There is no federal oversight of fixed-site rides. Congress removed the CPSC's authority over them in 1981 (the 'roller coaster loophole'). Senator Markey keeps introducing bills to restore it, and IAAPA reportedly spends about $600,000 a year lobbying against them.
Back to the trend of the day: Man falls to his death from a roller coaster; nine similar rides shut
Poly Rating · from the trend of the day
Amusement Ride Safety Laws by State 2026: Top 10
No federal agency has inspected fixed-site roller coasters since 1981, so safety is left to each state: Georgia passed Six Flags' Goliath with no violations on March 16, 2026, months before this month's death on the ride.
- No. 1: California amusement ride safety (Cal/OSHA)
- 10 places
01Final list
The leading AIs built their own top-ten lists independently. Above is one combined result that is easy to check: every place has a reason, the AIs that included it and, where the AIs gave one, a source.
Order: from most to least AI agreement.
A bright badge means this AI put the entry on its list. A dim badge means it did not.
- 1
California amusement ride safety (Cal/OSHA)
Rated comprehensive by Saferparks. The state approves new or changed rides and requires annual permits. Before a 1999 law, fixed-site parks had no regular state inspections.
Included it: ChatGPT, Claude. Did not include: Gemini, Meta, DeepSeek.In their lists: ChatGPT: 1 · Claude: 1
What each AI noted 2
- ChatGPTplace 1
The state says it can inspect rides directly or rely on annual owner inspections, and reviews new or modified rides.
- Claudeplace 1
Annual permits, third-party engineering audits and incident reports within 24 hours; before a 1999 law, fixed parks had no regular state inspections.
Source ↗
2 AIs put it here - 2
New Jersey amusement ride safety (Carnival-Amusement Ride Safety Act)
A dedicated state bureau, rated comprehensive. Critical welds must get non-destructive testing more often than the ASTM baseline requires. The reported fines above $10,000 per violation come from one vendor only.
Included it: ChatGPT, Claude. Did not include: Gemini, Meta, DeepSeek.In their lists: ChatGPT: 4 · Claude: 3
What each AI noted 2
- ChatGPTplace 4
A dedicated state agency regulates amusement rides, and Saferparks classifies its oversight as comprehensive.
- Claudeplace 3
Requires non-destructive testing of critical welds at intervals stricter than the ASTM F24 baseline.
Source ↗
2 AIs put it here - 3
Pennsylvania amusement ride safety
Rated comprehensive, with an advisory board that reviews new rides every quarter, but oversight is split between two agencies. Sources disagree on inspection frequency: monthly in one, semi-annual or pre-season in another.
Included it: ChatGPT, Claude. Did not include: Gemini, Meta, DeepSeek.In their lists: ChatGPT: 10 · Claude: 2
What each AI noted 2
- ChatGPTplace 10
Pennsylvania’s oversight is comprehensive in the directory, but the state comparison notes that responsibility is split across two agencies.
- Claudeplace 2
An advisory board reviews new rides every quarter, and state-certified inspectors check rides at the owner's cost.
Source ↗
2 AIs put it here - 4
Georgia amusement ride safety (Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner)
Annual state permits plus daily operator checks. After a serious accident, the ride stays closed until the state finishes investigating. Goliath passed its March 16, 2026 inspection with no violations before this month's death.
Included it: ChatGPT, Claude. Did not include: Gemini, Meta, DeepSeek.In their lists: ChatGPT: 3 · Claude: 5
What each AI noted 2
- ChatGPTplace 3
Georgia’s regulator says it conducts annual ride inspections and is investigating the Goliath incident.
- Claudeplace 5
Daily operator checks plus an annual state permit, and the state keeps any ride involved in a serious accident closed until it has investigated; Goliath's last inspection, on March 16, found no violations.
Source ↗
2 AIs put it here - 5
Ohio amusement ride safety (Department of Agriculture)
Rated comprehensive, but after an accident Ohio re-inspects the ride rather than running a formal investigation. Tyler's Law (2018), which would have the state hire engineer inspectors, was proposed; whether it passed is unconfirmed.
Included it: ChatGPT, Claude. Did not include: Gemini, Meta, DeepSeek.In their lists: ChatGPT: 5 · Claude: 8
What each AI noted 2
- ChatGPTplace 5
Ohio assigns ride oversight to its Department of Agriculture, with a comprehensive government program in the Saferparks directory.
Source ↗ - Claudeplace 8
A bill ('Tyler's Law', H.B. 631) would have the state hire engineers as inspectors; as of the 2018 NSPE article it was still under review.
Source ↗
2 AIs put it here - 6
Florida amusement ride inspections (FDACS)
Annual engineer inspections are required, but parks with over 1,000 employees and their own full-time inspectors, meaning Florida's biggest theme parks, are exempt from state inspections.
Included it: ChatGPT, Claude. Did not include: Gemini, Meta, DeepSeek.In their lists: ChatGPT: 2 · Claude: 6
What each AI noted 2
- ChatGPTplace 2
Florida’s largest theme parks are exempt from state safety inspections, a major gap in direct public oversight despite state regulation of other venues.
Source ↗ - Claudeplace 6
Annual engineer inspection, but parks with over 1,000 employees and their own full-time inspectors are exempt.
Source ↗
2 AIs put it here - 7
Kansas Amusement Ride Act (2017)
Went from no state inspections to mandatory annual checks by licensed engineers in 2017, after a 2016 death on a water slide that had never been state-inspected.
Included it: Claude. Did not include: Gemini, Meta, ChatGPT, DeepSeek.In their lists: Claude: 4
What each AI noted 1
- Claudeplace 4
A state that went from no inspections to mandatory annual inspections by licensed engineers after a 2016 water-slide death.
Source ↗
1 AIs put it here - 8
North Carolina amusement device inspections
Rated comprehensive with annual inspections. The Saferparks table tracks severe-injury reporting and investigation powers separately but gives no overall score. Only one AI listed this state.
Included it: ChatGPT. Did not include: Gemini, Meta, Claude, DeepSeek.In their lists: ChatGPT: 6
What each AI noted 1
- ChatGPTplace 6
The state is among the jurisdictions Saferparks classifies as having comprehensive government oversight.
1 AIs put it hereno source given - 9
Illinois amusement ride safety
Rated comprehensive with annual inspections, but waterslides fall under a different agency with different rules. Only one AI listed this state.
Included it: ChatGPT. Did not include: Gemini, Meta, Claude, DeepSeek.In their lists: ChatGPT: 7
What each AI noted 1
- ChatGPTplace 7
Illinois has a comprehensive government oversight classification, but its historical comparison separates some waterslide regulation from the main program.
1 AIs put it hereno source given - 10
Massachusetts amusement device safety
Rated comprehensive with annual inspections. The label says nothing about inspection quality or injury outcomes. Only one AI listed this state.
Included it: ChatGPT. Did not include: Gemini, Meta, Claude, DeepSeek.In their lists: ChatGPT: 8
What each AI noted 1
- ChatGPTplace 8
Massachusetts has a comprehensive government oversight classification, though that label alone says nothing about inspection quality or injury outcomes.
Source ↗
1 AIs put it here
02Worth knowing
What the AIs noticed while building the list.
IAAPA counts 6 states with no state ride oversight: Alabama, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, Wyoming and Utah. Saferparks counted 5 in 2008. Texas sends no state inspectors and relies on a yearly inspection by each park's insurer.
Roller coasters caused 1.27 injuries per million rides in 2024, up from 0.88, and about 44% of all ride injuries. The 1-in-15.5-million figure is a different measure: serious injuries on any fixed-site ride.
The best-known injury odds come from a voluntary survey: only 177 of 436 invited parks sent data for the 2019 edition.
Saferparks says regulators' accident records cannot be used to compare injury rates between states, parks, rides or years. A state's place in this list reflects its rules, not proven safety results.
03How we counted
In plain words, no formulas.
1The question
Top 10 ...
2Where it applies
global or the country/field
3What we looked at
- ...
- ...
- Saferparks / ridesdatabase.org state comparison — Compares each state's ride-safety rules: oversight type (comprehensive, partial, private-sector or none), inspection frequency and who inspects, accid
- Saferparks U.S. regulatory agencies directory — Lists the agency in charge in each state and its broad oversight category. The site warns that the rules may have changed since.
- IAAPA (trade group) state count, via The Regulatory Review — How many states regulate rides. IAAPA says 44 do and 6 have no state oversight. Safety Park USA counts about 20 with comprehensive oversigh
- IAAPA / National Safety Council fixed-site ride safety report — Reported injuries per million rides, from a voluntary survey of North American parks. It does not compare states, so it is used here as
- CPSC directory of state amusement ride safety officials — Which state agency handles ride safety. Also shows that the CPSC covers only mobile rides; fixed-site rides are left to the states.
4Who ranked
The leading AIs, each building its own list of ten independently and naming a source for every place: Gemini, Meta, ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek.
5How the places were set
The same entry written differently by different AIs was counted as one. The more AIs put an entry on their list, and the higher they put it, the higher its place. "AI agreement" shows how many of the AIs had it on their own list. Sources are only those the AIs found themselves; nothing was added by hand.
04Each AI's own list
🇺🇸 ChatGPT10 places · 4 notes
The same question, answered by ChatGPT alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.
- 1California amusement ride safety oversight
The state says it can inspect rides directly or rely on annual owner inspections, and reviews new or modified rides.
- 2Florida amusement ride safety oversight
Florida’s largest theme parks are exempt from state safety inspections, a major gap in direct public oversight despite state regulation of other venues.
Source ↗ - 3Georgia amusement ride safety oversight
Georgia’s regulator says it conducts annual ride inspections and is investigating the Goliath incident.
- 4New Jersey amusement ride safety oversight
A dedicated state agency regulates amusement rides, and Saferparks classifies its oversight as comprehensive.
- 5Ohio amusement ride safety oversight
Ohio assigns ride oversight to its Department of Agriculture, with a comprehensive government program in the Saferparks directory.
Source ↗ - 6North Carolina amusement ride safety oversight
The state is among the jurisdictions Saferparks classifies as having comprehensive government oversight.
- 7Illinois amusement ride safety oversight
Illinois has a comprehensive government oversight classification, but its historical comparison separates some waterslide regulation from the main program.
- 8Massachusetts amusement ride safety oversight
Massachusetts has a comprehensive government oversight classification, though that label alone says nothing about inspection quality or injury outcomes.
Source ↗ - 9Michigan amusement ride safety oversight
Michigan’s state licensing and regulatory agency is listed as the ride-safety authority; Saferparks places its program in the comprehensive tier.
- 10Pennsylvania amusement ride safety oversight
Pennsylvania’s oversight is comprehensive in the directory, but the state comparison notes that responsibility is split across two agencies.
What ChatGPT noticed
The latest IAAPA safety page says the chance of a serious injury on a fixed-site U.S. amusement park ride is about 1 in 15.5 million rides. That is an industry-wide estimate, not a prediction for a particular coaster or park.
The 2024 North American industry report put roller-coaster injuries at 1.27 per million rides. AP reported this figure after the Georgia incident; the rate measures reported injuries per ride, not fatality odds.
State oversight is uneven: AP reported that California’s approach includes state review of new and modified rides, while Florida’s largest parks are exempt from state inspections and rely on their own protocols.
The comparison’s strongest warning is about the data itself: Saferparks says its regulator accident records cannot support comparisons of injury rates between states, parks, rides, or years.
🇺🇸 Claude10 places · 3 notes
The same question, answered by Claude alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.
- 1California ride safety rules (Cal/OSHA)
Annual permits, third-party engineering audits and incident reports within 24 hours; before a 1999 law, fixed parks had no regular state inspections.
Source ↗ - 2Pennsylvania ride safety rules
An advisory board reviews new rides every quarter, and state-certified inspectors check rides at the owner's cost.
Source ↗ - 3New Jersey Carnival-Amusement Ride Safety Act
Requires non-destructive testing of critical welds at intervals stricter than the ASTM F24 baseline.
Source ↗ - 4Kansas Amusement Ride Act (2017)
A state that went from no inspections to mandatory annual inspections by licensed engineers after a 2016 water-slide death.
Source ↗ - 5Georgia (Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire)
Daily operator checks plus an annual state permit, and the state keeps any ride involved in a serious accident closed until it has investigated; Goliath's last inspection, on March 16, found no violations.
Source ↗ - 6Florida ride inspection law
Annual engineer inspection, but parks with over 1,000 employees and their own full-time inspectors are exempt.
Source ↗ - 7Texas ride inspection system
The state does not send inspectors. The park's insurer must inspect each ride yearly.
Source ↗ - 8Ohio ride oversight
A bill ('Tyler's Law', H.B. 631) would have the state hire engineers as inspectors; as of the 2018 NSPE article it was still under review.
Source ↗ - 9Nevada (state vs Clark County)
The state has no ride inspection authority, but Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, is said to have some of the toughest local rules.
Source ↗ - 10Utah and the other five no-oversight states (Alabama, Mississippi, Montana, Wyoming)
Six states have no ride inspection authority; IAAPA says they have few or no amusement parks.
Source ↗
What Claude noticed
There is no federal oversight of fixed-site rides. Congress removed the CPSC's authority over them in 1981 (the 'roller coaster loophole'). Senator Markey has repeatedly introduced bills to restore it, and IAAPA reportedly spends about $600,000 a year lobbying against that.
The best-known injury figures come from a voluntary survey. Only 177 of 436 invited parks sent data for the 2019 survey, and the quoted 1-in-15.5-million serious-injury odds come from that data.
In the NSC survey, coasters caused about 44% of ride injuries in 2024, the highest share recorded, and the rate rose from 0.88 to 1.27 injuries per million rides. Most are not serious, and parks attribute about 60% of ride injuries to guest-related factors.