Water Slide Accidents

Water Slide Accidents

Have you been the victim of a water slide accident at a hotel, resort, amusement park, theme park, boardwalk or pier anywhere in the United States? If so, you may be entitled to benefits and financial compensation for your injuries, pain, suffering, medical bills and lost wages (if applicable). It is a smart move to speak with, and ultimately retain, a skilled injury attorney handling water slide accidents.

If you or a loved one has been injured on a water slide, contact our water slide accident attorneys immediately. A prompt investigation into the accident, what caused it and who is liable is needed immediately after the accident. It is important to quickly document the condition of the accident scene as well as interview any witnesses. The water parks owner or parent company will begin to protect themselves legally within minutes of the accident taking place. You should do the same by contacting our team of water slide injury lawyers. Email them here for a free case analysis. No fees are charged to accident victims if they do not recover on your behalf.

How & Why Water Slide Accidents Occur

Water slides, such as those at Disney Land, Disney World, Six Flags, Raging Waters and various hotels and resorts are thrilling and fun. Water slides can also be very dangerous if safety is not a priority at the water park. Water slides many times replicate the turns and drops of a roller coaster, but unlike a roller coaster, the rider is not restrained. So if the water flow is too high, the rider can be thrown from the ride and suffer serious, life threatening and fatal injuries. Or another common mechanism of injury is ride attendants who fail to ensure rider spacing allowing riders to collide on the ride or at the end of the ride. Water slide injuries can also occur if the pool at the bottom is not sized properly or has not been filled to an adequate water level. Finally, improper design, construction or maintenance can cause many water slide injuries.

Water Slide Safety

Safety while at a water park, or while on a water slide, is the responsibility of everyone involved including you, the slide operators, staff at the park, the parks owners or parent company and third party companies such as ride mechanics and safety inspectors. Below are some safety tips that can help keep your trip to a water park fun, enjoyable and injury free.

Watch and learn. Before you go on any ride, take a few minutes to observe it. Get a feel for what you’ll —  or your child —  will experience on the ride. You might even ask someone who’s just gotten off a ride what it was like.

Make sure the ride looks safe. It should appear to be carefully maintained. That means clean, with safety belts and harnesses that are in good shape and not frayed. Scan for obvious issues, like missing bolts or cracks. If you feel the ride looks tired and uncared for, skip it.

Size up the ride operator. He or she should be attentive and take time to check each rider’s restraint and enforce safety rules. If the ride operator seems careless, don’t get on board.

Follow size guidelines. The belts, straps and other restraints on amusement park rides are designed to protect people who range between certain heights and weights. They may not work as effectively for someone who’s outside the size requirements posted for the ride.

Children and short adults as well as plus-size riders are at a higher risk of ejection from a ride than others. This is especially true when the only restraint on a ride is a lap belt. Besides honoring height and weight rules, note if a ride includes over-the-shoulder restraints or others that are appropriate for the motion of that ride.

Honor seating arrangements. On rides with an open side for entry, it’s generally safer for a child to sit away from the opening. Spinning rides sometimes require little ones to sit close to the center pole so they don’t get squished by bigger riders as the centrifugal force increases. And of course a child should never sit on a parent’s lap on an amusement park ride.

Restrain yourself. A ride that speeds up or slows down suddenly can jerk you around, bringing on bruises and potentially hurting your neck or back. If a ride’s safety restraint is loose, your body may slide or shift around. Batter-proof your body by giving the safety harness or belt a good tug to make sure it’s snug. Do the same for your child.

Rides with individual restraints are generally safer than those with fixed-position lap bars or bars designed for multiple users, according to Saferparks.org.

Keep your head on straight. On intense rides, don’t be tempted to twist your neck to look around. Hold your gaze straight ahead — or if you’re scared to death, close your eyes! According to Saferparks.org, if you have your head turned when the ride accelerates, you’re more likely to hurt your neck. A study published in the journal Clinical Pediatrics found that among all amusement park injuries, head and neck injuries were most common.

Keep your hands where they belong — inside the ride. Yes, this seems obvious. But according to the study published in Clinical Pediatrics, hitting a body part on a ride or being hit by something while riding caused 18 percent of amusement park injuries in kids.

Monitor your kid. Children often make unsafe moves on amusement park rides out of sheer excitement or fear (so never force a kid to get on a ride if he doesn’t want to). Be on the alert for dangerous maneuvers like shifting around in the seat to get a photo while the ride is in motion or trying to climb out before it stops completely. Some very slow rides don’t have restraints, so a little kid may not understand that he needs to stay sitting until the ride is over.

Trust your instinct. If something doesn’t feel right do not stay on the ride.

Why Choose Our Personal Injury Lawyers

Our team of award-winning water slide injury attorneys are experienced in water slide accident cases, water park accidents, theme park accidents and amusement park accidents. They would be privileged to help you with your case and do whatever is necessary to get you the benefits and compensation you deserve for your water slide injuries.

The water slide injury lawyers on our team advance all upfront costs so that you are not out-of-pocket any money to pursue your legal rights. And, we handle all water slide cases on a contingency basis so we only get paid if we win. To arrange a free, no-obligation consult please fill out our online form.

Types Of Accident Claims We Handle