the accident and the ride's 80 mph top speed close together without mentioning that the striking train was moving far slower at the time of the accident. How can the average reader fail to infer (wrongly) that the striking train was moving at close to 80 mph when the accident occurred? I'm not trying to state that this is done intentionally, but one would think that professional journalists would not make this type of mistake frequently if they were trying to avoid it.

The press having inflamed the public, the politicians now step in to get their coverage and score their points with the voting public. How can a politician go wrong jumping on an issue that the public now misunderstands due to the press's zeal for publishing sensational stories?

Finally, while the parks may indeed have something to hide (doesn't everyone?), they must protect themselves from our litigious society. Anything they disclose to the public regarding an accident investigation may be seized upon by attorneys representing the victims. The disclosed information may possibly be used out of context with other facts of the case, resulting in a jury forming the wrong impression of the truth. It's unfortunate, but when misunderstanding can lead to multimillion dollar court judgments against corporations, it's only smart for those corporations to be wary about what they disclose.

If Six Flags negligence significantly contributed to the likelihood or severity of this accident, I hope they are appropriately held accountable. I also hope all the accident victims are compensated appropriately. But let's base those decisions on the actual facts of the case, not on speculation and hyperbole.

Why am I seeing Jeff Putz getting elected to the US Senate in the future..............

Seriously Jeff, even though I am 16 I'm very politcally minded. I have many friends who are mayors, Reps., and, I talk to Mary Ellen Withrow on the phone every week. (Mary Ellen Withrow went to my school. For you that don't know, she was the Treasurer of the United States during the Clinton Administration) Jeff, you have a way with words that most politicians have. I think you need to drop what your doing and think of a life in politics.

Only if I can have an intern. ;)

Seriously though, unless it's something like a City Council position, I'm really not interested. Besides, I wouldn't care much about what the constituents think is right as much as what I think is right, and that's the problem with most politicians as it is!

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"

Let me add more fuel to the fire. Go to the grocery store and pick up "FAMILY CIRCLE" magazine, the SEPT.1.2001 issue and turn to page 52. Its a "how safe are amusement parks" article. There is also a phone number to a certain senator, urging regulation on parks. I was so mad at work, one of my employees told me to go take a zanex. I personally think we should email the magazine and set things straight. After about a hundred or so emails they might get the picture.

It's time the feds stepped in, for one thing nothing can be fixed at the state level until the law is reversed at the federal level. According to the article, Federal law grants amusement parks exemption from being investigated by the state or federal government. I think the states should oversee the inspection of amusement parks, but that can't happen until at least the federal government closes the loop hole on them being exempt from outside investigators. I would think six flags would want outside investigator to come in, such as a state investigator, that way the public won't think it is a bias investigation, since it's taken place in house. I would also think that the amusement park industry would at least want legislation on the state level. With the way the summer is going with ride accidents, this would at least restore faith in the public that the rides are still safe. We may know the rides are safe, but the public watches to much TV and sees these accidents and next thing you know every ride is unsafe. You have to think what the average citizen thinks when they see these news stories on TV. Know matter what the truth is, they see a accident, and they aren't going to these parks because, they are so called unsafe.

Disneyfan: What are you talking about? The feds have NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT THE STATES DO. The "loophole" is a loophole for the feds, not the states. The states are doing just fine on their own.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"

Jeff: Last time I looked the federal law supercedes state law. The federal law gives amusement parks exempt status from states to investigate amusement park accidents. They need to close the loop hole and give control back to the states, to investigate these accidents. What are you talking about? Read the article.