Nothing quite matches the exhilarating thrills of amusement rides, for young and old alike. There are more than 400 amusement parks and attractions in the U.S., and attendance at the top 10 U.S. theme parks was just under 113 million in 2016. For the average amusement park junkie it is well worth standing in line for an hour or perhaps longer for a ride on the newest, tallest, most dangerous and exciting ride in the park. However, what happens when the ride keeps you hanging in mid-air requiring ladders to retrieve you, or worse still, when the ride malfunctions and causes injury or even death, such as what happened in July when the Fire Ball ride malfunctioned at the Ohio State Fair. A statement released on August 2, 2017 by the manufacturer of the Fire Ball, KMG International BV, reveals that excessive corrosion on the interior of the gondola support beam dangerously reduced the beam's wall thickness over the years, leading to the catastrophic failure of the 18-year-old ride during operation.

The fact is that many rides are decidedly unsafe, and many have disastrous track records. Back in 2014, the following theme parks and carnivals in the U.S. made the list of having the most deadly accidents:

• Waterslide at Waterworld USA in California – Water slides have consistently been a top cause of injuries, often geared with poor safety precautions and short walls. In 1997, 33 high school seniors crowded the slide, causing it to collapse under the weight, resulting in one death and 32 injured.
• In August 2016, a 168-foot tall water slide in Kansas City, Kansas decapitated a state lawmaker's 10-year-old son. It was the world's tallest water slide at the time, and Kansas was generally known for its light regulation of amusement rides. Settlement has been reached by the family against SVV 1 and KC Water Park, two companies associated with the Texas-based water park operator Schlitterbahn, the general contractor, the raft manufacturer and a company that consulted on the 17-story "Verruckt" waterslide.
• Haunted Castle at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey – While not a ride, this castle became deadly on May 11, 1984, when it burst into flames and eight teenagers died while trapped inside. While arson was the likely cause of the fire, the park was charged with lack of safety precautions such as sprinklers and smoke detectors. However, Six Flags was not held responsible because the castle was considered a "temporary structure".

In addition to deaths, there have been many serious injuries arising from amusement rides, such as when a 10-year-old girl became unconscious after riding a roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in southern California. In addition, a park employee suffered traumatic injuries after being struck by a train returning to the station of the Flight Deck coaster at the Great America amusement park in Santa Clara, California. Both of these accidents occurred in June 2015. In the same month, there was a carnival ride accident in Waterville, Maine when a roller coaster ride became unhitched and injured three children.  

The Amusement Safety Organization www.amusementsafety.org, tracks significant injuries, but not deaths, for rides at 42 theme parks in the U.S. For the five-year period 2013-2017, the number of significant injuries totaled 3,003, but of these only 16.8% of injuries occurred at the top 10 theme parks in the U.S. Many injuries occur from amusement park accidents. The most prominent injuries include head, neck, and back injuries, death as a result of falling or being thrown from a ride, stroke from trauma to ligaments in the neck, traumatic brain injury from G-forces and stresses by extremely rapid speeds or from detached objects hitting the rider's head, brain aneurysms from fast rides, lacerations, broken bones and torn ligaments; and drowning on water slides, "lazy river" rides, or other water rides.