May 6, 2021 09:36 pm
By Lawrence Banton
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Certainly, amusement and theme parks are a favorite American pastime with more than 159 million attendees visiting the top 20 North American venues in the year before the pandemic hit. There is something special, perhaps even nostalgic, about going on your favorite rides on a great weather day and it makes it easy to forget accidents, sometimes fatal, could occur.
According to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA), of the parks surveyed, there were 1,294 ride-related injuries, of which 6 percent required hospitalization or resulted in death in 2019.
So, while serious or deadly accidents might be rare, high-profile incidents (such as in March when a rider was ejected from a roller coaster in Tennessee) beg the question: who or what regulates theme park safety?