Summer Safety: Carnival Ride Inspections

July 12, 2010 — -- More than 7,000 Americans go to the emergency room every year after getting injured on carnival rides, the federal government estimates.

Here's the issue: The Consumer Product Safety Commission regulates how the rides are manufactured, but there is no federal oversight over how they are set up and maintained.

That's left to the states, and some do a great, thorough job, but others do nothing.

CLICK HERE to see how and how often your state inspects carnival rides

Carnival rides are supposed to be a little bit scary, not a lot. But terrifying accidents happen every summer for three main reasons: equipment failure, inconsistent state regulations and old-fashioned human error.

Earlier this month in Pleasanton, Calif., a thick bicycle-style chain on a kids' roller coaster snapped, whipping riders as they passed by.

"I saw that someone was getting taken by ambulance and had her neck all wrapped up and she couldn't move it," witness Nadine Cobb said at the time.

Seven people were injured.

"It was very challenging in the beginning, because they were covered in black grease," Alameda County Fire Department assistant chief Alan Evans said.

The preliminary diagnosis: a defective cable.

"Like any piece of machinery with moving parts, there are external failures and there are internal failures and ... despite the fact that we wish we all had X-ray vision, we cannot always spot those internal failures," said Ken Martin, an amusement ride safety consultant.

Martin has 20 years of experience inspecting carnival rides. He said the machines are well built, but the breakdown occurs -- literally and figuratively -- in how states inspect them.

"Some states enforce rules one way, others enforce rules a different way," he said. "Some states even allow the owners to inspect the rides themselves."