Why Is It That Many Amusement Ride Accidents at New Jersey Amusement Parks Go Unreported and Never Make It to the Newspapers or Regulators despite Serious Injuries?
As an experienced amusement park accident lawyer, I regularly receive phone calls from individuals who are seriously and many times catastrophically injured in New Jersey shore amusement park accidents or incidents or Pennsylvania amusement park accidents. Many times these stories are never reported in the newspaper or are never reported to the appropriate state licensing and inspection individuals. It is almost as if there is a conspiracy of silence.
A few weeks ago, a client of ours was severely injured when a chain pulling a car on an upward slope broke on a New Jersey thrill ride. Our client revealed that the car fell backwards in a free fall in which she described as an alarming rate of speed. The car then derailed and slammed into a hard object causing the car to spin around off the track in a violent fashion causing injuries to the victims in the amusement car. To add to their fear and terror, it should also be mentioned that the accident occurred in a pitch black dark environment. An investigation revealed that the chain on the ride broke causing the ride to malfunction.
The next day an employee of the amusement park told the client that if she had any bills to send them to her own insurance company and proceeded to ask my client a few questions that she noted were insulting and offensive and almost suggested that she could not possibly be suffering from the stated injuries that she indicated. My client felt as if she was being interrogated and made to feel like a bad person when, in fact, the negligence lay with the amusement park for failing to maintain or possibly inspect the ride. Not so surprisingly, the amusement park did not even offer to cover the client’s medical expenses or express any concern about her well being.
As an experienced Pennsylvania amusement park attorney, I am well aware that due to the high number of claims, amusement park owners will aggressively fight claims for catastrophic injuries and death. As a cautious and stalwart advocate for amusement park safety, it is important that loopholes in the Consumer Product Safety Act of 1981 be addressed by putting more teeth into regulations and legislation addressing the safety of rides that are fixed to specific sites. Unfortunately the regulation and inspection of all too many amusement parks is left up to state or local municipalities and as a result varies from good to none. If you think about it, many times these amusement parks are the big draw for the local seashore or Pennsylvania community and any adverse publicity or statistics will have a dramatic effect on the business of the community. So many times these incidents go unreported and are kept out of any newspapers as well.
The accomplished Philadelphia amusement park and carnival injury attorneys of Reiff & Bily have successfully represented thousands of personal injury clients for catastrophic injuries since 1979, recovering hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. If you or a loved one has been involved in an amusement park accident, please contact an experienced amusement park accident lawyer at our firm for a free no obligation consultation so that we can begin protecting your legal rights and make sure that amusement park owners and operators are held accountable for accidents such as this and to prevent others form suffering similar circumstances.
