Lakeland Attorneys for Amusement Park Injuries

When tourists visit Florida, one of the most frequently visited tourist locations are amusement parks.  They are so popular because they are enjoyable for young children and adults who are children at heart.  Most amusement parks also have family packages which enable families to take multiple day vacations at stay at the resort.

Central Florida is also a very popular destination for tourists because there are so many amusement parks to visit.  Most people visit these parks during the summer, school breaks and holidays.  Accidents and injuries are most common at these times.  When you or a loved one suffers injuries at a Florida amusement park, you should contact an accident attorney at our firm so we may begin immediately protecting your legal rights against these large corporations who may seek to reduce your available recovery.

Amusement Park Rides & Attractions

All amusement park rides can cause serious injuries if the safety protocols are not followed, if any of the rides malfunction or if any of the safety equipment fails.  If the park employees are not properly trained, or if they are reckless or negligent in constructing the rides, operating the amusement park rides, maintaining the ride or cleaning up the amusement park, such negligence may lead to catastrophic injuries which may result in a wrongful death or accidental death of a tourist.  The injury could be a roller-coaster accident; a mechanical malfunction; a third party attack, security negligence, defective safety equipment or restraints and more which could be classified as an amusement park accident.  If any of these types of amusement park accidents occur, you must contact a Florida Amusement Park Injury Lawyer to protect your legal rights.

Many of the rides at an amusement park are large machines which can cause serious or critical injuries to anyone if any safety procedures are not followed or if the safety equipment or protocols fails.  For example, Roller Coaster Accidents have resulted in amputations, dismemberment, loss of a limb, loss of motor skills, serious brain damage, and the inability to walk, talk, or speak, and in some cases accidental death. Other rides and or malfunctions causing Amusement Park Accidents may cause a person to suffer bruised ribs, whiplash, spinal cord injuries, head injuries and more.

Some of the most frequently visited amusement parks, water parks and theme parks in Florida are Disney World, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Disney Studios, Typhoon Lagoon, Sea World, Busch Gardens, Adventure Island, Water Mania, Wet & Wild, Legoland, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, and Wild Water Adventures.

Most people who visit amusement parks, theme parks and water parks elect to enjoy all aspects of the family experience by either riding on various amusement park rides or permitting their children to ride on kiddie rides without parental supervision.  Even though millions of people ride these various rides each year, this does not guarantee that the amusement park rides are safe, as hundreds of people are seriously injured on amusement park rides annually.  Amusement park rides are designed to test the limits by always be higher, faster and more exciting.  Despite all of the safety tests that are performed before an amusement park ride is opened to the general public, there are always unknown factors which may result in serious amusement park ride injuries.

Types Of Amusement Park Injuries

The types of injuries one may sustain on an amusement park, theme park, or water park ride varies greatly and is dependent upon many seemingly insignificant factors.  The height, weight, age, location on the ride, and location in the ride’s car all play an important role.  The types of injuries one may sustain in a Central Florida Amusement Park Accident may be cuts, scratches, lacerations, scarring, bruises, broken fingers, broken hand, broken arm, broken foot, broken leg, spinal cord injuries (SCI), brain injuries, paralysis, paraplegia, quadriplegia, and / or loss of limb or loss or appendage.

Some Causes Of Amusement Park Accidents

While each amusement park, theme park and water park are structured differently, generally amusement park accidents are caused by the same general types of negligent or reckless acts of the amusement park employees where they either did an action or they failed to act.  Some of these amusement park accident causes include:

• Trip, Slip and / or Fall on wet surfaces;
• Trip, Slip and / or Fall on uneven pavement or roads;
• Water park slides leaking or spilling water onto walkway;
• Falling from water rides;
• Falling from roller coasters;
• Falling from Amusement Park Rides;
• Falling from Theme Park Rides;
• Falling from Water Park Rides;
• Becoming trapped between amusement park ride vehicles;
• Ride malfunction;
• Quick acceleration of amusement park ride;
• Quick deceleration or stopping of amusement park ride;
• Improper instruction on how to enter a ride;
• Improper instruction on how to exit a ride;
• Amusement Park roller coasters colliding;
• Theme park dangerous animals attack guests;
• General mechanical failures of rides; and
• Failure to inspect the rides.

Roller Coasters Are Now More Dangerous And May Cause Serious Injuries

Just a few years ago, the average roller coaster traveled around 55 miles per hour.  With ever increasing technology, the amusement parks, theme parks, and water parks began building all of their rides higher, faster and scarier.  As these new rides were being built, the average speed of these rides began steadily increasing where some roller coasters now travel over 100 miles per hour – nearly double the maximum speed from just a few years ago.

Roller Coaster G-Force Serious Injuries

The G-force experienced by someone at rest is 1 g.  Fighter pilots in loops or tight turns may experienced G-forces in upwards of 7 to 8 Gs.  A roller coaster’s G-forces are generally around 4 to 5 Gs when the roller coaster changes direction or makes a sharp turn, ascent or descent.

With the increased height and speed of today’s amusement park roller coasters, this has created extreme g-forces on the roller coaster riders.  Gravitational forces or g-forces pulls and pushes on the roller coaster rider’s body as the roller coaster climbs, descends, loops, twists, makes sharp turns, stops or rapidly accelerates.  All of these motions of the roller coaster can cause serious g-force injuries such as brain injuries, diffuse axonal injuries, brain trauma, spinal cord injuries, brain hemorrages, paralysis, paraplegia, blood clots, and quadriplegia.

The G-Forces experienced by a roller coaster rider are the most extreme at the bottom of a hill where the roller coaster pushes the roller coaster rider’s body down into the seat of the roller coaster.  When a roller coaster is making a turn, G-Forces are excerted on the roller coaster rider on the side of the body.  Similarly, as the roller coaster is accelerating, G-Forces push the roller coaster rider backward into the roller coaster back support, and similarly when a roller coaster brakes or stops suddenly, G-Forces push the roller coaster rider forward into the belt support, belt restraint, or shoulder safety restraints.

How Should Roller Coasters Be Designed?

The majority of amusement park roller coasters are designed where the roller coaster is brought to an apex and the roller coaster then descends and goes into a curve where the roller coaster rider is never totally weightless.  However, as the limits of roller coasters are continually challenged, some roller coasters are traveling at such high speeds that the roller coaster rider experiences negative gravity.  When negative gravity occurs, the roller coaster rider will experience being momentarily separated from the roller coaster seat.  It is then the responsibility of the roller coaster’s safety restraint system to keep the roller coaster rider safe by preventing them from falling out of the roller coaster.  When these safety restraints are faulty or improperly secured, the roller coaster rider may fall from great heights resulting in broken bones, brain damage, quadriplegia, loss of a limb, amputation or even death.

Do Roller Coasters Effect Everyone The Same?

While the effects experienced by roller coaster riders are generally the same, small children and those roller coaster riders who are of light weight may not be properly secured in the roller coaster safety restraint system.  As a direct result of the safety restraints being built for a one-size-fits-all mentality, these lighter weight riders may slide around within the confines of the roller coaster and may suffer serious injuries.  Similarly, large or heavy roller coaster riders may not be proprely secured by the restraint system where the restraints may fail or were initially improperly secured where that roller coaster rider may fall out of the roller coaster and suffer serious roller coaster injuries.

Amusement parks, theme parks and water parks attempt to limit their liability on roller coasters by occusing injuried patrons and guests of their roller coaster ride that the forces experienced which caused the injury were beyond their control.  However, it is the responsibility of the amusement park to run tests and evaluate the safety of all of their rides, and they should be held responsible for any roller coaster injuries they directly cause. 

Amusement parks, theme parks and water parks also attempt to limit their exposure to lawsuits by posting signs that they are not responsible if the roller coaster rider was suffering from a pre-exisitng physical condition or where the roller coaster rider’s caused his own injuries.  It is therefore imperative that you hire a Roller Coaster Injury Lawyer to evaluate your case and provide legal advice on how to proceed in recovering for your roller coaster injuries resulting from your roller coaster accident.

Contact Your Central Florida Amusement Park Accident Lawyers

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a Florida Amusement Park Accident, please contact your Central Florida Amusement Park Accident Lawyers at Allen & Abaray, P.A. to discuss the events of your injuries.  Our attorneys can assist anyone who was injured at any Amusement Park, Theme Park or Water Park.  Even if you were not injured in Florida, we have relationships with other Amusement Park Accident Attorneys across the nation that we may work with to help you recover the financial compensation you deserve for your Amusement Park Injuries.