Personal Injury Articles

Madison, WI Amusement Park Injury Lawyer

Amusement Park Injuries

The Consumer Protection Safety Commission estimates that there are 5,000 injuries requiring a trip to the hospital annually at amusement parks across the country; however, the real number of injuries is not known. This lack of knowledge is due to the “roller coaster” loophole in the Consumer Product Safety Act of 1981. Due to this law, the CPSC cannot regulate rides that are fixed to one spot.

When an accident or injury occurs at an amusement park, it is generally due to one of four factors. These four factors are consumer behavior, operator behavior, mechanical failure, and design defects of limitations.

Mechanical failure is the cause of an accident when there are missing safety pins, broken welds or structural components, exposed electrical wires, malfunctioning lap bars or other safety restraints, or a failure to shut off.

Operator behavior is the cause when an operator abruptly stops a ride. In addition, when a ride is neither maintained nor assembled correctly, it also qualifies as operator error if a person is injured. Consumer behavior basically means the person injured was doing something they shouldn’t have been doing which caused the injury to them or someone else. This behavior can include intentionally rocking cars, standing up, defeating safety restraints, sitting improperly, or holding a child above the safety restraint.

Design defects or limitations can be the cause in rides that injure people while they are actually functioning correctly and without any unusual behavior on the part of the consumer or operator.

Amusement parks and insurance companies have a vested interest in people have fun and not getting hurt. Unfortunately, it is not always possible for everyone not to be hurt. If you have been injured at an amusement park, contact the Madison amusement park injury lawyers of Habush, Habush, & Rottier at 1-800-822-1690 to discuss your case and to determine your legal options.