Project Overview

The Ride Information Depository & Exchange System (RIDES) being developed by Saferparks is an online data store and virtual meeting place for individuals who want to learn more about the causes and patterns of preventable amusement ride injury. RIDES will:

• Collect and catalogue information relevant to the safe use of amusement rides from a wide variety of sources.
• Provide the public access to that information through a flexible, configurable web-based interface.
• Create a virtual meeting place where experts and interested individuals from a variety of technical, medical, regulatory and behavioral disciplines can collaborate on research and analysis.
• Communicate findings about causes and patterns of preventable amusement ride injury to consumers, industry members, governments, and health/safety professionals.

Primary Goals

• Develop an information management system and intelligence network to support broad-based data collection, research, and analysis of information related to the safe use of amusement rides.
• Develop a web-based communication system to disseminate information, analyses, and recommendations to the various communities served by Saferparks in a format appropriate to each.
• Develop software tools to ease/harmonize data transfer between RIDES and the various government agencies that provide public records.
• Establish a self-sustaining revenue stream or funding source from the functions performed by the system.

Project Guidelines

• RIDES will not be an advocacy site. RIDES is intended to help consumers, regulators, physicians, and other user communities understand the safety aspects of patron-machine interactions as an aid in developing accident prevention strategies.
• Any analysis performed as part of RIDES will focus on identification of factors which increase or decrease risk of accidental injury. Care will be taken to describe hazard patterns in terms of human/machine interface.
• RIDES recommendations to the general public will be designed for comprehension by users who may never have seen an amusement ride before.
• RIDES will be designed and operated in compliance with all applicable privacy, confidentiality, and copyright laws.
• RIDES software components intended for distribution to regulatory agencies and other 3rd party organizations will be designed to minimize the cost and complexity of installation and use.
• Initial development of RIDES will focus on data from the United States. Subsequent versions may incorporate data from other interested countries, language translation, and other features to expand RIDES usefulness as a global resource.

Planning and Oversight

• Saferparks will manage preliminary planning and implementation of the computer infrastructure (information management system, website) required to support RIDES.
• Concurrent with development of the computer systems, Saferparks will create a RIDES Planning Board to plan and oversee the research, integration, and analysis functions of RIDES. Board members may be recruited from a variety of relevant areas including:
  • Ride design, operation, and inspection
  • Government regulatory agencies
  • Medicine (pediatric, orthopedic, cardiovascular, etc.)
  • Human factors
  • Health and safety (includes child safety, industrial, auto, aerospace)
  • Consumers who patronize amusement parks and carnivals

RIDES System Design Overview >