Public Database For Ride Inspections

[GavG]

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office says New York state is finalizing an online database that will give users access to amusement park inspection reports.

The state Labor Department is expected to launch the site in the coming days.

The department inspects rides at permanent parks at least once a year and at traveling fairs every time they're set up.

The publicly accessible inspection database comes after an Iraq war veteran who had lost both his legs to a roadside bomb fell to his death from the Ride of Steel roller coaster at Darien Lake Theme Park Resort in western New York last month.

The accident was blamed on operator error. After being temporarily shut down, the ride recently reopened?????????only to be closed again because of a broken chain.
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Here is an EXAMPLE of what to expect when this new database is rolled out. The EXAMPLE is from Darien Lake.

Do you think it is a good idea to be able to see reports like this or will it just encourage the media to further show amusement parks in a bad light?

I think this will just give news media more juice to rag on parks and how "unsafe" rides are. Even though the ABC News report said this stuff should be available, now they will change around words to make it seem like this is because we are "unsafe."

When I see a person in a wheelchair get on a roller coaster I'm thinking, "If this person can't walk, what is he or she doing on a roller coaster when the warning signs on most coasters say something like this, "People with recent injuries, back or neck problems, should refrain from riding this ride." That person would have to show me a "PERMIT TO RIDE ROLLER COASTERS" signed (and dated) by the Park Management before I would let them ride. Otherwise, I would be taking full responsibility for letting that person ride. I would also make sure I had permission to make my own judgements also and override the Park Management. I would hate to be a ride operator these days. When I operated the roller coaster at LeSourdsville Lake a lady wanted to take her 2 month old baby on the roller coaster. I flatly refused to let her take her child and she gave the baby to a friend to hold while she rode the coaster. Most of the general public have absolutly no idea of the forces that roller coasters exert on them. Ride operators have to be firm but polite and refuse to let a person ride if they clearly see that person won't be able to hold on while riding, and to flat out refuse to let a drunk person ride a roller coaster.

By the way, I'm OK with making ride inspections open to the public.