Amusement Park Injuries And How A Highly Skilled Injury Attorney Can Help

It's a fact of life, kids of all ages simply love amusement parks, and California certainly has its fair share of them. From Disneyland to Knots Berry Farm, or Magic Mountain to Raging Waters, with over 15 million visitors to Disneyland every year alone, accidents can and will happen. If you or a loved one has been seriously injured whilst on an amusement ride, then it is vital that you speak to an experienced injury attorney who is well versed in dealing with such issues.

As amusement parks are becoming more and more sophisticated with the competition to find the best and most thrilling ride, more risks are being taken and this will lead to higher levels of accidents and in some circumstances even fatalities. At present accidents statistics for amusement parks are 'sketchy' to say the least, as surprisingly in the state of California, there is no given law that implies that amusement park operators have to report any accidents to the state. As a result of this it is virtually impossible to record any real accurate data for amusement park injuries. Having said this, there is some data which has been loosely compiled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) back in 2003 which is as follows:

• Mobile amusement rides accounted for over 3000 accidents in 2002 alone which needed treatment in hospital
• Bouncy castles and slides accounted for a further 2500 incidents which again required hospital treatment
• From the Data collected between 1987 and 2002 there were on average 4.5 deaths every year caused by amusement park rides.

As you can see, it doesn't make particularly good reading and due to the lack of evidence, these figures could be on the conservative side. With this in mind, what are the main causes of accidents?...An experienced amusement park injury lawyer explains...

Mechanical issues

This is probably the number one cause of accidents and problems such as broken welds or structural issues, missing safety pins, malfunctioning safety restraints such as lap bars are all major causes of personal injury.

Operator error

Back in 2009 25 people were admitted to hospital when an operator abruptly stopped a roller coaster ride. People were admitted to hospital with back and neck injuries caused by severe whiplash and although most were later allowed to go home, some were kept in overnight. Operator error is another big problem and as a result they can be held liable for any injuries caused.

Customer behavior

Sadly another common cause of amusement park accidents is through bad or plain stupid customer behavior. These can include things like intentionally rocking ride cars, standing up on rides, not applying safety restraints and complete disregard for any safety measures. A sad but true example of this is happened at the 'Six Flags' amusement park in Georgia when a boy jumped a fence marked 'do not enter' to fetch a hat that he had lost whilst on a ride. As he tried to retrieve the missing hat, the ride (known as Batman) came round and decapitated him, killing him outright.

In essence, there are three types of liability that can occur from an amusement park accident and they are defective product law, premises liability and gross negligence. Each different law will bring with it it's own complexities and idiosyncrasies which will have to be overcome. An experienced team of amusement park injury attorneys will know which avenue to explore when it comes to your case and as a result will have the know how and the ability to deliver a quick and efficient compensation package for the injuries that you or a family member has sustained. When it comes to liability, there is as always an 'assumption of risk' when a person undertakes an amusement park ride but although there is an attached risk, the machine operator still has a 'duty of care' to their customers. This is something that an injury attorney can explain in greater detail.

An experienced team of amusement park injury lawyers can certainly make all the difference in a complex case such as this and as a result it pays to pick the best attorney to represent you. They have the skill to be able to maximize your compensation so that you can finally move on from such a painful and in some cases tragic accident.