Texas Carnival Ride Accident: 3-Year-Old Tossed From Houston Carnival Ride [Video]
Frightening video footage of a 3-year-old girl being thrown from a carnival ride has prompted Texas officials to re-examine ride requirements.
The young child, whose name was not released, boarded the Techno Jump Ride with her 8-year-old brother at the RodeoHouston carnival around 2pm Wednesday, according to ABC News. The siblings’ mother had decided to get off the ride just before it started.
The video of the accident (seen below) shows the young girl slipping underneath the restraining bar of the ride before she was tossed through the air and landed some six to eight feet on the platform below.
ABC News reports the toddler is now recovering in hospital after suffering head, neck and back injuries in the fall. Her family has hired an attorney.
The ride was shut down for three hours after the accident and managers of the Rodeo have announced they will change the ride’s height requirements.
Leroy Shafer, the chief operating officer of RodeoHouston, told ABC News the girl had met the height requirements for the ride at the time but said the child should not have been allowed to go on the ride without an adult.
“We’re now telling our ride operator, if it’s someone between 42 and 48 inches, let’s be sure the other person is an adult,” Mr Shafer said.
The ride had passed a safety inspection the day before, he added.
“This was a three-year-old without an adult, and we said she came under the bar, she came under the lap restraint,” Shafer told ABC news affiliate KTRK after watching the accident video. “I don’t think it changes anything.”
Reports are that Texas Rep. Garnet Coleman is now pushing legislation that seeks to require traveling carnivals to adhere the same safety standards as those that are permanent.
“Clearly there needs to be more scrutiny on traveling amusement rides,” Coleman said in a statement, reported by KTRK. “This is a yearly story with this particular operator that someone is hurt or killed.”
Watch video footage of the 2012 Texas carnival ride accident at RodeoHouston below:
Readers chime in: Do you think Carnival ride requirements should be more strict? Could this accident have been prevented if the ride operators were more diligent or are the child’s parents to blame?
Source: ABC news
