Amusement parks are a favorite of both young and old. It is an excellent place for relaxation with friends and loved ones due to the rides and fun activities present. From giant Ferris wheels to roller coasters, bouncy houses, swings of all forms, slides, and all manner of swinging, soaring, and exciting inventions, you’ll seldom want to go home. However, these fun houses can morph into a house of horrors in seconds. A fault in any machine at parks could either be mild or cause severe casualties. This complication is why you can use legal animation to zoom into the faults in park accidents and bring justice.
There are various types of parks, and some are called theme parks. These theme parks usually have a particular theme as the focus of the rides and machines. Asides from theme parks, there are also water parks, adventure parks, zoological theme parks, and the list goes on.
Causes of Park Equipment Failure
You can point fingers at so many people on this matter. The origin could be a flaw directly from the manufacturers. It could also result from improper management and maintenance by the park owners.
In addition, negligence of the technicians paid to fix equipment and poor handling by the park workers can also lead to an accident. It could even be the fault of another customer.
In a CNN report, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, emergency rooms saw an estimated 30,000 injuries linked to parks in 2016.
This information shows that aside from the general ways park equipment can fail, there are more specific and technical reasons too. They include:
- Motor burnout due to a power surge
- Mechanical breakdown caused by centrifugal force
- Gears getting broken by vibration or misalignment
- The explosion of steam boilers, engines, or turbines
- Electrical arcing of circuit breakers or transformers
- Rupture of equipment due to corrosion or fatigue
These flaws and faults of park equipment have been able to cause severe injuries and death to the users.
An example of this is seen in the case of Gomez v. Superior Court. Here, the claimants say their son lost his life due to a brain injury. This was caused by a quick swerving by one of the rides in the Indiana Jones section in Disneyland. Understandably, the purpose of the rides is the excitement of the users. However, the swerving of the jeep ride should have been measured to ensure that it wasn’t happening at a dangerous rate.
Another example is seen in the case of Hunt v. North Carolina Dept. of Labor
In this case, the claimant rode a go-kart. A go-kart is a lightweight motor vehicle, just like a car. The plaintiff stated that the go-kart brake failed while he was riding it, thus causing an accident. The court further probed the case and asked the defendant to inspect if the machine was in good condition.
They found out that even the seatbelt didn’t pass the safety mark. Things like this are a hazard to users and a proof of negligence. With the help of legal animation, they can get their due compensation.
How Can Legal Animation Help in Park Accidents
When speaking of amusement park safety, many people are responsible for safety. That is why legal animation is essential in cases involving park accidents. This will ensure that the real culprits or everyone with a hand in it can be brought to book.
These massive machines are high-risk and primarily sustained by technology and the laws of physics. Since the primary cause of equipment breakdown is a mechanical failure, the team must be perfect in their calculations for the effect of friction, momentum, vibrational movement, and weight on the machines over time.
In cases like this, it could either be miscalculations on the side of the production company or poor management of the park owners. Whatever the reason, legal animation can explain it. The legal practitioner can use legal animation to show the intricacies of these calculations on speed and friction using videos. Visual aids like these are great for understanding scientific concepts.
Another case that law graphics can illustrate is the explosion of engines. For the engine to deteriorate to that point, somebody was not doing their job. The attorney can highlight the negligence with legal animation. With the help of an expert witness, they can illustrate the processes it will take to get to that point of deterioration. Furthermore, legal animation can be used to show how the company could have averted it.
In addition, giant machines are made up of smaller parts. Hence, for constantly moving machines, the handlers must ascertain that all aspects are in good working condition. Legal animation can illustrate the overall view of any machine and show all the parts and functions. The attorney can then show how an accident resulted from poor management of a part or the use of low-quality materials to make it.
In summary, legal animation is an excellent tool for any attorney handling a case of an amusement park accident. The intricacies are numerous. Hence, you can use visual aids to highlight them all to the benefit of your client.
At Fox-AE, our in-house animators are skilled at turning opinions and facts into a demonstrative exhibit. With this, all the ambiguities and technicalities involved in a part accident case can be bare to the jury.
