- July 8th, 2004, 10:28 pm
#7160
If you read this you may have to wait a few more years
May. 29th, 2004 -- Officials say that rides have become too powerful to be operated by children. Amusement Park Ride Child Labor Act of 2004 was created to protect young employees and park patrons. This act, if passed, would prohibit anyone under the age of 18 to operate the more powerdriven amusement park rides.
In most states, 16-year-olds are permitted to be behind the controls. Park and industry representatives say training, not age, should be the defining factor of operators. Most parks have a two- to three-day clinic just to learn how to help patrons on and off the ride. As of now, there is no correlation with accident stastics and the age of ride operators.
here is the rest of the article
Age an issue for amusement parks
Bill would keep minors from running power-driven rides
Saturday, May 29, 2004
John Horton
Plain Dealer Reporter
Bainbridge Township- Would you put your life in the hands of a 16-year-old? Most amusement park riders do every day, when they step onto looping, twisting coasters run by teens barely old enough to drive.
And some people are questioning whether that's safe.
A bill recently introduced in Congress would prohibit minors from operating power-driven amusement park rides. The proposal, dubbed the Amusement Park Ride Child Labor Act of 2004, is designed to protect young employees and park patrons, says its sponsor.
Rides have simply grown too fast and powerful to leave in the hands of children, said David Moulton, chief of staff for the bill's author, U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts.
"The consequences of a bad decision get greater ever year," Moulton said.
Fourteen states - including Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania - already consider 18 to be the minimum age to operate mechanical rides for adults, according to Saferparks, a California nonprofit corporation and amusement industry watchdog group.
In addition, some individual parks - including Cedar Point in Sandusky and Walt Disney Co. destinations - have policies that restrict minors from running rides.
In Ohio, as with most states, ride operators can take the controls at age 16. Geauga Lake, which straddles the border between Geauga and Portage counties, and Paramount's Kings Island outside Cincinnati both employ minors as ride operators.
Officials at those parks and other industry representatives say training - not age - is the key. Amusement park accident statistics do not show a direct correlation between mishaps and the age of the ride operator.
"You cannot make a judgment call that everyone who's 16 or 17 is irresponsible," said Beth Robertson, a spokeswoman with the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions.
"If you're properly trained - and park workers are very well trained - it doesn't matter if you're 16 or 60."
Ride operators and attendants at Geauga Lake learn the attraction top to bottom before pulling a shift, said Andre Ransom, the park's rides manager. Workers go through a two- to three-day training process just to assist passengers getting on the ride. Once they master those tasks, they're eligible to run the controls.
Two 17-year-old employees - Candiss Owens of Bedford and Lisa Page of Cleveland - spent Wednesday afternoon learning how to handle one of Geauga Lake's coasters. Their instructor - Mike Martorella, a ride supervisor at the park - repeatedly buzzed their ears with safety talk.
"Our operators learn how to do it right," Martorella said, "or they don't work the ride."
That promise is enough for riders such as Carole Sanderson, a Geauga County woman who serves as president of the 8,000-member American Coaster Enthusiasts. Sanderson worries more about sunburn than who's running park rides.
Congress, she said, should have bigger concerns than who's helping people have fun.
"The kids are OK," Sanderson said. "Let 'em do their job."
Work at Dale Jarrett Ford. Selling cars just like cedar fair is selling rides
