Safety consultant says Sizzler amusement ride has had several incidents
With so many Sizzler carnival ride accidents over the past 25 years, including the death of 16 year-old El Pasoan Sammie Aguilar last weekend at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, ABC-7 wanted to know more about the risks.
A national safety consultant told ABC-7, over the years, a string of deaths or serious injuries prompted a couple of important safety requirements or recommendations from the company that makes the Sizzler.
“We also have to take into context the number of Sizzlers there are,” National Amusement Ride Safety Consultant Ken Martin said. “It’s a very popular amusement ride.”
Martin said there are more than 200 sizzlers operating in the United States.
“With this last incident in El Paso, which just breaks my heart, there have been 12 that I recall since 1991,” Martin said, “incidents that involved either death and/or serious injuries.”
Martin said back in 1999, the company that makes the Sizzler, Wisdom Industries, made height requirements mandatory.
“Typically on spinning rides there’s a little more risk,” Martin said. “They wanted to let people know that people who ride the ride by themselves, have to be at least 52 inches tall. The minimum passenger height has to be 36 inches.”
In August of 2007, after a number of incidents where smaller riders were thrown from Sizzlers, he told ABC-7 seat belts were recommended, but not mandatory.
“The Sizzler, if you follow the directions and instructions from the operator, you’re fine with just the lap bar,” Martin said. “But as an added or redundant safety feature, the manufacturer suggested and recommended the installation of seat belts and those seat belts would further enhance your safety in the ride.”
Martin said he’d like to see seat belts become mandatory.
“As a safety professional, I think seat belts need to be on every amusement ride,” he said, “because the problem we have, bottom line, is you need to keep your hind parts in the seat. Plain and simple.”
The attorney for Playtime, Robert Skipworth, told me today the Sizzler ride at St. Thomas Aquinas Church did have seat belts and they were installed back in 2007. He added the ride operator said he did put a seat belt on Aguilar and her friends, as well as latch the lap bar over their legs prior to starting the ride.
