Alison Young Investigates

Carnival ride mishaps can injure, kill

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

Dangerous toys come in many forms

Synopsis: Most toys and other products recalled due to safety hazards are never returned or destroyed. This article analyzes the hazards in more than more than 60 toy recalls announced in 2008 and reveals some still being offered for sale.  Who's minding the kids' playthings?

Escalator use causes devastating injuries

Synopsis: An examination of hundreds of injury incident reports filed with Georgia regulators reveals that every week in metro Atlanta people are badly injured riding escalators. They fall and crack their heads, they get their clothing or luggage tangled in the machinery. And in the worst cases, they suffer amputating injuries when the soft soles of their shoes are heated by friction and drawn into a gap along the side of the moving stairs. While other news media have focused on recent injuries associated with Crocs-like shoes, this article reports that families have been petitioning the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission for safer escalator design since 1978 - long before Crocs were invented. Escalators' hidden dangers

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