The Thrill is Gone

The California Supreme Court has paved the way for a never-ending string of lawsuits that are sure to take the thrill out of thrill rides. According to the court, Disneyland (and every other theme park operator since this will be precedent) will have to treat their rides under the same rules as "common carriers", such as buses and trains:

Visitors to California theme parks may find it a lot easier to sue over ride injuries thanks to a decision announced Thursday by the state's Supreme Court.

Ruling in a pending lawsuit brought by the family of a woman who was injured on the Indiana Jones Adventure ride at Disneyland in 2000 and later died, the justices said the Walt Disney Co. must apply "the utmost care and diligence" when it comes to passenger safety rather than the previous standard of "reasonable care."

Supporters and critics of the decision, which essentially holds Disney and other theme- park operators to the same standard as bus operators, agreed that the 4-3 decision would make it easier for injured riders to prevail in lawsuits.

The article states the woman was injured on the ride. I'm not sure that's true. Millions of people have ridden Indian Jones (including me probably 25 times) and have emerged unscathed. I would tend to believe that she had some type of underlying condition that may have been aggravated by the ride, but probably wasn't caused by the ride. I think the same situation probably occurred in Florida the other day.

There are lots of problems with this decision, and I have my doubts that it will survive an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. To classify theme park rides as "common carriers" is silly. Theme park rides are designed to scare you, thrill you, or maybe even make you a little bit sick, but they do not constitute "transportation" in the same sense that a bus or train does. The park does have an obligation not to hurt you, and when they fail in that responsibility as they did in the fatal derailment of the Thunder Mountain ride awhile back, they should be held accountable. But to claim that they must use "utmost" care as opposed to "reasonable" care will open the gates to all kinds of litigation. Here's how one guy put it:

But while individual parks stuck to the line that nothing would change, John Robinson, chief executive of the California Attractions and Parks Association, a Sacramento- based group that represents 45 parks, said the ruling could wind up taking "the thrill out of thrill rides"

"If your roller coaster has to feel like a bus ride," Robinson said, "there's no point in having the roller coaster."

I remember riding a pretty tame attraction at Knott's Berry Farm some years ago, and at one point in the ride, the car jerked in a way I hadn't expected and I injured my shoulder. It was nothing terribly serious, but it bothered me for several weeks. Should I have sued? Under the new standards, if I wasn't warned that I could injure my shoulder, I probably could.

The theme park business is always looking for something newer, faster and more thrilling. This ruling may put an end to all of that as it will become too financially risky for parks to get more daring with their ride selection. What can the theme parks do, put everyone in crash helmets and flak jackets?

I can see a day coming where the trial lawyers will succeed in making the parking lot tram the most thrilling attraction in the park.

UPDATE: Mrs. HolyCoast called to ask whether this lawsuit will affect carnivals and fairs as well as theme parks. I'm no lawyer, but I think this will give any trial lawyer more reason to seek out an opportunity to sue someone, and ride operators at country fairs will certainly find their operations under scrutiny.

I've always been very leery about getting on rides at the county fair, and in fact for many years we wouldn't let our kids ride anything there. My feeling is that if you can put something together in a day or so that wildly spins and flips around, it's probably not that good an idea to get on it. Besides the inferior safety systems likely to be found at the fair, the quality of staff there also leaves something to be desired. If you don't mind, I'll go look at the exhibits and pet the goats, but I'll stay off the rides.