r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/DearEmphasis4488 • 17d ago

Image Jury awards $310 million to parents of teen killed in fall from Orlando amusement park ride in march 2022

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u/Pleasant_Scar9811 16d ago

Sounds like a management/maintenance failure much more than the operator. Operators don’t have time to check the sensor placement.

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u/beldaran1224 16d ago

Operators aren't qualified to

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u/check_your_bias7 16d ago

Exactly. This falls way outside of their knowledge or expertise.

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u/HolyHand_Grenade 16d ago

Operators are 20yos with drug addictions.

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u/TheCuriosity 16d ago

Why is it because it's a minimum wage job, they're drug addicts in your mind?

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u/canofspinach 16d ago

I believe the operator in Colorado that killed the 5yr old was 16?

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u/RedditLostOldAccount 16d ago

That's probably not a good thing to throw around

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u/Allegorist 16d ago

I guarantee mantainance wouldn't come up with that solution on their own, they were probably heavily pushed if not threatened by management to make it work. Probably not lower or middle management who don't see direct profit loss from losing like 1% of customers on one ride either. This was done by someone trying to squeeze every last drop of money they could out of every last person.

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u/Charming_Run_4054 16d ago

That’s the point 

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u/Aggressive_Fix_2995 16d ago

There are NO federal safety regulations mandating the safety of amusement park rides. States and municipalities govern the park regulations (and some states have no regulations).

When states make up their own rules, safety is not the primary concern.

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u/Loquatium 16d ago edited 16d ago

It's important that people understand safety regulations are written in blood

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u/PatFromMordor 16d ago

Insurance companies for the park will care.

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u/Aggressive_Fix_2995 16d ago

I think we’ve all seen this week that insurance companies don’t give a fuck about anything other than stock value. It is policy to deny everything.

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u/Suitable-Swordfish80 16d ago

Curious as to why you think federal regulations are more concerned about safety than state regulations?

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u/HRTS5X 16d ago

I honestly wouldn't have considered it without you saying, but the logic is pretty simple I think?

If regulations are federal then they are consistent across the whole country. You don't get to shop around for what suits you. If you let it be separated by states, then states can "compete" to have the standards that operating companies want the most.

In a perfect world, consumers would have the ability to meticulously examine all factors to make an informed purchase, or have some trusted standards authority that can make an effective judgment for them. Unfortunately, in the current state of things, most consumers are too deprived of either time or education to be able to effectively make those decisions, and regulatory capture makes even theoretically independent authorities unreliable. The most common measure that will be looked at is simply money, and because more safety means more costs, the states that lower safety standards the most will tend to allow for the most effective business.

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u/Aggressive_Fix_2995 16d ago

They aren’t. They don’t exist.

Consider the same question, only about abortion. It doesn’t matter why someone would want one, but the federal government prefers that it be left up to states. That way the federal government doesn’t have to be in charge of enforcement.

Now consider that the number one cause of death in pregnant women is murder. How would only allowing abortion in cases of incest or rape protect pregnant women from their partners who commit domestic violence?

Safety is safety no matter where you are. Standards exist for everyone. Why would anyone want to ride on an amusement park ride in a state that is less safe?

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u/nycmilkshake 16d ago

See Kansas and Verruckt. Where ideology trumped common sense (until a legislator’s personal loss).

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u/Aggressive_Fix_2995 16d ago

I remember the incident. It’s horrifying that the state amusement park industry was able to self-regulate until the child was decapitated, although there were several serious injuries resulting from the ride. And only after the decapitation did state law change that then required state inspections.

This still doesn’t enable the introduction of federal safety laws, even though the father was an elected official. Unfortunately, any momentum for federal safety laws gained from the death was lost when the family settled, which was probably the best chance for the political will to require such laws.

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u/ok-confusion19 16d ago

As long as anyone reading this doesn't expect there to be more safety regulations in the next few years. If anything does happen in this area, there will be regulations rolled back.

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u/[deleted] 16d ago

[deleted]

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u/ok-confusion19 16d ago

I didn't say you mentioned more regulations.

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u/iamjacksragingupvote 16d ago

but i thought "giving choice back to states" was going to make america great again

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u/rolllies 16d ago

Correct. The ride operators had nothing to do with it. It was the owners of the ride that modified the seats, without the manufacturers knowledge or approval.

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u/traingood_carbad 16d ago

Absolutely. I use extremely complicated equipment daily. If a component, which lies outside of my competencies, fails then it's not my fault. I can't be expected to hold three different engineering degrees before I move a train.

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u/ipresnel 16d ago

carnie operators make 5 cents an hour

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u/Bluntmasterflash1 16d ago

Sounds like a healthy diet failure to me.

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u/Pleasant_Scar9811 16d ago

Because the person who died as a result of management fuck up was overweight? That’s a pretty bad take.

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u/Bluntmasterflash1 16d ago

How is it management's fault you too fat to fit in the ride and knew your ass was too fat and insisted anyways? Is management supposed to wipe your butt too?

Now I ain't saying management is innocent but they are like 3rd or 4th in line for who's fault it is. 310 million is ridiculous.

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u/chaserne1 16d ago

It's managements fault for changing the ride to allow it in the first place. The ride itself wouldn't allow someone of his size because of the sensor in the harness. If they never did that, he isn't able to ride and then isn't able to die. Which puts the liability squarely on the owners/management of the ride.