You might be aware of the serious amusement ride accident in Norwalk, Connecticut at the Oyster Festival just weeks ago that sent 13 people to the hospital in addition to 5 injured folks who were treated for injuries at the site. The amusement ride injury lawyers at Denena Points, PC note that the accident occurred on the Zumur swing wide. The ride stopped while it was in motion and the sudden stop hurled the swings full of riders into each other and into ride components like the central support pillar.
The ride operator, Stewart Amusements, had a good safety record up to that point. The successor in interest to the ride manufacturer says that the gears on the ride had worn down over time and that the ride operator should have fixed that problem before a 16-inch metal shaft inside the hydraulic drive motor broke, causing the sudden halt of the swing ride. The broken shaft was about 2.5 inches in diameter. It was hooked to a gear that hooked into another dear that helped to propel the swings around the central support pillar.
Chance Rides, successor in interest to the ride manufacturer, says the gear teeth had worn down over time and that the accident was the result of negligent ride maintenance in the form of failure to readjust the gears (perhaps to compensate for wear). Our amusement ride injury lawyers mention that the ride owner, by contrast, says they followed all manufacturer’s directions regarding maintenance and that those directions didn’t mention the need to readjust the gears.
Indeed, Stewart Amusements, the ride owner, had a very good safety record up until the accident occurred on the Zumur ride at the Oyster Festival in Connecticut. Stewart Amusements had obtained all necessary permits and had had the ride inspected just prior to the accident.
Just perhaps, faulty ride design, manufacture, or maintenance directives might be to blame where a ride’s essential components inevitably wear down and cause accidents absent certain, but unspecificed, readjustments. There doesn’t seem to be any indication that Chance Rides had warned ride owners and operators of the danger or the need to readjust the gears. Though our amusement ride injury lawyers remark that Chance Rides says it is sending out such guidance now.
A couple of years ago when an accident occurred in New Jersey on another ride made by Chance Rides, a look at an engineering site showed that Chance Rides had sent out a Technical Service Bulletin (recall) regarding the defect that seemed to have caused the accident. Our amusement ride injury lawyers didn’t find a similar Bulletin in this case for the Zumur problem.
Continue to Part 2 to learn what inspectors found after the Zumur accident and to read more about the other Chance Rides accident.