North Carolina legislators are urging the state’s Department of Labor to take a closer look at issues of zip line and carnival safety after an accident resulted in the death of a 12-year-old girl at a local YMCA camp in the mountains in June. The General Assembly recently approved a measure that focuses on increasing zip line safety and raising the maximum penalty for carnival ride accidents by five times. Now, the bill will head to the desk of Governor Pat McCrory after an Assembly vote accepted changes from the Senate.
The accident that prompted the legislation occurred Thursday, June 10 at Camp Cheerio in Alleghany County’s Glade Valley, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The young girl fell when the tether connecting the harness to the pulley above her snapped.
According to the camp’s CEO, the zip line had been in operation for two years and there had never been an issue before. An investigation revealed the lines might have been somehow tangled at the time of the accident. The girl had been coming to the camp for several years. Grief counselors were sent to the camp to lend support to the more than 400 children in attendance.
The new proposed legislation commands the department to conduct a thorough review of 13 different zip line-related issues and make recommendations to legislators no later than February. Right now there are more than two dozen commercial zip lines in operation throughout the state. There are no statistics available about how many youth camps have such rides.
To learn more about your legal options following an accident due to someone else’s negligence, contact a skilled North Carolina personal injury lawyer with Lanier Law Group.