Dolly Regina Young spilled out of a bobsled on the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland last year and was killed when the next bobsled ran over her.
Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) says the death of the 48-year-old Fremont woman is one of several amusement park fatalities throughout the United States in recent years that have led him to seek federal regulation of ride safety.
Indeed, Waxman introduced legislation last March that would require the Consumer Product Safety Commission to inspect amusement park rides after fatalities such as Young's or injuries requiring hospitalization. The commission would have authority to shut down a ride that it deemed to be unsafe and to order repairs.
A similar measure was overwhelmingly approved by the House of Representatives last year, but the U.S. Senate never got around to considering the bill before adjournment.
This time, however, Waxman has attempted to increase the odds for his measure by attaching it to the bill that routinely authorizes the federal safety panel to continue operating for another year. This way, the Senate would have to take up the issue in a joint Senate-House conference committee.
"I think it has a very good chance this time," Waxman said Tuesday.
Opposition by Congressmen
But two Orange County congressman have gone to bat for both Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm, two of the county's most visible and politically influential businesses, which are strongly opposing Waxman's legislation.
Ironically, Reps. Robert K. Dornan (R-Buena Park) and William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton), the two congressmen involved, don't agree on strategy.
Dannemeyer, whose district included Disneyland until the 1983 reapportionment, opposes federal inspections but says he is willing to go along with an 18-month study proposed by Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.) to determine if there is a need for federal intervention. In the alternative, Dannemeyer says, he would go along with federal jurisdiction if amusement parks are given a chance to obtain exemptions through city, county or state regulation of ride safety. Other than fire laws, no such regulation exists in California.
Dornan, whose district includes both Disneyland and Knott's, says he will fight all federal regulation of ride safety, period.
A controversial conservative firebrand, Dornan says Waxman has put "Mickey and Snoopy under fire" and warns that "the person sitting next to you on Space Mountain or on Skyjump this summer just might be a government regulator."
Dannemeyer sees Waxman's legislation as another attempt by a Democrat to invoke the powers of the federal government where none are needed.
"You're never going to be able to stop some kid from trying to jump from one gondola to another while the gondolas are passing each other, and accidents will happen," Dannemeyer says. "I just don't understand Mr. Waxman's biases on this subject."
Neal McClure, Disneyland's resident legal counsel, said he fears that the Consumer Product Safety Commission could come in "on an August afternoon and shut down a ride arbitrarily, to the detriment of 18,000 or so park visitors."
"Our safety record is exemplary," McClure said. "We don't think there's a problem that needs to be addressed."
Most accidents, he argued, involve negligence on the part of the rider, and do not involve equipment failure. Although accident victims or their families often sue Disneyland, which is what the family of Dolly Regina Young did, Disneyland usually wins in the few cases that actually reach a courtroom.
Computer Malfunction
Several people were injured recently on a train ride at Disneyland when a computer malfunctioned. McClure said of the accident:
"That was a problem with our computer program. . . . There was a bug in it that nobody detected. The program failed to anticipate certain circumstances."
McClure said he doubts the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which also opposes Waxman's legislation, would have the expertise to analyze the train ride's computer program and discern any flaws.
"Sellers of ride equipment come to us for help in programming their rides, so who is the Consumer Product Safety Commission going to hire to analyze us? Who knows our computer program better than we do ourselves? They'd have to hire us to investigate ourselves," McClure said.
But McClure acknowledged that negative publicity about ride accidents is another reason Disneyland opposes federal intervention.
Exaggeration Feared
McClure claims that the news media exaggerate accidents at amusement parks and that federal inspections would unnecessarily contribute to this.
"Quite frankly," McClure said, "we can't afford to have that sort of thing going on."
McClure said he favors alternative legislation that would allow the federal Bureau of Standards to inspect rides after serious accidents and make engineering and safety findings, but without any authority to discipline park owners.
