[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 49 (Thursday, April 5, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E544-E545]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE NATIONAL AMUSEMENT PARK RIDE SAFETY ACT
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HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY
of massachusetts
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, April 4, 2001
Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the National
Amusement Park Ride Safety Act, to restore safety oversight to an
largely unregulated industry. I am joined in this effort by
Representatives Connie Morella, John Tierney, Carolyn Maloney, Barney
Frank, Peter DeFazio, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Cynthia McKinney, Tom
Lantos, and Julia Carson.
It is shocking to realize that one-third of all roller coasters in
this country are never inspected by any public safety official at all.
These and other rides are large machines used to carry children at high
speeds. Industry trends have been to increase the speed and the force
of these machines to levels that exceed the forces experienced by
shuttle astronauts. Although many of these rides are operated safely
and without incident, nevertheless every day riders are hurt, often
seriously, requiring hospitalization, visits to emergency rooms. And
occasionally, someone who went to the park for a thrill actually is
killed by the operation of these machines.
To me, it is inexcusable that when someone dies or is seriously
injured on these rides, there is no system in place to ensure that the
ride is investigated, the causes determined, and the flaws fixed, not
just on that ride, but on every similar ride in every other state.
The reason there is no national clearinghouse to prevent ride
injuries is clear--since 1981, the industry has escaped routine product
safety regulation through a loophole in the law. The industry carved
out an exemption that says that while the Consumer Product Safety
Commission can regulate every other consumer product, and while it can
regulate small carnival rides that travel from town to town, it cannot
step foot in an amusement park for the purpose of regulating a ride
that is fixed to the site, such as a roller coaster.
This is the so-called ``Roller Coaster Loophole'', and it needs to be
closed. The bill eliminates the restriction on CPSC safety jurisdiction
adopted in 1981. It will allow the CPSC the same scope of authority to
protect against unreasonable risks of harm on ``fixed-site'' rides that
it currently retains for carnival rides that are moved from site to
site (``mobile rides.'') This would include the authority to
investigate accidents, to develop and enforce action plans to correct
defects, to require reports to the CPSC whenever a substantial hazard
is identified, and to act as a national clearinghouse for accident and
defect data.
The bill would also authorize appropriations of $500 thousand
annually to enable the CPSC to carry out the purposes of the Act.
Background
The Consumer Product Safety Act provided the Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC) with the same consumer protections authority it has
for other consumer products. However, in 1981, following a series of
legal challenges by several
Rising Risk of Serious Injury
The CPSC estimates the number of serious injuries on fixed and mobile
amusement park rides using the National Electronic Injury Surveillance
System (NEISS). This data includes only injuries severe enough to have
led the injured party to go to an emergency room. According to its July
2000 summary, emergency-room injuries on fixed rides increased 95
percent over the previous four years, and they rose most rapidly on the
rides that are exempt from CPSC oversight.
When one compares the safety record of this industry to other
activities that involve traveling--as a passenger at high speed, such
as passenger trains, buses and planes, the amusement park industry's
fatality rate is actually worse.
Some states try to step in where the CPSC cannot, but states with
inspection programs are very uneven depending on which agency has the
responsibility and whether its expertise is design, operator training,
manufacturing, etc. No state, and no industry organization, provides
the national clearinghouse function that the CPSC currently provides
for mobile rides and could provide for fixed-site rides.
Fatalities
Although the overall risk of death on an amusement park ride is very
small, it is not zero. In the course of one week in August 1999, for
example, 4 deaths occurred on roller coasters, which U.S. News & World
Report termed ``one of the most calamitous weeks in the history of
America's amusement parks'':
August 22--a 12-year-old boy fell to his death after slipping through a
harness on the Drop Zone ride at Paramount's Great America Theme
Park in Santa Clara, California;
August 23--a 20-year-old man died on the Shockwave roller coaster at
Paramount King's Dominion theme park near Richmond, Virginia;
August 28--a 39-year-old woman and her 8-year-old daughter were killed
when their
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car slid backward down a 30-foot ascent and crashed into another
car, injuring two others on the Wild Wonder roller coaster at
Gillian's Wonderland Pier in Ocean City, New Jersey.
Each of these tragedies is an opportunity for the CPSC to search for
causes and share its insights with the operators of other similar
rides. Unless the law is changed, however, it cannot perform this role.
One final point--the industry has the unfortunate habit of belittling
the risk of loved ones getting mangled or killed on these machines by
suggesting that the risk of getting hurt is lower than for ``bowling''
or ``watering your garden.'' In fact, the fatality rate on roller
coasters approximates the risk of dying on passenger trains, buses and
airplanes. None of those industries claims any exemption from federal
oversight, and investigations by federal safety experts of train
accidents, bus accidents or plane crashes is central to minimizing the
reoccurrence of serious or fatal accidents in America.
Yet this common sense eludes the amusement park industry, to the
detriment of the safety of children and adult riders alike.
As the spring and summer riding season begins, I urge my colleagues
to cosponsor this modest restoration of safety to all parkgoers. Thank
you.
ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTING THE NATIONAL AMUSEMENT PARK RIDE SAFETY ACT
National Consumer Groups
Consumer Federation of America
Consumers Union
U.S. Public Interest Research Group
National SAFE KIDS Campaign
State & Local Consumer Groups
American Council on Consumer Awareness
Arizona Consumers Council
Center for Public Representation (WI)
Chicago Consumer Coalition
Columbia Consumer Education Council (SC)
The Consumer Alliance (midwest regional alliance)
Consumer Law Center of the South
Democratic Processes Center (AZ)
Empire State Consumer Association (NY)
Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group
Mercer County Community Action Agency (PA)
North Carolina Consumers Council
Oregon Consumer League
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