Last summer, 16-year old Elijah DeJong was spinning around on a swing ride at the Jackson County Fair when the ride began to slowly tip to one side, then dropped quickly three or four feet.

DeJong fell to the ground, was hit in the shoulder by a metal bar and went to the hospital for X-rays.

The injuries weren't serious, but the senior at Alma Center Lincoln High School said he is a more wary of carnival rides now, and in particular, rides owned by the swing operator, Wenzel Amazements.

He attended this year's fair, but once he learned Wenzel was still the ride owner, he "decided not to go on any rides because of them," he said.

When reached, Ann Wenzel, owner of Wenzel Amazements, said she had to take another call. Subsequent calls were not returned.

A state inspection following the incident found the center shaft had broken, but that there would have been no way to visually detect the failure that caused the accident.

Accidents on rides are rare, say amusement ride owners and industry representatives. The public is more likely to get hurt in a car accident on the way to the amusement park, they argue.

Industry watchdogs say that's true, but that the comparison isn't fair because people spend much more time in cars than they do in rides each year.

"People wrench their necks, throw out their backs, get sick," said Bill Avery, an Orlando, Fla.-based amusement ride consultant. "It happens. And it happens with some frequency. The good news is that millions of people ride these things every year. But those numbers don't matter one bit to the person who dies or is severely injured on a ride."

David Collins, a Newbury Park, Calif.-based amusement ride consultant, inspector and inspection trainer, said he sees more accidents due to mechanical failure in August and September, when the fair and theme park seasons are winding down. That's because operators and equipment are tired, he said.

Reliable data hard to find

Reliable data on amusement ride accidents is hard to find, experts say. States typically rely upon ride owners to report accidents and national data are estimates based on the reporting from some hospitals.

In Wisconsin, 91 accidents were reported between 2004 and August 2007, according to the Department of Commerce. Of those, about 80 percent involved no injury or a minor cut or bruise, said Greg Jones, administrator for the Safety and Buildings division.

In addition to the July death of a Menasha teenager, other serious injuries to patrons included a broken leg caused by a go-kart crash, a broken leg that occurred after a patron had a seizure and jumped off a ride and a broken wrist suffered by a child who jumped off a carousel, Jones said.

About 60 percent of all reported accidents were caused by a rider, he said.

State regulations require ride owners to report accidents within two days. Fatalities are to be reported within 24 hours.

Some states have laws requiring that riders act responsibly on rides. In Ohio, not obeying warnings and directions on rides could result in a misdemeanor. The law was created in Ohio because so many accidents were caused by people acting carelessly, said LeAnne Mizer, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Agriculture, which regulates rides.

Number of injuries higher

Until recently, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reported on data collected from the nation's biggest 100 hospitals on injuries caused by amusement rides and made national estimates on the number of injuries caused by rides.

The most recent information, from 2004, show an estimated 5,900 injuries on fixed-site and mobile amusement rides, up from an estimated 5,700 in 1997. The data also show a dramatic increase in injuries on inflatable rides, like bouncers, from 1,300 in 1997 to 4,900 in 2004.

The data show an average of 4.4 deaths per year on traveling and fixed-site rides between 1987 and 2002.

Avery said he thinks the number of injuries is much higher because the data used to make the national estimates comes only from major city hospitals and doesn't include some smaller ones or any in locations with some big theme parks.

"What you don't know is how many people are out there with broken feet, ankles, legs that don't get reported or make the newspaper or the whiplash-type injuries that you get on amusement rides," he said.

But according to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, the number of injuries is much lower — at least for fixed-site rides.

A National Safety Council study for the amusement park association based on data reported by association members found the number of injuries on fixed-site rides were estimated to be about 1,800 in 2005, down from about 2,500 in 2002.

"The thing that's important for the public to understand is to keep these incidents in perspective," said David Mandt, a spokesman for the amusement park association. "Three hundred million people visit parks every year. Those 300 million step on and off 1.8 billion rides. Accidents are very, very rare, and I think it's important for people to understand that."

The Outdoor Amusement Business Association, a membership organization for traveling carnivals, doesn't commission a similar study for mobile rides.

Fewer chances of serious injury or death

Kathy Fackler, president of Saferparks, a La Jolla, Calif.-based organization that promotes ride safety, said statistically the chance of being seriously injured or killed on an amusement ride may be small. But that's no comfort to the families of those involved in major accidents.

"From their perspective, the low number of accidents reported by member parks represent a statistically insignificant downside," she said. "If I had 300 million children and only saw each one for 10 minutes a year I would probably consider the death or maiming of one of those children insignificant as well. I've only got two children, though, and each one is irreplaceable to me."

The federal safety commission study did not say how many injuries in the study were attributable to rider activity, operator error or mechanical failure. Mandt estimated that about 80 percent of them can be attributed to a patron's actions, but he didn't have studies or other documentation to show that.

The last time a rider died in a ride accident in Wisconsin, before Elizabeth Mohl died following a fall from the Giant Swing in July, was in 1984 when an intoxicated man fell from a Ferris wheel, according to State Journal news archives. Commerce and police reports suggest operator error was to blame for Mohl's death.

Commerce officials said in July that the last rider fatality occurred about 30 years ago. But a spokesman said last week that the agency has no official record of fatalities and that it couldn't confirm whether the 1984 death was the most recent.

Mark Pitsch can be reached at mpitsch@madison.com or 608-252-6145. Deborah Ziff can be reached at dziff@madison.com or 608-252-6120.

Ride deaths in Wisconsin

1974: Michael Prucha, 11, of Racine died when he fell from a Ferris wheel at Muskego Beach amusement park.
1977: Anna Eliacostas, 18, of Illinois died when she fell off a Ferris wheel at Familyland Park in Lake Delton.
1981: A 3-year old Illinois boy died on the Scrambler at the Walworth County Fair in Elkhorn.
1984: A 22-year old Superior man fell off a Ferris wheel in Douglas County.
1999: A Calkins Amusements worker was electrocuted while working on the Avalanche at the Langlade County Fairgrounds.
2001: A 27-year old carnival worker fell while dismantling a Chair Plane ride after a carnival in Dane.
2005: A 54-year old carnival worker fell to his death while setting up a bumper car ride at the Wisconsin State Fair in Milwaukee.
2007: 16-year old Elizabeth Mohl fell to her death from Air Glory's Giant Swing ride at a Christian music festival in Oshkosh in July.

Source: State Journal library, staff research