Climbing 235 feet into the air and rocketing down at speeds reaching 85 miles per hour, Six Flag's thrill ride Goliath recently proved deadly for one rider. Twenty-eight-year-old Pearl Santos, a California resident, rode Goliath on June 2, 2001. When the ride ended, Santos was unconscious and slumped over in her seat. Emergency workers rushed her to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Six Flags officials inspected the ride and reopened Goliath only hours after Santos died. State officials closed the ride the next day after a coroner's finding that the ride caused an aneurysm in Santos' brain to burst.
Incidents like Pearl Santos' death are occurring more frequently as amusement parks around the country vie for longer, faster and higher rides. Safety advocates are renewing calls for Federal regulation of the industry.
Currently, no Federal agencies monitor amusement park thrill rides. In 1981 Congress took the power to regulate amusement parks away from the Federal Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) has proposed a bill that would renew the CPSC's authority.
Representative Markey's bill, introduced in 1999, is mired in a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee awaiting a hearing date. Markey's proposal is the latest in a series of attempts to regulate amusement park rides. The CPSC and industry officials engaged in a heated battle in the late 1970s over the jurisdiction of amusement parks. Before the issue made it to the Supreme Court, industry lobbyists convinced Congress to create a loophole exempting parks from the CPSC's regulations.
Amusement industry officials contend that Markey's proposed legislation is unnecessary. They rely on the CPSC's own data, such as a statistic showing that golf equipment causes five times more injuries than amusement parks, to bolster their anti-regulatory position.
The CPSC counters that amusement park injuries dramatically increased from 3,720 in 1996 to 7,260 in 1999. Since 1991, ride related deaths at such parks have averaged two per year. In 1999, six ride-related fatalities were reported.
A January 2000 study in the journal Neurology found that high-speed coasters may cause blood clot formation in the brain. Additionally, in August 2000's Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers studied a 47-year-old man who suffered cerebral bleeding within a week of riding a roller coaster. The researchers concluded that amusement parks should better warn patrons of the dangers associated with thrill rides.
Amusement industry officials claim that such reports are unpersuasive. They believe that safety is not compromised in their newer, faster rides. According to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, the odds of suffering a serious injury on a ride are one in 23 million. The odds of a ride-related fatality approximate to one in 1.5 billion, according to the association.
Advances in computer technology help ensure safety according to industry officials. They fear that Federal regulation may be too costly and difficult to implement.