Amusement Park and Thrill Rides Gone Wrong

In September 2021, the High Roller on the Las Vegas Strip suddenly stopped working, stranding about 150 people on the attraction for 90 minutes.

“The High Roller Observation Wheel was stopped during its rotation on Friday night, due to a network connectivity issue involving one of the cabins,” Caesars said in a statement. “Approximately 150 passengers were aboard the wheel at the time. Engineers resolved the network issue within approximately 90 minutes, the wheel’s rotation resumed, and all passengers safely disembarked and received refunds.”

The High Roller raises riders 550 feet in the air and is the largest observation wheel in North America. The wheel takes 30 minutes to complete one revolution and features 28 cabins.

Although terrified, there were no reported injuries. Las Vegas injuries from amusement type rides exceed 90 per year, but the national numbers are staggering.

In an average year over 9,000 people are injured on amusement park rides in the United States. Theses are statistics from the Federal Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

This data represents only injuries serious enough to require treatment in an emergency room. The total number of injuries that occur are even more.

CPSC reported that in 2017, emergency rooms saw 43,405 injuries associated with amusement attractions and rides, for both mobile, like traveling carnivals, and fixed-site parks, such as Six Flags, Sea World or Disneyland.

Click to see Hilarious Amusement Park Rollercoaster Reactions.

When the injuries from inflatable amusement park rides are included, the number of injuries increases by over 3,800. When both moon bounces and inflatable slide injuries are added, it increases by 3,300 and still doesn’t include the number of people injured on public water slides.

Kids often crowd into bounce houses, and jumping up and down can send other children flying into the air too.

The latest numbers indicate about 30 U.S. children a day are treated in emergency rooms for broken bones, sprains, cuts and concussions from bounce house accidents. Most involve children falling inside or out of the inflated playthings, and many children get hurt when they collide with other bouncing kids.

Half of all people hurt on amusement park rides are children. Over 16 percent of reported injuries occur to children between the ages of 10 and 14. Children account for three-quarters of accidents involving a rider falling or being ejected from a ride during its operation.

During a span of three years over 50 people were killed riding amusement park rides. These deaths most often occurred on roller coasters. The second most deaths occurred on whirling rides.

Types of Injuries Experienced

Bumper car rides and others that move people around at a high rate of speed cause many accidents.

Roller coasters also cause many accidents. People often experience a stroke from trauma that occurs to ligaments in their neck. Traumatic brain injuries can happen from high levels of stress put on the brain by excessive speed. Detached objects hitting a person’s head also causes injury.

People experience varies types of cuts, torn ligaments as well as broken bones. Some individuals drown on waters slides and a number of other water rides.

The Cause of Accidents

Many accidents are determined to have resulted from mechanical failures caused by improper maintenance and more.

Rides are sometimes operated incorrectly.

In some cases, a passenger does not follow safety instructions. Accidents happen when a rider stands up at the wrong time, removes safety restraints too soon and more. Some accidents occur because a ride is designed to create a thrill by spinning fast or traveling at excessive speeds.