Philadelphia Injury Attorney Blog

What started out as an evening event with laughter, smiles, cider, and ginger snaps for a large family group ended up as a frightful hayride adventure resulting in broken bones, bruises, neck and back injuries when the seats and trailer being pulled by the truck broke apart. One of the young ladies was pinned underneath the side of the trailer that fell. According to one of the parties, the trailer had a shaky feel to it and as it gained speed going down the hill seemed to disintegrate.

Haunted hayrides seem innocuous and innocent to those of us who welcome Fall and look forward “Kodak" moments with the kids. Unfortunately, dangers that lurk about hayrides are not limited to those dressed in costumes attempting to scare the daylights out of you. The real dangers lie in defectively manufactured, designed and maintained trailers, that are covered with hay and blankets, and often overloaded when they carry the hay riders. Many times hayrides are operated by profit driven individuals or businesses who fail to understand that safety of the rider is paramount to profitability. Hayride operators owe a duty to their riders to properly maintain and inspect the trailer, seats, and railings, as well as provide proper and safe control and supervision of the riders. Many times the truck is being operated by someone with a curious or questionable background and if they take a sharp turn or make a sudden stop or travel too quickly down a hill, there may be an accident waiting to happen. According to news reports, this past weekend many hayride accidents occurred throughout the United States due to failure to have proper safety restraints or restrictions and governance.

Our hearts, thoughts, and prayers go out to those injured in hayride accidents. While I don’t wish to take the fun out of life, I just want you to make sure that before you go on a hayride, do a little bit of due diligence and recognize that accidents do happen. Make sure the facility has an excellent record of success and safety and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

The experienced hayride and amusement accident and premise liability lawyers of Reiff & Bily have evaluated thousands of cases involving catastrophic injuries, broken arms, and unfortunately wrongful deaths, and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for victims and their families. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

It’s the fall season and many churches, schools, and farms will be sponsoring hayrides. The normal hayride environment and atmosphere should lead to thoughts of smiles, laughter, cider and warm childhood memories for parents and children. Unfortunately, as an experienced defective trailer lawyer and hayride accident lawyer, what many individuals do not recognize is that there is a lack of safety standards and regulations for trailers of all kinds including hayrides which slip through many government safety and regulatory loopholes mostly because these events are sponsored on private property. In many cases there is no safety regulation at all!

Just last weekend six people were injured in a hayride accident when horses pulling a hayride were spooked and took off in different directions. One of the individuals, a 51-year old woman, sustained critical injuries and was helivaced to a hospital in Boston. Drivers of the wagon lost control of the hay wagon and horses broke free causing many passengers to fall off. In a separate hayride accident on the same weekend at a Michigan farm market, a woman fell off the hay wagon and was run over by it or was trampled while leading the wagon.

Every year our experienced Pennsylvania defective trailer lawyers and hayride accident lawyers learn of catastrophic accidents involving the death of innocent children and their parents because many people frankly do not understand the risks that accompany hayrides. Most hayrides are makeshift and although the operators claim that an accident was a freak occurrence, this is often not the case.

As an experienced Pennsylvania amusement park accident and hayride accident lawyer, I believe that many hayrides are accidents waiting to happen when proper control mechanisms are not in place, and when accidents do occur, the injuries are normally quite significant because of the number of people involved and the size and weight of the equipment. Many times these accidents are the result of inadequate supervision, improper training of ride operators, defective trailer design, inadequate site and safety crowd control.

If you or a loved one has been involved in a hayride accident, you should always speak to an experienced and accomplished hayride and amusement accident attorney. The accomplished hayride and amusement park accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily have successfully represented thousands of personal injury clients for catastrophic injuries since 1979 and have recently joined forces with the Beasley Firm to create the Beasley Reiff Law Group. Together our attorneys have been awarded over $2 billion dollars since 1957 representing the interests of those catastrophically injured or wrongfully killed. As always, we offer a free, no obligation consultation. Contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

Over the last 30 years the hayride accident law firm of Reiff & Bily has successfully represented victims of amusement park accidents and those that occur at carnivals and seasonal hayrides. Recently an amusement ride operator was jailed on charges that he was drunk and urinated in the sight of riders while operating such a ride at a Pennsylvania farm show. The amusement operator was charged with reckless endangerment, open lewdness, and public drunkenness. In another case in which our amusement accident and hayride injury law firm was involved, we represented the family of a victim who was run over by a tractor trailer hayride at a suburban Philadelphia farm during a school event. The background investigation of the tractor operator noted that he had less than a stellar history and was in fact was not even a licensed driver, yet he was entrusted to drive and operate a ride that would carry thousands of children throughout the amusement season.

In Pennsylvania, an amusement ride is legally described as any mechanical device or combination devices including electrical equipment which is the integral part of a device or devices which carry passengers along for the primary purpose of giving passengers amusement pleasure, thrills, or excitement. The same includes any tram, open car, combination of open car or wagons pulled by a tractor or motorized device which may not be licensed by the Secretary of State, and the operator of the same is defined as one who has a duty to control the operation of the amusement ride or attraction at a carnival or fair and any person who operates an amusement ride or amusement attraction at a carnival or fair must obtain a permit for the same. The operator of such amusement attractions or rides is obligated to perform a criminal history and perform a check of the national sex offender public registry at the time they are hired and annually thereafter if they are in continued employment. Unfortunately individuals who are under the age of 17 are exempt from criminal history background checks. Unfortunately, we have found some amusement parks, carnivals, or hayride operations keep shoddy records, fail to check for substance abuse, evidence of required criminal history, or sex offense information, and in fact, hire drivers of motor vehicles that are non-licensed.

The purpose of the carnival and amusement ride safety act obviously is self explanatory. If an amusement operator fails to pay heed to these requirements, taking shortcuts and placing profitability over safety, and if an accident happens, they can be held legally responsible for resulting financial and emotional injuries that may be sustained by catastrophically injured victims and their families or those who are wrongfully killed due to their negligence.

Since 1979, the experienced Philadelphia carnival, amusement lawyers, and hayride accident attorneys of Reiff & Bily have successfully represented victims and their families and those who have been catastrophically injured or wrongfully killed due to the negligence of others, defective products, or defective maintenance, or improper hiring procedures. We always offer a free, no obligation consultation. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.