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Your responsibilities and obligations as
the guest of an amusement park:

THINGS TO REMEMBER

When you and your family and friends are at the local amusement park or carnival, you may not be consciously aware of it amid all the fun and adventure, but you have certain responsibilities owed to yourself, your friends, your family, the other park guests as well as the amusement park itself. Being surrounded with very large, heavy and fast mechanical equipment and lots of it, you should keep a few things in mind:

Many states have now adopted a law which basically mandates that you, as a patron of a park, must not do anything foolish or unsafe that would or could endanger yourself or the other people around you, or you can be charged with a crime.

Click here to view an Amusement Ride Safety Act.

If you spot someone doing something unsafe at the amusement park or carnival which could get someone hurt, you have the responsibility of reporting it to the park or carnival management, and in some cases, to the police. This also applies to destruction of property or tampering with ANY park equipment, even if you don't know what the equipment is used for. Park employees will almost always have on a uniform or will be wearing professional clothes, so if you see someone not in uniform attempting to access an area that does not appear to be a public-access area, then for your benefit and the benefit of the people around you, please report it to the site management. People have been killed and seriously injured by gaining unauthorized access to restricted areas, so please keep this in mind.

Most states require the posting of Ride Safety Restriction signs. These signs provide valuable safety information about an individual ride. You need to pay SPECIAL attention to these signs if you have ANY kind of health related condition, such as HEART PROBLEMS, PREGNANCY, BROKEN BONES, RECENT SURGERY or ILLNESS, BALANCE DISORDERS, EPILEPSY, or basically anything else that would prevent you from safely operating your motor vehicle, as an example. I must also remind you that there have been people who have died as a result of ignoring these health-related warnings, so please READ THEM before you ride if you have any kind of health condition.

Yes, it is generally understood that when you are at an amusement park, your head is usually in la-la land, but when you are in line or on a ride, you must be prepared to listen for instruction from the ride operators or other park employees. There are times when you could endanger yourself by not being aware of your surroundings. For example, if you are on a ride, and the operator tells you that when the ride is over you need to remain seated until instructed to exit...depending what ride you are on, ignoring this warning could get you injured by the slowing motion of the ride as you are dismounting or exiting.

As another example, if you're boarding a roller coaster, if you aren't paying attention to what the ride operator is saying on the microphone, this could present a problem. Some coasters have lap bars that lock in the up position while boarding, and many people will generally use this lap bar as a hand-hold as they climb into the car. If you aren't paying attention to when you should be boarding, you may not hear the ride operator announce when the lap bars are being released.

Because of this, when you attempt to enter the coaster car after the lap bars have been released from the upright position, when you go to lean on the lap bar for support, your body weight will thrust the lap bar away from you, closing on the people behind you. I tell you this in particular because I watched a man break his ribs by doing just that. He leaned on the lap bar after I engaged the LOCK button, and when he expected it to support his weight, it closed away from him and his upper body fell onto the seat back and broke his ribs. Had he been paying attention to the instructions of the operator, he would have boarded at the proper time, and would have avoided a very serious and entirely unexpected injury.

The bottom line...pay attention, follow the rules, look for hazards and don't act reckless!

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