Serious injuries and deaths involving amusement park and carnival rides are relatively rare, data indicate. Still, out of the millions of riders each year, federal regulators estimate that more than 2,500 people are treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries involving amusement rides. In Georgia, recent incidents have included a man being thrown off a whirling swing into a fence; girls’ legs badly cut when a trailer awning was opened into the path of their whirling ride; a little girl who fell from near the top of a Ferris wheel; and a decapitation involving a roller coaster.
Regulators monitor amusement rides