Legislation would bar minors from rides

Two amusement parks in Ohio employ minors to operate some rides.
AURORA, Ohio (AP) -- Amusement park officials and industry representatives say training, not age, should be the criteria for whether someone is permitted to operate roller coasters, Ferris wheels and dodge 'em cars.
A bill recently introduced in Congress would prohibit minors from operating power-driven amusement-park rides.
The proposal, dubbed the Amusement Park Ride Child Labor Act of 2004, is designed to protect young employees and park patrons, said the bill's sponsor, U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass.
Rides have grown too fast and powerful to put in the hands of teenagers, said David Moulton, Markey's chief of staff.
Fourteen states already consider 18 to be the minimum age to operate mechanical rides for adults, according to Saferparks, a California nonprofit corporation and amusement industry watchdog group.
Some individual parks, including Cedar Point in Sandusky and Walt Disney Co. destinations, have policies that restrict minors from running rides.
Ride operators in Ohio can take the controls at 16. Geauga Lake in northeast Ohio and Paramount's Kings Island outside Cincinnati both employ minors as ride operators.
No direct correlation shown
Amusement-park accident statistics do not show a direct correlation between mishaps and the age of the ride operator.
"You cannot make a judgment call that everyone who's 16 or 17 is irresponsible," said Beth Robertson, a spokeswoman with the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. "If you're properly trained -- and park workers are very well trained -- it doesn't matter if you're 16 or 60."
Ride operators and attendants at Geauga Lake learn the attraction top to bottom before working a shift, said Andre Ransom, the park's rides manager. Workers go through a two- to three-day training process just to assist passengers getting on the ride. Once they master those tasks, they're eligible to run the controls.
"Our operators learn how to do it right, or they don't work the ride," said Mike Martorella, a ride supervisor at Geauga Lake.
That promise is enough for riders such as Carole Sanderson, a Geauga County woman who serves as president of the 8,000-member American Coaster Enthusiasts.
She said Congress should have bigger concerns.
"The kids are OK," Sanderson said. "Let 'em do their job."