U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) was kind enough to answer a few questions for Theme Park Insider about the government role's (or lack of one) in regulating theme park safety. Rep. Markey is the sponsor of the National Amusement Park Safety Act.

What is the federal government's role in promoting and ensuring safety at theme parks?

Rep. Markey: The federal government should provide safety expertise and regulatory enforcement over the operation of the rides. Theme park rides are one of the few consumer products which the consumer product safety commission has been specifically excluded from regulating. A tricycle or a baby carriage is subject to tough federal scrutiny, but a machine carrying a child 100 mile per hour at forces matching the space shuttle is shielded from such inquiries. This is a mistake. It has meant that the current epidemic of serious accidents and fatalities has gone unchecked. It is an outrage that when such accidents occur no federal safety official is allowed to set foot on the accident site to document what happened, order necessary safety improvements not only at that park but at every other park operating a similar ride.

What are you doing to change or expand that role?

Rep. Markey: We need to close the loophole in the law--the so-called roller coaster loophole--that prevents federal safety experts from investigating roller coaster accidents.

How long have you been studying the theme park safety issue? What got you interested in it?

Rep. Markey: In August 1999 4 people died on 3 different rides within 5 days. I inquired into what was being done to assure the safety of these rides, and learned from the Consumer Product Safety Commission that the industry had won an exemption from safety oversight in the early 1980s. In introduced my bill shortly thereafter.

Realistically, what kind of chance does a theme park safety bill have of becoming law in the current political environment? What's it going to take to get a theme park safety bill passed and signed into law?

Rep. Markey: Every time someone dies or is injured on these rides, the public takes notice. This has been happening more frequently in the last few years. In fact the trend is alarming. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, serious injuries soared 95 percent in 4 years (Acrobat Reader Required). Meanwhile, the incidence of brain trauma has spiked. That is why I have asked the industry to set a ceiling on the G-forces designed into these rides. All of this evidence keeps accumulating, yet the industry hangs on to its precious safety exemption as if it couldn't operate without it. I believe my bill would pass Congress in a nanosecond is the leadership would allow a vote on the floor. That is why the industry works so hard to keep the bill bottled up in committee. Unfortunately, it may take numerous preventable human tragedies to break this bottle neck in Congress and pass this modest safety bill.

Aren't people safer—statistically--at theme parks than they are on the roads or even their homes? And aren't the accidents that do happen usually the victim's fault? Why then do we need any federal role in overseeing theme parks?

Rep. Markey: The only apples-to-apples comparison ever done that compares the fatality rate on roller coasters to the fatality rate on buses, train, planes and cars is available on my Web site (Acrobat Reader Required). It turns out that it is more dangerous to ride a roller coaster than a train, bus or plane. Only driving a car is more dangerous. Yet, of these five different methods of moving in a vehicle at high speeds, only roller coasters are exempt from the routine investigation of accidents by a federal safety team. As a result, we have no independently-gathered and verified information about the causes of accidents. This general blackout of injury information makes it convenient, but not credible, for the industry to parrot the notion that accidents are "usually the victim's fault."

Based on your research and knowledge of theme park safety, what's the mot important thing that visitors can do to stay safe at a theme park? What's the most important thing parents can do to keep their kids safe?

Rep. Markey: Parents can learn a lot on the web about the relative speeds and G-forces on rides. They need to ask themselves questions about the health of the rider and how that health will be affected by a particular ride. An excellent parent-run information source is www.saferparks.org. The key point to remember is that there is no federal safety oversight of these rides, and the amount of state oversight varies from good to none. Do not assume that any inspector not beholden to the park operator has inspected the ride. Ask the ride operator questions about where you can find out what accidents have occurred on a ride in the last year. When he tells you "we don't keep such records" or "that's not public information", make your own judgments about whether the people you are dealing with are putting safety first.

We've seen an increase in reports of brain injuries on rides with high G forces or a lot of jostling (like flight simulator-type rides). Is this coincidence, or is there an increasing danger on these types of rides? What can people do to protect themselves? What can parks do to protect their visitors?

Rep. Markey: In the spring of 2000 I asked the National Institutes of Health to research the incidence of brain trauma associated with amusement park rides where no accident occurred. They would find only 15 in a 30-year period. Shockingly, however, 13 of the 15 had occurred in the last 5 years. That is when I first asked the industry to consider setting a G-force limit on these rides. A similar analysis was just released by two Minnesota emergency room doctors in the "Annals of Emergency Medicine."(January 2002.) They too concluded that there was cause for concern. As rides get faster and more forceful, it is reasonable to expect more brain injury, especially if the industry continues to ignore the issue as competitive pressures and technology combine to produce ever-faster, ever-more forceful rides. The industry is playing Russian Roulette with the public health of park patrons by not setting such limits itself. If industry does not do it, than the public health departments of government will have to do it.

Do you think that the federal government needs to regulate maximum G forces on theme park rides?

Rep. Markey: Maximum g-force limits are urgently required. Industry should set them, but industry does not, the government will have to do it.

When was the last time you visited a theme park? Where did you go? What is your favorite theme park, and why?

Rep. Markey: As a boy I grew up visiting parks in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Is there any ride or type of ride that you won't go on now, due to safety concerns? Have you ever refused to get on a ride, due to safety concerns?

Rep. Markey: My concern is not with a particular ride. My concern is with a situation which systematically excludes safety investigation of accidents by a national (as opposed to state or local) expert. Only an expert with 50-state authority (in other words, a federal official) has the responsibility and authority to share the information gleaned from one accident in one state to head off a similar accident in every other state. It is common sense to which the industry has become blinded by regulatory paranoia.

Are you a theme park company employee or representative? Or have you been injured on a theme park attraction? Theme Park Insider wants to hear from you. E-mail us with your thoughts about theme park safety issues.

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